Mike Pence Is Conveniently Trying to Turn the Page on January 6

In the immediate aftermath of the Capitol riot, Mike Pence declared January 6 to be “a dark day in the history of the United States” and condemned “the violence that took place here.” He went on to decry the “unprecedented violence and vandalism,” saying that “those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today…did not win,” before praising those who protected “these hallowed halls.” But during a Monday night appearance on Fox News, Pence, who is rumored to be entertaining a presidential run in 2024, appeared less bothered by those who participated in the insurrection—some of whom were calling for his execution—than those covering it.

“I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,” Pence told Sean Hannity. “They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020.” Further stoking speculation of his own plans for a White House run, the former vice president added that he truly believes “we ought to remain completely focused on the future, and that’s where I’m focused.”

Pence sounded a lot like certain Republicans in Congress who, when not whitewashing the MAGA riot, have shown no appetite for revisiting it. But it’s hard to turn the page on the events of January 6, as revelations keep spilling from a flurry of news reports and books on Donald Trump’s chaotic exit from the White House, including a memo from one of the former president’s lawyers detailing how he believed Pence could overturn the election. In Peril, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report that Pence considered how he could stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, only to be told by former vice president Dan Quayle that he had “no power” to do so. According to the book, Pence’s refusal to overturn the election results prompted Trump to say, “I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this.”

Yet on Monday night, Pence spoke warmly of his post-White House relationship with Trump. “You can’t spend almost five years in a political foxhole with somebody without developing a strong relationship,” he said, adding: “The president and I sat down a few days and talked through all of it. I can tell you that we parted amicably at the end of the administration and we talked a number of times since we both left office.”

Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former White House press secretary and author of a new tell-all, called out Pence’s attempt to “contort himself” to get on Trump’s “good side,” before pushing back against the idea that Pence and Trump actually had a serious discussion about the Capitol riot. “I imagine Pence just went and said all the right things,” Grisham told CNN on Tuesday. “I guarantee you that, going forward, whenever Mike Pence and the former president are together, the president will continue to jab at him about how disloyal he was, and you just have to take it––until you don’t.” In a reference to the pro-Trump rioters calling for Pence’s execution, Grisham noted that there were others whose lives were in danger on January 6. “Not only was [Pence] there, but he was being rushed to somewhere safe with his family,” she said. “His family was in danger. I know that there were calls going to the White House saying, ‘My family is in danger, what’s going on?’”

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