Mike Pence Piles on ‘Reckless’ Trump: ‘Endangered Me and My Family’

Former Vice President Mike Pence offered his most critical public comments to date about Donald Trump, saying the former president “endangered” him and his family on Jan. 6, 2021.

Speaking with World News Tonight anchor David Muir for an interview on Monday’s Good Morning America, Pence gave his harshest critique of Trump yet.

During the interview, Muir recalled the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, when members of Congress met in a joint session to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. For two months, Trump had falsely claimed the contest was rigged against him. Many of his supporters believed him, some of whom traveled to Washington, D.C. on that day to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, where he urged them to march to the Capitol and “show strength.”

In his remarks to the crowd, Trump claimed Pence – as the presiding officer over the certification – had the power to reject Biden as the winner. Pence did not oblige, and Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to nullify Biden’s victory. They succeeded in delaying the process for several hours, during which time Trump tweeted that Pence lacked the “courage” to reject certification.

“Members were barricaded inside the House chamber,” Muir said to Pence. “And in the middle of it all, you can see that the president has tweeted, 2:24 p.m., the president tweets, ‘Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should’ve been done.'”

Muir paused to get Pence’s reaction. What followed were 11 seconds of silence while Pence gathered his thoughts.

“It angered me,” he said after the long pause, while he repeatedly tapped his right foot. He was silent for another five seconds.

‘But I turned to my daughter who was standing nearby,” he continued. “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. It’s clear he decided to be part of the problem.”

Elsewhere during the conversation, Pence blamed Trump for putting his family in jeopardy by falsely claiming Pence could overturn the election.

“The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” he said. “The president’s words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building.”

Trump has come under fire in the wake of Tuesday’s midterm elections after several high-profile candidates he endorsed lost their races. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is seen as a potential opponent of Trump’s for the 2024 Republican nomination, coasted to reelection by nearly 20 points.

Some Republicans have criticized Trump over his intervention in the midterms, where the GOP underperformed the expectations of liberals and conservatives alike.

The former president blasted the governor last week and took credit for DeSantis being elected to the position in 2018.

Watch above via ABC News.