In Jan. 6 spotlight, Mike Pence navigates a tricky post-Trump path
It was a pivotal moment for the vice president – and the nation. Pro-Trump rioters were rampaging through the Capitol building yelling “Hang Mike Pence,” as Mr. Pence and his family huddled in an underground parking bay. But when a Secret Service agent asked him to get into a waiting car, he refused.
“He was determined that we would complete the work that we had begun that day,” Mr. Pence’s legal counsel, Greg Jacob, told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
That work, of course, was the certification of Joe Biden as the next president.
Mr. Pence’s emergence as one of the heroes of the Jan. 6 hearings – which detailed how he resisted an intense pressure campaign by former President Donald Trump to get him to block the counting of electoral votes – has placed him in a singular political position. After four years of loyal service, he’s now spurned by Trump allies as a turncoat, even as Democrats and some former Trump aides see him as a savior of democracy. During Tuesday’s hearing, Trump White House attorney Pat Cipollone testified that Mr. Pence had done the “courageous thing” and deserved a Presidential Medal of Honor.
As the jockeying for 2024 heats up, with Mr. Trump rumored to be nearing a formal announcement, Mr. Pence is laying the groundwork for a run that could pit him against his former boss.
At best, he faces a difficult balancing act. The former vice president, who was
