Mike Pence and his family were photographed hiding in a Senate office just minutes after the Capitol was invaded by a mob on January 6.
The Vice President, second lady Karen, his daughter Charlotte, and his Republican Congressman Greg were photographed by a White House photographer and released by ABC on Wednesday night as the drama unfolded.
While the vice president, Charlotte, and Greg sit and wait on chairs, Karen closes the drapes to prevent protestors from seeing inside.
Greg Pence had voted against recognizing Joe Biden’s election victory just hours prior, prompting Trump fans to cry “hang Mike Pence.”
When rioters broke through the Senate floor, Pence and his family were hustled out of the office and moved to another place in the Capitol building.
The new image appeared on the day of a committee hearing examining Pence and his team’s activities leading up to and after the brawl on January 6.
His lawyers will also speak about how they responded to Donald Trump’s assertions that the election was rigged and stolen.
On Friday night, Pence‘s former chief of staff confirmed on Wednesday that he warned the Secret Service the night before the January 6th insurrection that Pence could be in danger at the Capitol building.
Marc Short testified to the House committee investigating the insurrection for more than eight hours behind closed doors in January. Portions of that testimony are expected to be played at Thursday morning’s hearing.
That hearing will focus on Donald Trump‘s efforts to pressure Pence to refuse to count and certify the electoral count. It is the ceremonial role of the vice president to oversee the formal certification of the presidential election.
Short confirmed to CNN that he did speak with the Secret Service on the night of January 5th.
‘Thousands of people descending upon Washington with hopes of a different outcome – I think it was important they be alerted to that,’ he said of his conversation with security.
‘But I did not have any specific, you know, intelligence. I did not have any knowledge the capitol would be attacked the way it was,’ he told Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday evening.
Greg Jacob, who served as counsel to Pence, and retired U.S. Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luttig, who was an informal adviser, are scheduled to testify in person at the third of an expected six public hearings the committee has planned.
Committee aides told CNN that Thursday’s hearing will focus on how Trump had driven the pressure campaign against Pence despite being told by lawyers in the White House counsel’s office that Pence did not have the authority to unilaterally subvert the election results.
Short, on the other hand, would not confirm what New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said in her new book, ‘Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,’ that Short expected Trump would publicly attack Pence, putting the vice president in jeopardy.
He told CNN that he believed Trump was given bad advice after the election.
‘I believe the president is ultimately responsible.’ ‘I also believe there are people around the president that treated him poorly and provided him bad counsel,’ he added.
Short also expressed skepticism about the committee’s conclusion that Trump agreed with MAGA fans calling for Pence’s execution.
‘Aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea,’ Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who serves on the panel investigating the insurgency, said of Trump during Thursday evening’s hearing: ‘Aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea.’ Mike Pence “deserves” the honor.
Her statements elicited gasps in the hearing room.
‘I NEVER said, or even thought of saying, “Hang Mike Pence.” This is either a made up story by somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!,’ Trump wrote in response the next day on Truth Social.
Short said he wasn’t convinced that Trump wanted Pence hanged.
‘I’m not even yet convinced of that. I know what the committee said. I also know the president denied that,’ he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
In the days leading up to the January 6th certification, Trump delivered a string of tweets demanding that Pence use his position to prevent Congress certifying his election defeat to Joe Biden.
Pence had already told the president he had no such power.
Short told CNN that Pence was doing his constitutional duty when he oversaw thee certification of the election.
‘He did his duty. He swore an oath to uphold the constitution. He swore an oath to god to uphold the constitution just as our men and women in uniform do,’ he said.
