Mike Pence, Donald Trump.Photo: JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty; Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty
Mike Penceon Tuesday said he didn’t push back againstDonald Trump’s false claims about a stolen election because he “wanted to be respectful,” noting that “things went downhill” when the former president’s supporters ultimatelystormed the U.S. Capitolon Jan. 6, 2021.
In a Tuesday night interview with CNN’sKaitlan Collins, the former vice president said he was hopeful Trump would “come around” to admitting he lost the election toJoe Bidenand would give up his pressure campaign against Pence, whom Trump continually claimed had the authority to overturn the election results.
“Sadly, things went downhill from there,” Pence — whoannounced his campaign for the presidencyin June — added.
Trump supporters turn a rally into a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Samuel Corum/Getty
“Don’t you think it would have had an effect if you had come out in mid-December, when it was very clear the Electoral College had certified Biden’s win — if you had come out and publicly conceded the election?” Collins asked. “Why didn’t you do that?”
“Well, I wanted to be respectful. Remember, we had about 60 lawsuits that were working, some of which were still in the courts,” Pence responded, noting that Trump and his allies launched a number of lawsuits that failed to find any evidence of election fraud.
As Pence himself noted in the interview, Trump has continued to claim Pence had the authority to overturn the election results in his favor. The two’s relationship soured when Pence issued astatementon the morning of Jan. 6, 2021 — as the election results were being certified in the U.S. Capitol — explaining he did not have that authority.
An angered Trump then took to Twitter to say Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
Trump’s supporters eventually overpowered Capitol police and forced their way into the building as lawmakers were tallying votes. The scene led to the deaths of four people as well as the evacuation of Congress and the vice president himself, who was whisked to an undisclosed location.
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Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard and Annie Kuster take cover as rioters attempt to break in to the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Footage showed that some of Trump’s supporters were chanting “hang Mike Pence” as they roamed the Capitol (a chant that Trump himselfallegedly endorsedwhile watching the footage on television).
Once lawmakers were able to reenter the building after the mob was cleared, Pence ultimately did affirm the results for Biden. Hehas since calledJan. 6 “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.”
In testimony before aU.S. House committee investigating the riots, former aides and those close to Trump, including daughterIvanka Trump, attorneyRudy Giuliani, former assistant Nicholas Luna, and Ivanka’s chief of staff Julie Radford, said that the former president had a heated phone call with Pence hours prior to the violence.
“The conversation was … was pretty heated,” Ivanka said, in pre-recorded video testimony. “It was a different tone than I’d heard him take with the vice president before.”
Luna offered further details, saying, “I remember hearing the word ‘wimp.’ Either he called him a wimp — I don’t remember if he said, ‘you are a wimp, you’ll be a wimp’ — wimp is the word I remember.”
According to Radford, Trump called Pence “the P-word.”
Pence is currently campaigning for the presidency in a move that pits him head to head against his embattled ex-boss.
source: people.com
