Read NPR's full interview with former Vice President Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke with NPR's Steve Inskeep on Monday in a video interview at the Indiana State Capitol They discussed the January 6th attack on the Capitol, a Pence's potential 2024 presidential campaign and the issues facing the Republican party today.
In addition to the context provided in the course of the interview, you can read more fact-checking and analysis of the conversation here.
You've said a lot already about January 6th. I don't want to make you go over everything, but I want to pick up the story in the middle, so to speak. When you were in the vice president's office, inside the Capitol...At what point and how did you come to understand that many people in the crowd were coming after you or wanted to come for you?
They had come on to the Senate floor - my Secret Service detail - while we were debating initial objections that had been filed. And my Secret Service agent, Maximilian, said, "We need to get you out of the building." I rose, I walked across the short lobby to our ceremonial office, confident that we could hold there. I'd been informed by the parliamentarian that the rioters had breached the Capitol on the House side. But, Steve, I spent 12 years in Congress. I was there when an assailant broke into the majority leader's office and claimed lives. I had great confidence in the ability of the Capitol Hill police to secure the Capitol. So I simply told my details that we would hold in my office and then have the ability to reconvene the Congress and continue our work.
But shortly thereafter, my lead Secret Service agent came in and said, We need to get you out of the building. And I said, "No, we'll stay here." The third time he came in, he was very adamant and he said, "We need to leave the building." And I put my finger on his chest and said, "You're not hearing me. I'm not leaving. I'm not giving those people the sight of a 16 car motorcade speeding away from the Capitol."
Did you understand at that point that they wanted you, that they were chanting things such as "Hang Mike Pence?"
Candidly, Steve, I did not. I found that out after the fact. But we were very aware, watching the visuals on television, that there was a riot underway. I just was determined to stay at my post. You know, for me, I had no more complicated view than that. And I believe that it was important that I stay. At that point, my daughter helpfully interjected with the question, "Is there somewhere else in the capital Dad could go?" Because she saw the loggerheads that we'd reached with my Secret Service agent. And he said, "We could take you to the parking garage" And I agreed. And then I touched my wife Karen on the arm and my daughter and I said, "Let's go". And we walked down to the parking garage below the Capitol building. We could hear the sound of footfall, we could hear chanting. But it was only later that I learned that many people had come to the Capitol looking for me. Steve, I had always been loyal to President Donald Trump. He was my president and he was my friend. For all four years of our administration. We work closely together and frankly, we develop a close working relationship that I recount in my book, So Help Me God. Anytime we had differences, and we did from time to time, I thought as vice president, it was important that I only express those differences in private to the president. But January of 2021, things had to be different because I have a higher loyalty to God and the Constitution, and I'll always believe that we did our duty that day, that we kept our oath to the Constitution. But what happened that day angered me. You know, as I looked at the site on our cell Well, I'm not a victim, Steve. I'm not. I'm a guy that did my duty that day, and I'll never see it any other way. But I will tell you that the way that Republicans and Democrat leaders came together that day, I think would be an inspiration to people around this country. We huddled on our first conference call. I heard from the Speaker, and from Leader Schumer, Leader McCarthy and Leader McConnell, a great frustration on their part. They were not getting answers. or they were getting conflicting answers, about what the federal assistance would be and when help would arrive at the Capitol. And that's when I said to the leadership, I was the presiding officer under the Constitution of the joint session, but I said to them, "Do you want me to get involved?" m. And I was determined to stay at my post. I felt instinctively that by remaining in the capital, it might facilitate even a quicker response by federal authorities to come alongside the Capitol Hill police as they fought against the rioters. But I thought it was important that I ask the leaders of the Congress if they wanted me to engage. They all adamantly said yes. I said once before we hung up the first call. I said again, "You want me to get answers?" They said, "Yes." And I said, "I'm on it." And then leaning against a cinder block wall in the parking garage with notes strewn out in front of me, I started to work the phones. I spoke to the Pentagon, I spoke to the Justice Department and I spoke to the Capitol Hill police chief on a number of occasions when he informed me that it appeared that the violence would be quelled. Late that afternoon, I asked him to come down to the parking garage to brief me personally. And then I contacted the Democrat and Republican leadership and told them that it appeared that we would be able to reconvene the Congress and complete our work under the Constitution by 7 p.m. that night.
