Mike Pence Reveals Post-Capitol Riot Convo with ‘Tired’ Trump, Who Told Him ‘It’s Too Terrible to End Like This’

Former President Mike Pence revealed details of a conversation he had with then President Donald Trump less than a week after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. According to Pence, Trump wondered aloud about the rally he held that morning in Washington, D.C., where he told angry supporters to march to the Capitol in a last-ditch effort to stay in power.

The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from Pence’s upcoming book, So Help Me God, in which he describes the chaotic scene at the Capitol as rioters stormed the building that day. As vice president, Pence was the presiding officer over the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump lost the election, but he spent weeks falsely telling supporters it was stolen from him. Predictably, many of them believed him and committed violence in response.

Upset at Pence for not overturning the results – which he had no authority to do – some of the rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” as a gallows was built outside the Capitol.

Pence recounted aides trying to ferry him away from the building that day:

Arriving in the loading dock, we saw that our motorcade had been repositioned, with all the cars pointed toward a ramp leading out. Mr. Giebels began to escort us toward our cars. I stopped and said, “I’m not getting in the car.”

“Sir,” he replied, “we’re just going to have you wait in the car, but we are not leaving the Capitol.”

“Tim, I believe you,” I said. “You’re a man of integrity, but you’re not driving that car.” I knew that if we got into the car, somebody would tell the driver to get us out of the building.

Pence said five days later, he met with Trump:

I met with the president on Jan. 11. He looked tired, and his voice seemed fainter than usual. “How are you?” he began. “How are Karen and Charlotte?” I replied tersely that we were fine and told him that they 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?”

“No,” I replied, “I was angry. You and I had our differences that day, Mr. President, and seeing those people tearing up the Capitol infuriated me.”

He started to bring up the election, saying that people were angry, but his voice trailed off.

I told him he had to set that aside, and he responded quietly, “Yeah.”

The former vice president then suggested Trump was introspective.

“With genuine sadness in his voice, the president mused: ‘What if we hadn’t had the rally? What if they hadn’t gone to the Capitol?’ Then he said, ‘It’s too terrible to end like this,'” Pence wrote.