Mike Pence Slams Trump’s ‘Reckless’ Tweet Ahead Of Capitol Riots: He ‘Endangered Me & My Family’
The former vice president didn’t hold back in calling out Trump for stoking the crowd as they invaded the Capitol on January 6 in a new, upcoming interview.
Former Vice President Mike Pence admitted that he was “angered,” when he heard what then-President Donald Trump tweeted about him as the mob attacked the Capitol during the January 6 attack. Pence denounced Trump’s tweet at the time in a preview for his upcoming interview on ABC with David Muir, released on Monday, November 14.
EXCLUSIVE: @DavidMuir asks Mike Pence about calls the former VP made to the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Justice Department and Capitol Police on Jan. 6: “Why wasn’t the president making these calls?”
Pence: “That’d be a good question for him.” https://t.co/CUaA8Nv52k pic.twitter.com/aGQktY6ohQ— ABC News (@ABC) November 14, 2022
Before Pence shared his reaction, Muir read Trump’s tweet to the former VP. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should’ve been done,” the then-president wrote during the attacks. Pence took a long pause before revealing what he told his daughter, defying Trump’s request that he illegally overturn the election. “It angered me, but I turned to my daughter who was standing nearby, and I said, ‘It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law,'” he said. “The president’s words were reckless. It’s clear he decided to be part of the problem.”
At another point in the interview, the nightly news anchor listed the many people that Pence spoke to, including the defense secretary, acting attorney general, and Capitol police chief, and asked what Trump was doing in that time. When he asked what Pence thought about Trump watching them, the former VP seemed like he was at a loss for words. “David, I was at the Capitol. I wasn’t at the White House,” he said. “I can’t account for what the president was doing that day. I was at a loading dock in the Capitol, where a riot was taking place.”
Muir also asked Pence why Trump wasn’t making calls himself, and Pence said only the former president could answer. “That’d be a good question for him,” he responded.
Since the January 6 attack, much information has been released about what a danger Trump’s supporters posed the Pence during the insurrection by the House Select Committee, which has subpoenaed Trump. As rioters stormed the building calling for Pence to be hung, the former vice president’s security detail was working to evacuate him from the building. As the attack was underway, it was revealed that members of his security detail “called to say goodbye to family members,” in case the worst happened.
During one of the hearings, Rep. Pete Aguilar revealed that rioters came within 40 feet of Pence, and his former counsel Greg Jacob was shocked to learn just how much danger they were in. “I can hear the din of the rioters in the building while we moved, but I don’t think I was aware that they were as close as that,” he said.
Pence’s interview with Muir will air on ABC on Monday, November 14 at 10 p.m. EST.