On Saturday evening, Mike Pence delivered his sharpest rebuke yet of former president Donald Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In remarks at the Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, D.C., the former vice president asserted Trump was wrong in his efforts to cast doubt on the 2020 election results, increasing the rift between the two men as the 2024 presidential election gains steam. Pence has not declared his candidacy yet, but he has laid the groundwork to run.
“I had no right to overturn the election and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable,” Pence said, as quoted by CNN.
Though the dinner is generally a lighthearted affair, with speakers ribbing Washington bigwigs, Pence decided he needed to be serious regarding January 6. He said it’s “one thing I haven’t joked about” and called it “a tragic day.”
In his role as president of the Senate, Pence ceremonially presided over the vote certification on January 6. Trump unsuccessfully attempted to pressure him to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Some of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol that day called for Pence to be hanged.
Days after Tucker Carlson called most participating “sightseers” and portrayed the attack at large as “mostly peaceful chaos,” Pence thought it important to condemn those who have downplayed January 6.
“Tourists don’t injure 140 police officers by sightseeing,” said Pence. “Tourists don’t break down doors to get to the Speaker of the House or voice threats against public officials.”
“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace, and it mocks decency to portray it in any other way,” he added.
He also said the public has “a right to know what took place.”
The former vice president even took a shot at Trump’s handling of classified documents, which led the FBI to raid Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion.
“I read that some of those classified documents they found at Mar-a-Lago were actually stuck in the president’s Bible. Which proves he had absolutely no idea they were there,” Pence said humorously, as quoted by the Associated Press.
The former vice president joked that as of yet, Trump hasn’t mocked him in the way he’s mocked others.
“I mean, he’s never called me a low-energy moron. Not yet,” Pence said.