- Pence was in the Capitol when thousands of Trump fans stormed the building.
- Pence was presiding over what had always been the ceremonial process of approving the votes.
- He harshly attacked Trump’s behavior in a recent interview.
Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivered his strongest denunciation to his former employer Donald Trump yet on Saturday, saying history will hold him accountable for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol.
Pence was in the Capitol when thousands of Trump fans stormed the building, attempting to prevent Congress from recognizing the results of Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden.
Pence was presiding over what had always been the ceremonial process of approving the votes of the Electoral College to determine the president and vice president, as the vice president holds the constitutional role of Senate president.
Throughout the siege, Trump issued multiple tweets, one of which urged Republicans to “fight” and another of which made bogus accusations about voter fraud. He also chastised Pence for approving the results.
“President Trump was wrong,” Pence told assembled journalists and their guests at the Gridiron dinner, an annual white-tie event in Washington, D.C.
“I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
During the incident, Pence, who is exploring a candidature for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, was taken to safety by law officers.
Most pointed
In the months following the incident, he rarely mentioned Jan. 6, but he has subsequently increased his condemnation of the rioters and his former boss’s behavior on that day.
In recent media interviews, he has harshly attacked Trump’s behavior, and in a memoir published in November, he accused Trump of threatening his family.
Yet, Pence’s remarks on Saturday were his most pointed to date.
“What happened that day was a disgrace,” he said. “And it mocks decency to portray it any other way. For as long as I live, I will never, ever diminish the injuries sustained, the lives lost, or the heroism of law enforcement on that tragic day.”
Outside of work hours, a Trump representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since the two left offices, Pence’s relationship with Trump has been complicated. He denounced the former president’s behavior but avoided the most venomous rebukes of Trump. He also refused to participate with the House of Representatives committee probing the Capitol attack, labeling their work as biased.
The former vice president’s comments on Saturday suggest he is willing to distance himself from Trump more aggressively as the 2024 race heats up, even if it means losing millions of GOP voters who still support the former president.
His remarks came just days after conservative television host Tucker Carlson aired security footage of the Capitol attack, claiming that many of the rioters were “orderly.”
Carlson’s depiction of Jan. 6 was sharply criticized by Democrats and several high-profile Republicans in the Senate, though many other Republicans – particularly in the House – shrugged off the episode.
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