(New York Post) Former Vice President Mike Pence said then-President Donald Trump “endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building” during the Jan. 6 riot.
“The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” Pence told ABC’s David Muir of his clear anger at his commander-in-chief as rioters stormed the Capital in 2021.
“It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,” insisted Pence in his most blunt account of his anger from that day.
Pence, 63, made clear that he feels Trump’s refusal to admit he lost the 2020 election put him in danger as he told fired-up supporters to “fight like hell” and head to the Capitol as Pence was overseeing Congress’ certification of the results.
“It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law,” former Vice President Mike Pence said of his decision to oppose Trump’s election fraud narrative.
A man calls on people to raid the building as Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they try to storm the US Capitol.
Pence had to flee the Capitol as some of those storming it chanted desires to “hang” him.
Pence sits with daughter, Charlotte, and brother, Greg, as wife, Karen, draws the curtains, in the room off the Senate floor where he was evacuated to on Jan. 6, 2021.
Then-Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi read the final certification of Electoral College votes cast in November’s presidential election during a joint session of Congress after working through the night on Jan. 7, 2021.
Trump, 76, claimed Pence could easily overturn the result — with those storming the building then chanting “Hang Mike Pence” and erecting gallows, forcing him to flee the building.
“The president’s words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building,” Pence told Muir in an interview set to air in full Monday.
He breathed heavily and looked uncomfortable when asked about Trump’s first tweet on the chaos even as members were “barricaded inside the House Chamber.”
The Jan. 6 House Select Committee shows a video of former Vice President Mike Pence looking at his phone after being evacuated from the Senate chamber.AFP via Getty Images
“It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,” Pence insisted about the former president.AFP via Getty Images
Then-President Donald Trump told fired-up supporters to “fight like hell” and head to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.AP
The message, Muir reminded him, said that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
After an eight-second pause, Pence finally admitted that “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 of his decision to oppose Trump’s push to deny the results.
