On Jan. 6, violent insurrectionists erected a gallows, stormed the U.S. Capitol, and chanted “hang Mike Pence!” as they searched for him.
Pence’s boss, former President Donald Trump, was totally fine with it.
That’s the revelation from an interview between ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl and Trump, in which the former president defended the people who threatened the life of his vice president. A clip of the interview was released on Friday in advance of the publication of Karl’s book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” which comes out next week.
Asked by Karl if he had been worried about his vice president’s safety during the attack, Trump was blunt.
“No, I thought he was well protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape,” Trump said.
“You heard those chants,” Karl pressed. “That was terrible. I mean — ”
Instead of condemning the calls for violence, Trump defended them: “Well, the people were very angry,” he said.
“They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence,’” Karl reminded him.
Trump didn’t respond to Karl’s point and instead repeated his belief that Pence, as president of the Senate, should have refused to certify the electoral votes.
Pence refused to carry out what would have effectively been a coup, earning his boss’ enmity.
Photos of Pence taken at the time of the siege cast doubt on Trump’s narrative that the vice president was “well protected.” According to Karl, Pence is trying to block the release of the photos, which were taken by the official White House photographer, and show him holed up in a sparse, concrete garage as the Capitol was under attack.
Listen to Karl’s interview with Trump, below: