Mike Pence's Notes Helped Trump Get Indicted Over Jan. 6 Attack On Capitol
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted former President Donald Trump on four felony charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, his second federal indictment in recent months.
Newly revealed evidence in the 45-page indictment appears to come directly from Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president and now a rival in the 2024 GOP presidential race.
According to the indictment, Pence took “contemporaneous notes” of several conversations he had with Trump and his aides in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, including during one meeting where Trump asked Pence to reject legitimate electors for Democrat Joe Biden.
“Bottom line ― won every state by 100,000s of votes,” Trump falsely said at the time, according to Pence.
Trump also falsely told Pence that the Department of Justice was “finding major infractions” with the 2020 election as part of his pressure campaign, according to the indictment.
Trump’s public efforts to pressure Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election are already well known. But according to the indictment, Trump also phoned Pence on Jan. 1, 2021, and told him he was being “too honest” for refusing to go along with the scheme to deny Biden the presidency.
Pence has criticized Trump over the Jan. 6 riot, saying his former boss was reckless for putting his life and the lives of his family members at risk. But the former vice president has said he’s unconvinced that Trump’s actions were criminal.
“I would rather that these issues and the judgment about his conduct on January 6 be left to the American people in the upcoming primaries,” Pence said last month.
In a statement released by his campaign on Tuesday, Pence called the indictment “an important reminder” that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.” He also framed it as a reason why GOP voters should pick someone else to take on Biden in 2024.
“The former president is entitled to the presumption of innocence but with this indictment, his candidacy means more talk about January 6th and more distractions,” Pence said.
The charges against Trump include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights, according to the document.
“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy... . It was fueled by lies,” special counsel Jack Smith said at a news conference on Tuesday.
