Mike Pence will not testify at the committee hearing on Thursday, January 6th. But it will be in the spotlight as attention is focused on former President Donald Trump’s desperate and futile attempts to persuade his vice president to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hand them a second term.
“As you can hear, President Trump has put in a relentless effort to pressure Pence both privately and in public,” Liz Cheney, the committee’s lead Republican, said last week.
“Vice President Pence has consistently demonstrated his loyalty to Donald Trump for four years, but he knew he had a higher duty to the United States Constitution.”
What do we know about Mr. Pence’s actions before and during this day:
Under pressure
Donald Trump put Mike Pence under pressure in the days leading up to the January 6 events. (Reuters: Carlos Barria)
When Trump’s frantic efforts to prevent defeat were thwarted by the courts and state officials, he and his allies rallied on Jan. 6, the day a joint session of Congress would meet to formalize the victory. President-elect Joe Biden, as his last chance to stay in power.
The campaign of hard-handed pressure intensified in the days leading up to the 6th when Mr. Trump, attorney John Eastman, and others in Trump’s orbit tried to convince Mr. Pence that he had the power to revoke the will of the voters on a handful of critical battlefields. states simply by rejecting the votes of the Electoral College or sending the results to the states, although the Constitution makes it clear that the role of the vice president in the proceedings is largely ceremonial.
Pence spent hours meeting with staff, including his attorney general, Greg Jacob, studying the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which regulates procedures, and met with the Senate MP to understand his role.
He also received outside advice, including former Vice President Dan Quayle.
Some aides have called on Mr. Trump not to put his inflexibly loyal vice president in such a precarious position.
Pence was already widely seen as a potential future presidential candidate, and a public crackdown with Trump was seen as a potential end-of-career potential.
But Trump continued to push, both publicly and behind the scenes.
On Monday, January 4, Eastman and Trump pressured Mr. Pence to agree to the plan at an oval office meeting.
At a rally that night in Georgia, Trump said his fate was in the hands of his vice president.
“I hope Mike Pence comes for us,” he told the crowd.
Mr. Trump continued to push at an oval office meeting the next day, where he again urged Mr. Pence to use the powers the vice president did not have to overturn voters.
Mr. Pence made it clear that he was not convinced.
That day, Jacob sent a note in which he put in writing his conclusion that if Mr. Pence followed Mr. Eastman’s proposal, he would probably lose in court, at best, or trigger a constitutional crisis, Politico reported. for the first time.
Tensions were so high that Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, called Mr. Pence’s top secret service agent that day, The New York Times reported for the first time. the vice president’s refusal to accompany Trump. it was about to be made public.
‘Mike Pence Penja’
The pressure continued throughout the night.
“If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes out, we will win the presidency,” Trump tweeted around 1 p.m.
“All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the United States, AND WE WIN,” he wrote later that morning. “Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”
Mr. Pence was at his residence at the Naval Observatory on the morning of the 6th of January when he last spoke with Mr. Pence. Trump, who was joined in the Oval Office by his daughter Ivanka and Mr. National Security Adviser Pence, Keith Kellogg.
During the 11 a.m. call, Mr. Trump reprimanded Mr. Pence, punishing him for not being tough enough to follow through with the plan, according to Kellogg’s testimony in committee.
The crowd whipped into a frenzy outside the Capitol. (Reuters: Leah Millis)
Pence then headed to the Capitol to oversee the counting of Electoral College votes that would formalize Trump’s defeat.
But first Mr. Pence made official what his aides had already made clear. In a letter to colleagues in Congress, Pence explained why he could not follow Trump’s plan.
“It is my view that my oath to support and defend the Constitution limits me to claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” he wrote.
At 1:03 p.m., he officially gave the session to the U.S. Senate while pro-Trump rioters, who had already broken through the Capitol barricades, were clashing outside with police.
At the time, Mr. Trump was about to end his speech at the Ellipse in which he repeatedly addressed Mr. Pence and urged his supporters to “fight like hell.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Trump promises to “never give in” before protests erupt
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we’ll win the election,” Trump falsely told the crowd.
“All Vice President Pence has to do is send it to the states for recertification and we will become president and you are the happiest people.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows to get volume.
Outside the Capitol, the scene turned into violent chaos when rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged at the Capitol and quickly overwhelmed the police.
An officer was repeatedly beaten and beaten with a stun gun until he had a heart attack. Another was foaming at the mouth and shouting for help as the mutineers crushed him between two doors and hit him in the head with his own weapon.
At 1:49 p.m., DC police officially declared a riot.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume.
At around 2:12 p.m., Mr. Pence was expelled from the Senate while riots flooded inland.
The Washington Post reported for the first time that Mr. Pence, who had been joined that day by his wife and daughter, was at a time less than 100 feet (30 meters) from a group of protesters.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume.
In hiding
Mr. Pence spent the next few hours hiding with his staff and family, first in his ceremonial office and then in an underground loading dock inside the Capitol complex.
At least twice, he rejected requests from security personnel to leave the building, insisting that it was crucial that he stay in place.
But even though the horror was played live on television, Trump, instead of urging his supporters to return home, criticized Mr. Pence.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states the opportunity to certify a set of corrected facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones that are He asked them to certify in advance. “Mr. Trump tweeted at 2:24 p.m.
“The US is demanding the truth!”
Mr. Trump’s tweet echoed through the angry crowd.
The images obtained by the committee show the rioters reading aloud the words of Mr. Trump and the crowd shouting “Hang Mike Pence!”
An improvised gallows was photographed outside.
The committee alleges that Trump was aware of the chants and “responded with that feeling, ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea.’ Mike Pence ‘deserves it,'” Cheney accused.
‘Let’s get back to work’
Mike Pence completed his role in the election despite being under severe pressure. (AP: Saul Loeb / Pool)
At 8 p.m., after hours of fear and carnage, the Capitol was finally considered safe and Mr. Pence reconvened the Senate with a message.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume.
“Today was a dark day in the history of the U.S. Capitol. But thanks to the rapid efforts of U.S. Capitol police, federal, state and local law enforcement, the violence was stifled,” he said. .
“The Capitol is secured. And the work of the people continues.
“Let’s get back to work,” he said amid applause.
Shortly after 3:40 a.m., Pence officially declared Trump’s electoral defeat, as well as his own.
AP