As the attempted insurrection of January 6th, 2021 played out, there were allegedly very real fears spreading through the inner circle of then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence had been at the center of a plan for then-President Donald Trump to contest the 2020 election, (a contest that the Commander in Chief believed was stolen from him), but had chosen to err on the side of history. This made Pence a target for some, who believed that he was somehow complicit in what Trump was accusing the Democrats of.
The latest news from inside Pence’s inner circle shows just how nervous he was about the events of that day.
Members of Mike Pence’s Secret Service detail phoned loved ones to say their final farewells on Jan. 6, 2021, as rioters calling for Pence’s head came within feet of the former vice president, it was revealed on Thursday.
The agents feared for their lives as they made a frantic effort to evacuate Pence from the Senate chamber while angry rioters called for the vice president to be hanged.
“The members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives,” an unidentified security official told the select panel investigating the Capitol riot.
“There was a lot of yelling, a lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing. I don’t like talking about it,” he testified.
And just what kind of personal calls were made?
“There were calls to say goodbye to family members,” he continued. “For whatever the reason was on the ground, the VP detail thought that this was about to get very ugly.”
He added: “We came very close to either Service having to use lethal options or worse.”
The split between Pence and Trump has appeared final for some time now, with the former Vice President even going so far endorsing 2022 midterm candidates who are running against Trump-endorsed candidates.
