Vice President Mike Pence (R) is greeted by Sgt. At Arms Michael Stenger (L) from the House of Representatives to the Senate in the U.S. Capitol after a joint certification session for President-Elect Joe Biden on January 6, 2021 in Washington, USA Challenge had been posed.
Mike Theiler | Reuters
The Capitol rioters nearly reached Vice President Mike Pence, who was sentenced to death for false claims that he could overthrow Joe Biden’s election victory, the Washington Post reported Friday.
After a pro-Trump mob broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, Pence officials along with his wife and daughter from the Senate evacuated to a nearby room, according to the newspaper. A group that stormed the Capitol landed about 100 feet from where the Pences were hiding, just about a minute after the vice president left the Senate Chamber, the report said.
During the chaos, some invaders sang “Hang Mike Pence”.
The report emphasized how close the Capitol attackers were to finding top US government officials during the insurrection.
In response to the newspaper report, intelligence spokeswoman Justine Whelan replied that Pence was safe all day.
“While the secret service does not specifically talk about the means and methods of our protective measures, Vice President Pence was safe at all times on Jan. 6,” Whelan said in an email.
Trump claimed that in his formal role as chairman of the election census, Pence had the authority to send certified results back to states. The Vice President does not have this power. Pence made no attempt to sway the count when Congress finalized the vote, both before and hours after the rioters overran the Capitol.
While the Vice President hid from the mob, Trump tweeted: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, and gave states a chance to revise a set of Certifying facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones they had to certify beforehand. US demands the truth! “
Trump reportedly neglected Pence’s safety throughout the day. Some of the 10 House Republicans who voted against Trump on Wednesday for inciting insurgency cited the president’s comments on pence to explain their stance.
A Pence spokesman did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the Washington Post report.
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