(New York) Former Vice President Mike Pence accuses Donald Trump of endangering his family “and everyone who serves on Capitol Hill,” Jan. 6, 2021, in a new book released Tuesday.
In his work So Help Me GodMr. Pence speaks, for the first time in his own words, about the unprecedented moves by the former president to ask him to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He also offers his version of the facts of the assault on the Capitol by hundreds of rioters, some of whom chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.”
“They had come to protest the result of the election and prevent Congress from carrying out its responsibility to open and count the votes of the Electoral College,” he wrote. And, as I learned later, many were looking for me. »
The book, which traces Mike Pence’s political life – from his days as a young Democratic activist to his swearing in as a congressman in 2001 – broadly defends Mr Trump, evading some controversial episodes and defending him on several others.
“I have always been loyal to President Donald Trump,” reads the beginning of the book.
But Mr. Pence, who has spent years refusing to publicly criticize his former boss, says Jan. 6, 2021, was a breaking point in which, he writes, Trump’s “reckless remarks endangered my family.” and all who served on the Capitol.
“For four years, we had a close relationship at work. It didn’t end well,” Pence added, summarizing their time in the White House.
Yet, he says, “we parted amicably when our service to the nation ended. »
“In the months that followed, we spoke from time to time, but when the president returned to the rhetoric he was using before that tragic day and began to publicly criticize those of us who defended the Constitution, I decided it was better for us to separate. »
The book, published by Simon & Schuster, comes as Mike Pence looks increasingly likely to run for president in 2024, a move that would put him in direct conflict with Mr Trump, who is expected to officially launch his own campaign. for re-election in Florida on Tuesday night.
A good idea at the start
Mr. Pence, who in the book never directly states that Democrat Joe Biden won the election, writes that when Donald Trump first suggested holding a rally in Washington on January 6, the day he was to presiding over the certification of the elections, he thought it was a good idea. “My first thought was that a rally that day might be helpful in drawing even more attention to the debates in the House and Senate,” he explains.
Mr Pence recalls sitting in the Senate Chamber when a staffer leaned over to inform him that rioters had entered the building. A member of his secret service then rushed over to insist that they leave. Mike Pence refused to leave the building and was instead led to a Senate loading dock, where he spent hours, surrounded by staff and family, phoning military and congressional leaders to coordinate the government’s response. Meanwhile, the president – who never bothered to check that Mr Pence was safe – sat cloistered, watching television.
“Everything was a blur of motion and chaos: security and police officers directing people to safety, staff members screaming and running for cover. I could see the intensity in the eyes of the Secret Service people; it was also audible in the voices of the Capitol police. I could hear footsteps and chants of anger, ”wrote the ex-president.
Yet Mr Pence insists he was “not scared”, he was only angry at what was happening.
At 2:24 p.m., while the VP remained in hiding, Mr. Trump posted this infamous tweet saying that Mr. Pence “did not have the guts to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution. “.
“I just shook my head,” Pence said. The truth was, as reckless as the president’s tweet was, I really didn’t have time. Rioters ransacked the Capitol. […] The president had decided to be part of the problem. I was determined to be part of the solution. I ignored the tweet and got back to work. »
Preparing for 2024
Mike Pence also describes Mr Trump’s campaign to pressure him into rejecting the election results, even though the Constitution makes it clear that the vice president’s role is purely ceremonial.
During a lunch on November 16, 2020, Mr. Pence recounts that he told his boss that “if the legal challenges failed and he did not want to concede, he could just accept the election results, continue the transition and preparing for a political comeback, to win the Senate runoff in Georgia, the gubernatorial race in Virginia in 2021, and the House and Senate in 2022.”
Mr. Pence also reportedly told him that he could run for president in 2024, to which Mr. Trump reportedly replied that “2024 is so far away”.
At another luncheon, Mr Pence claims he told the president to view the election not as a defeat but as an “intermission”, encouraging him to recognize the results after exhausting all legal remedies.
“He nodded, pointed as if to say, ‘this is worth considering,’ and walked back to the back lane,” he wrote.
But as the lawsuits by Donald Trump’s legal team continued to fail, Mr Pence claims the ex-president’s mood soured and he grew increasingly furious. Mr Pence says Mr Trump berated him, telling him: “You are being too honest”.
“Hundreds of thousands will hate you […] people are going to think you’re stupid,” Mr. Trump reportedly told his vice president.
“As the days went by, it became clear that there would be a real cost for me politically when I chaired the certification of the 2020 elections, he underlines in the book. I always knew that I did not have the power to annul the election. I knew it would hurt my friend if I participated in the certification. But my duty was clear. »
A long meeting
After the Capitol was emptied of rioters, Congress reconvened and Mr. Pence presided over the certification of his and Donald Trump’s defeat. For several days, the two men did not speak to each other. But when they finally met, five days later, Mr Pence said they spent more than 90 minutes together, alone.
“I told him that I had prayed for him for the past four and a half years, and encouraged him to pray,” Mr. Pence wrote. Mr. Trump reportedly remained silent.
“With genuine sadness in his voice, the president then wondered, ‘What if we hadn’t had the rally? What if they hadn’t gone to the Capitol?’ Then he said, “It’s too terrible to end up like this.” »