Former Vice President Mike Pence broke his silence over the January 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday, revealing that he and former President Donald Trump are still at odds over the event.
Pence stunned the audience with his remarks, according to an attending reporter speaking ahead of a Republican Party event at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire. He refused to talk about January 6th, a day when he was played against the Constitution by his former Vice President. Trump, who had debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from current President Joe Biden, repeatedly urged Pence to use the January 6th electoral college vote in Congress to overturn the result. However, like any respected constitutional scholar, Pence concluded that his ministerial role in the trial did not give him any power to change the outcome.
In the run-up to the event, Trump delivered a speech to his supporters, whom he had called in Washington DC, and asked them to march towards the U.S. Capitol, where Congress was assembled. Groups of his supporters stormed the building and dismissed a violent attack that injured dozens of police officers and killed several people. Democrats and more than a dozen Republicans in Congress accused Trump of instigating the violent uprising.
Trump and the anger of the crowd had been particularly directed against Pence. A lot of the insurgents were even filmed cheering for “Hang Mike Pence.”
“Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol, ”Pence said Thursday. “Thanks to the swift action of the US Capitol and federal law enforcement agencies, the violence was put down, the Capitol was secured, and on the same day we reconvened Congress and done our duty under the Constitution and law of the United States.”
At this point in the speech the crowd was noticeably silent.
“You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever agree that day, ”he continued. “But I will always be proud of what we have achieved for the American people over the past four years.”
The crowd burst into applause. But, according to Business Insider reporter Jake Lahut, those remarks changed the tone of the evening.
“It was almost a noticeable shock in the room when Pence mentioned January 6th,” Lahut reported on Twitter. “The mood has calmed down a lot since Pence grew up on January 6th.”
Otherwise, Pence was full of praise for the former president and shot the Democrats. Even on January 6th, he accused the Democrats of using the day to “divert our attention” from the Biden administration. While that criticism sounded hollow, he admitted both the seriousness of the violence that day and the suggestion that Trump was ambivalent at best about the attack.
Pence on Jan. 6: “President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever agree that day. But I will always be proud of what we have achieved… ”pic.twitter.com/AibOUha531
– Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 3, 2021
Comments are closed.