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Mike Pence grilled on whether Trump should run in ’24, says ‘reckless’ president ‘angered’ him

November 14, 2022 | | Print Article

Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose memoir “So Help Me God” is set for release on Tuesday, sat down for an exclusive interview with ABC’s David Muir – his first interview since the January 6 protest.

A teaser is out, in which Pence airs his feelings about former President Donald Trump and his actions on January 6, 2020, saying his tweets that day were “reckless” and incited a mob.

The full interview will air tonight on “World News Tonight.”

In the teaser, Muir reads the president’s tweet, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

There was a full 10-second pause before Pence finally responded, “It angered me.”

After another significant pause, he said, “But I turned to my daughter, who was standing nearby, and I said, ‘It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law.'”

“The president’s words were reckless,” he said in a somber voice.

President Trump famously pressed his vice president not to certify the vote that would officially make Joe Biden the president-elect. Pence, who always had a mindset to do his job, would not be a party to a protest. He decided to do the thing he was expected to do, whether that represented bravery, cowardice, or just habit.

Evidently, it upset him that Trump wouldn’t do the same.

“It’s clear he decided to be part of the problem,” Pence told Muir.

ABC News reports some of the other questions that Muir asked Pence. Should Trump be re-elected? Will Pence run for president? Did Trump hurt Republicans in the midterms? Muir also reportedly asked a Mar-a-Lago-related question – what did he make of the accusation that Trump took classified documents from the White House?

In his new book, Pence claims that the mob was, at one point, just 40 feet away from him, and he was forced to hide inside the Capitol Building.

He said the Secret Service urged him to leave, but he didn’t want cameras to spy him escaping in a motorcade, giving the rioters a sense of victory.

Pence writes, “We walked out into the hall slowly. All around us was a blur of motion and chaos: security and police officers directing people to safety, staffers shouting and running for shelter. I heard footsteps and angry chanting.”

“Making our way to the basement of the Capitol took a few extra minutes because I insisted that we walk, not run.”

Pence further recounts a conversation he had with Trump five days later in which the president expressed regret while Pence expressed anger.

“I… told him that [my wife and daughter] had been at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He responded with a hint of regret, ‘I just learned that.’ He then asked, ‘Were you scared?'”

“I was angry. You and I had our differences that day, Mr. President, and seeing those people tearing up the Capitol infuriated me.”

This type of exposé frustrates normal people – politicians coming out with allegations long after the fact, making news only when they have a book to sell.

There were bombshells practically every day during the Trump presidency. The walls were always “closing in,” even though they never were. Right about now, though, he must feel like they finally are. People are starting to turn on him who never did in the past. He must feel like a man without reliable allies and completely unappreciated for all he did. He must feel used.

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