Last Updated on November 14, 2022
Former Vice-President Mike Pence blamed then-President Donald Trump for the events of the January 6 Capitol protests. Echoing Biden regime talking points that have led to a now years-long FBI crackdown and lengthy, unprecedented prison sentences for peaceful protesters, Pence said that Trump “endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building” during the mostly peaceful protest that devolved into violence at the Capitol. The vast majority of arrested Trump supporters were not charged with violent crimes, while a number of questions remain unanswered about the events that led up to the small riot that left two Trump supporters dead.
“The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” Pence told ABC’s David Muir in reference to January 6. “It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,” Pence bluntly insisted.
Pence, who has floated the idea of challenging his former boss in the 2020 GOP presidential primary, said that President Trump’s “refusal” to accept the results of the 2020 election put him and other lawmakers in danger. According to Pence, Trump encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” and head to the Capitol as the vice president was overseeing Congress’ certification of the election results.
“The president’s words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building,” Pence told ABC News in an interview set to release on Monday evening.
At one point in the interview’s teaser trailer, Muir asked the former vice president about a Trump tweet that called for Pence to accept alternate electors that had been sent by a number of states. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” wrote Trump.
After a long pause, Pence admitted that the tweet “angered” him.
“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 request to contest the election as several House Republicans and Senators did that day. “I mean the president’s words were reckless,” Pence stated.
As the protesters were inside the Capitol building — the vast majority of which were peaceful according to countless hours of footage that documented the day’s events — Pence spoke with numerous top officials, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but not Trump himself, the sitting president.
When asked, “where was the president in all this,” Pence said: “I can’t account for what the president was doing that day.”
“I was at a loading dock at the Capitol, where a riot was taking place.”
The Pence interview was conducted at his home in order to promote his upcoming memoir, So Help Me God. The former VP has generally stayed away from attacking Trump, though he has stated that he is unlikely to support his presidential bid in 2020.
Mike Pence on ABC: "The president's words were reckless" pic.twitter.com/dNQtTZDjSf
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(@PoliticsVerse) November 13, 2022
Trump supporters and conservatives have pointed out that Pence’s framing of the small riot falls in line with Biden regime talking points that have been used to conduct an unprecedented crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Corporate media outlets have repeatedly referred to the small riot — which took place after tens-of-thousands of Trump supporters peacefully gathered for a rally — as an “armed” and “deadly” insurrection. In the days following the events at the Capitol, President Biden held a state funeral for Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Corporate media and Democrat leaders spread the lie that Sicknick was “beaten to death with a fire extinguisher,” though this was later thoroughly discredited, as an autopsy revealed that the officer died after suffering an unrelated stroke.
Despite the lie having been thoroughly discredited for just about two years, elected Democrats and corporate media outlets continue to assert that officer Sicknick was murdered by Trump supporters.
Read More: Senator Thom Tillis Ignores Abuse of 1/6 Prisoners, Repeats False Claim Sicknick ‘Died in the Line of Duty’
While pushing this lie, the same entities have conveniently ignored the fact that the only fatalities recorded that day were Trump supporters. Unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot by Capitol Police officer Robert Byrd, while Rosanne Boyland was knocked unconscious as officers battled with the crowd. As Boyland lay unconscious, she was beaten by a Capitol Police officer and was later pronounced dead.
The killing of Ashli Babbitt has been hailed as a heroic act by the same entities who have compared George Floyd to Jesus Christ, while the officer who beat an unconscious Boyland was honored at the Super Bowl.
In total, close to 500 Trump supporters who entered the Capitol or, in some cases, simply stood outside the building, have been arrested and charged with felonies for non-violent crimes. Most have entered plea deals for illegally picketing in the Capitol Building, which in the case of previous disturbances almost always carried a fine. In January 6 cases, however, a number of peaceful protesters have been sentenced to prison and lengthy probation terms for simply entering the Capitol building.
Read More: 69-Year-Old Cancer Patient Grandmother Gives Emotional Message Before Entering Prison Over January 6 Charge
Despite Pence’s latest assertions, President Trump urged his supporters to remain peaceful when protesting the results both before the riot began, and afterwards.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” Trump said in his speech that took place prior to the incident. “Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for [the] integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time, far longer than this four-year period.”