Mike Pence: Donald Trump was wrong, history will hold him accountable | Attack on the US Capitol

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Mike Pence has offered a rebuke to his one-time boss Donald Trump, saying history will hold him accountable for his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Pence, then the vice president, was at the Capitol when thousands of Trump supporters breached the building in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Because the vice president has the constitutional role of president of the Senate, Pence presides over the previously ceremonial task of approving electoral college votes.

Throughout the siege, Trump sent several tweets, one calling on Republicans to fight back and others making false claims of voter fraud. He also criticized Pence for certifying the results.

President Trump is wrong, Pence told reporters and their guests at the Gridiron dinner, an annual white-tie event in Washington DC.

I have no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words put my family and everyone in the Capitol at risk that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.

Pence, who is considering a run for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, was taken to safety by law enforcement during the attack.

He rarely spoke on Jan. 6 in the months that followed, but he has since stepped up his criticism of the rioters and Trump’s behavior that day. In a memoir released in November she accused Trump of endangering her family.

What happened that day was a disgrace, Pence said Saturday. And it mocks decency to present it in a different way. As long as I live, I will never minimize the injuries sustained, the lives lost, or the heroism of law enforcement on that tragic day.

A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours.

Pences remarks came days after conservative television host Tucker Carlson aired highly selective, misleading security footage of the Capitol attack, in an attempt to claim that many of the rioters were fine.

Carlson’s portrayal was sharply criticized by Democrats and some high-profile Republicans in the Senate, though many other Republicans, particularly in the House of Representatives, shrugged off the episode.

Including Reuters

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