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Former US Vice President Mike Pence sharpens the tone against Donald Trump and his actions in connection with the storming of Congress, in an interview with ABC.
“The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” Pence said.
On January 6, 2021, the members of the United States Congress gathered in the congressional building, called the Capitol, to count the electoral votes of the presidential election and formally designate the Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the election and the next president.
In Washington DC, at the same time, tens of thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump participated in a mass meeting. There, Trump repeated his false claims of systematic voter fraud and urged supporters to go to Congress: “If you don’t get the hell out of there, you won’t have a country anymore,” he said.
“Danger to me”
Many did as he said. The protests turned violent when hundreds of people stormed the Capitol and clashed with police.
Pence was in the building that fateful day presiding over the certification.
– The president’s words that day in front of the crowd meant a danger to me and my family and everyone in the Capitol, says Pence, who this week releases his memoirs, in the television interview.
In the book “So help me God”, Pence describes his version of events, and claims there that when he refused to try to stop the certification, Trump said “you are too honest”, and further writes that the president is said to have said “people will think that you are stupid,” according to The New York Times.
“Part of the problem”
The crowd that entered the Capitol chanted “hang Mike Pence”. Trump then rather fired at them by criticizing his vice president on Twitter – who he wanted to try to change the election results – for being a “coward”.
When asked how Pence felt when he saw the Twitter post, he says:
– It made me angry. But I turned to my daughter who was standing nearby and said: It takes no courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law.
Five people, including a policeman, lost their lives in connection with the attack.
– The President’s words were careless, it is clear that he decided to be part of the problem, says Pence.