Vice President Mike Pence was visibly angry about the rioters on Capitol Hill and lamented about President Donald Trump blaming him for the election loss.
‘After all the things I’ve done’ for Trump was Pence’s reported reaction to the president pressuring him to illegally overturn the election.
Pence, who steadfastly stood by Trump’s side for four years, relayed his reaction to his close friend in Congress, Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who then told it to his local newspaper, the Tulsa World.
‘I’ve known Mike Pence forever,’ Inhofe said. ‘I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.
‘I had a long conversation with him,’ he noted. ‘He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for (Trump).’
Wednesday appeared to mark a turning point in Pence and Trump’s relationship after the vice president stood loyally by Trump’s side through the Access Hollywood tape during the 2016 campaign, the impeachment process and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Vice President Mike Pence lamented about President Trump blaming him for the election loss; ‘After all the things I’ve done’ for Trump was Pence’s reported reaction
Pence friend Republican Senator James Inhofe relayed what Pence told him about how he was upset and angry at the president; the two men are seen together earlier this month when Pence swore in Inhofe for another term
Vice President Pence was quick to denounce the mob that ransacked Capitol Hill
Trump raged at Pence in the lead up to Wednesday’s Joint Session of Congress, a ceremonial day where lawmakers, as mandated by the constitution, hear the vote tally of the electoral college. It is the last step in certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
The president repeatedly hammered Pence to act illegally and overturn the election in his favor, making his case to the vice president privately and publicly.
Pence did not have the power to constitutionally do what Trump was asking. The vice president’s role in the Joint Session is largely ceremonial.
Inhofe told reporters on Capitol Hill that Pence told him he was ‘very upset’ with Trump.
The Republican from Oklahoma, who has served in Congress since 1994, said he’d spoken to Pence about the president.
‘He was very upset with him,’ Inhofe noted.
Trump remained furious with Pence even as the vice president was locked down in the Capitol as a pro-Trump mob ransacked the building, breaching the Senate chamber, with some even looking for the vice president.
Pence had been presiding in the Senate shortly before the insurgents broke in. Security removed him to an undisclosed location in the Capitol.
As the protesters rushed the Senate floor, taking a seat on the dais and rummaging through senators’ desks, one yelled: ‘Where’s Pence, show yourself!’
Meanwhile, one senior administration official, told The Washington Post that Trump was so mad at Pence ‘he couldn’t see straight.’
Other White House aides were angry Trump verbally castigated Pence when the vice president, who was secured in the Capitol building, was in harm’s way.
A former senior administration official briefed on the president’s private conversations told the newspaper: ‘The thing he was most upset about and couldn’t get over all day was the Pence betrayal. … All day, it was a theme of, ‘I made this guy, I saved him from a political death, and here he stabbed me in the back.”
Trump was so angry he tried to bar Pence’s top aide, his chief of staff Marc Short, from entering the White House complex.
Vice President Mike Pence presided over the Joint Session that formally certified Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election; his role was largely ceremonial
The pro-Trump insurgents stormed the Capitol, breaching the Senate chamber where Pence had been presiding moments before
When rioters entered the Senate chamber one was heard asking where Pence was
Before the Joint Session of Congress, President Trump publicly encouraged Pence to illegally overturn the election results in a rally with supporters – a power Pence didn’t have
Pence spent all of Wednesday on Capitol Hill and tweeted his thanks to officers
Before the Joint Session of Congress, Trump addressed a rally of supporters on the ellipse of National Mall, just outside the White House. He encouraged them to march on the Capitol and falsely claimed Pence held his election fate.
‘If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election,’ Trump said.
But he also demonstrated he doesn’t understand Pence’s role in presiding over the session.
‘All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president,’ Trump claimed, which is false. Pence doesn’t have that power and such a move would not give Trump a victory.
Biden won the electoral college vote, 306 to 232, and the popular vote. Trump had repeatedly refused to concede and falsely claimed the election was fraudulent, despite providing no proof and no court upholding his charges.
The president finally conceded after Congress certified Biden’s win.
‘Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20,’ Trump said in a statement that aides posted on Twitter after the president’s account was locked for stirring up violence.
‘I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted,’ Trump said. ‘While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.’
Pence never left the Capitol on Wednesday. He was quick to denounce the mob that stormed the building and posted photos on Twitter of himself thanking police officers who had been on duty.
And he was the one that gaveled the Joint Session to a close in the early morning hours of Thursday, officially certifying Biden as the 46th president and Kamala Harris as the next vice president.
Pence made the final announcement after a nearly 15-hour saga that saw four people die; a mob ransack the Capitol, breaking windows and destroying furniture; and saw pipe bombs, long guns and Molotov cocktails discovered on the Capitol grounds – and left America’s image as the beacon of democracy reeling.
He ended the day with a simple statement at 3:41 a.m. ET, announcing Biden’s 306 vote tally to Trump’s 232 votes in the electoral college. It takes 270 to win.
‘The announcement of the state of the vote by the President of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the United States, each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January, 2021,’P Pence said.