Former White House Situation Room officer Mike Stiegler disclosed that during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump neglected to inquire about then-Vice President Mike Pence’s safety as Trump supporters hunted him at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and that Pence came “close” to being killed during the deadly riot.
In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday, Stiegler, whose experiences are chronicled in George Stephanopoulos’s book “The Situation Room,” shared insights into Pence’s perilous situation.
Stiegler recounted Pence’s alarming proximity to danger, even prompting questions about his successor’s whereabouts, while Trump remained uninvolved:
“It’s important to me that we don’t forget that it did come that close, and that we did have discussions, ‘If we lose the [vice president,] if the 25th [Amendment] is invoked,’” Stiegler emphasized in the interview, underscoring the severity of the situation. “We started running through all of these game plans because it was getting close.”
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Stiegler concurred with Stephanopoulos’s characterization of the riot as an internal uprising fueled by Trump’s influence. However, he stressed the urgency of addressing the crisis rather than dwelling on its origins:
“But at the time, that’s not even in the forefront of our mind,” Steigler continued. “It doesn’t matter how we got here. We’re here. How do we execute? How do we move forward?”
Pence faced imminent danger due to his refusal to support efforts to overturn the 2020 election. As rioters breached the Capitol, Pence was swiftly relocated to safety by the Secret Service.
Senator JD Vance, a potential 2024 running mate for Trump, cast doubt on Pence’s jeopardy during the riot, attributing exaggeration to political motives.
“Politics and politics people like to really exaggerate things from time to time,” Vance said earlier this month. “I think — look, Jan. 6 was a bad day. It was a riot. But the idea that Donald Trump endangered anyone’s lives when he told them to protest peacefully, it’s just absurd,” he added.
Nonetheless, Pence’s decision not to endorse Trump in the future underscores their policy disparities, particularly on issues like abortion and social media regulation.
Pence said in March that he will not endorse his former boss, saying “there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues.”
“In each of these cases, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years,” Pence said. “And that’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”
Watch Stiegler’s remarks below:
In an interview with ABC News, former WH Situation Room officer Mike Stiegler reveals that Jan. rioters “Came that close” to murdering Mike Pence:
“It’s important to me that we don’t forget that it did come that close. And that we did have discussions. If we lose the VP, if the… pic.twitter.com/iEfQn7jVNq
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 14, 2024
