The Corner

Politics & Policy

Mike Pence into the Breach

The Washington Post has a good report on the breakdown of the Trump-Pence relationship that includes this account of last Wednesday:

Pence went to the Capitol and prepared to certify the results. Soon, the mob descended, and Trump verbally attacked the vice president.

Pence declined to leave the Capitol after protesters breached the compound, even though his security detail on three occasions suggested it would be a good idea to do so, a senior administration official said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others left.

While Trump was watching TV and resisting entreaties to tell the mob to go home, Pence repeatedly called military officials and others in the government to expedite the National Guard’s deployment, officials said. He talked with McConnell about reinstating the certification vote that evening and met with Capitol Police officials, even as Trump and lawyers continued to call senators and House members to try to slow down the certification. Neither Trump nor anyone in the White House checked on Pence, although Short eventually called Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to update him on their safety.

Throughout the ordeal, it was Pence, not Trump, who was in close contact with military and congressional leaders about bringing in the National Guard and securing the Capitol.

“Although the Vice President and I were not together during the evacuation, he personally got very involved and stayed in close contact with me as we worked to secure urgently needed resources to thwart the mob and I appreciate those efforts greatly,” McConnell said in a statement to The Washington Post. McConnell told others he was enraged with Trump and planned to never speak to him again.

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