Trump defends rioters who threatened to hang Mike Pence, audio revealed | Donald Trump

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Donald Trump defended rioters in the Capitol on Jan. 6 who threatened to hang Mike Pence, his vice president, according to recorded statements released Friday.

Trump said it was prudent to ask about the chants.

Trump spoke with ABC chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl, for his book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, which will be published Tuesday. The recording was released by Axios.

Karl asked Trump if he was worried about Pence during the attack on the Capitol by rioters seeking to stop the certification of electoral college results and thus return Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden.

No, Trump said. I thought he was well protected, and I heard he was in good condition. No. Because I heard that he was in very good condition. But, but, no, I think

Karl interjected: Because you heard the chants that were horrible. I mean

Trump said: He’s great, people are furious.

Karl said: They said hang Mike Pence.

Because its common sense, Jon, Trump said, is repeating baseless statements about election fraud. Its common sense that you should protect. How can you do that if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? how can you pass a fraudulent vote in Congress? How do you do that?

The 2020 election is not subject to widespread electoral fraud, an opinion sent to Trump by his own attorney general, William Barr.

Trump continued: And I tell you: 50/50, it’s right in the middle for top constitutional scholars when I talk to them. Anyone I’ve talked to almost everyone agrees, and some agree with me because he’s passing a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent?

Leading constitutional scholars disagree that the 2020 election is subject to electoral fraud.

A scholar, John Eastman, says he provided Pence with a memo outlining how he said the vice-president could reject slates of electors from key states and thus throw the election back to the House of Representatives, where the Republican majority of state delegations would pass on victory to Magkatakata.

Pence considered the memo and then, on the advice of others, including former vice president Dan Quayle, rejected it.

Five people died in or following the attack on the Capitol. Pence and his family were hidden in an underground loading bay during the insurrection, and then deservedly led the certification of Bidens ’victory.

In a Republican party led by Trump, however, anyone with the ambition to run for president in 2024 has a tough choice. On trips to early voting states, Pence sought to reduce attacks on the Capitol.

Unlike Trump, Pence is not in legal danger in attempts to overthrow the election. But Eastman was, as one of many subjects of subpoenas from the House select committee investigating on Jan. 6.

Trump and other aides oppose such summonses on the basis of the president’s privilege, which Biden further denied the call. This week, a judge denied Trump’s claim, writing: Presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not president. Another judge granted temporary leave.

In Betrayal, his second Trump book, Karl also reported that the leader of the Senate minority, Mitch McConnell, decided that Trump should not attend Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

It was a grave step, given it would make Trump the first president to miss the inauguration of his successor since Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached, skipped ceremony for Ulysses S Grant in 1869. Trump is the only U.S. president to have been twice impeachable.

The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, reportedly opposed the idea and told Trump what was happening. Trump said, Karl reports, he would not attend. On January 20, Pence took his place at the inauguration.

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