Former US Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday that history will hold ex-US President Donald Trump ‘accountable’ for his role in the 2021 assault on the Capitol, US media reported. .
“President Trump was wrong,” Mr. Pence, his former running mate, said in a speech at the Gridiron Dinner, a gala hosted by journalists attended by high-profile political figures.
“I had no right to cancel [le résultat de] the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol that day. And I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable,” Pence was quoted by multiple media as saying.
Among the thousands of protesters who took over the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, some had called for Mr. Pence to be hanged, forcing Mr. Trump’s vice president to rush to a place of safety.
The remarks are sure to deepen the rift between the two politicians, who have been at loggerheads since Mike Pence refused to back Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result and stay in power.
Donald Trump has already made public his intention to run for a new term in the 2024 presidential election, and Mike Pence has indicated that he could challenge him for the nomination of the Republican Party.
Usually, the Gridiron Dinner is a light event punctuated by sketches and music, and the former vice-president from this point of view first sought to make the audience laugh.
“I will wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly support the Republican candidate for president in 2024 — if that’s me. »
Mike Pence’s scathing remarks about Donald Trump at the gala were unexpected.
“I was at dinner and can confirm that @Mike_Pence really took the room by surprise — lots of jaws dropped,” tweeted Maryam Mujica, a former State Department official.