The new book by Jonathan Karl actually contains some interesting new information. Today’s big bombshell has Trump on tape justifying his riotous followers chanting “Hang Mike Pence”. Axios reported it:
Jonathan Karl: “Were you worried about him during that siege? Were you worried about his safety?”
Trump: “No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape. But, but, no, I think — “
Karl: “Because you heard those chants — that was terrible. I mean — “
Trump: “He could have — well, the people were very angry.”
Karl: “They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence.'”
Trump: “Because it’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that? And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to — almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me — because he’s passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent? Now, when I spoke to him, I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election. I didn’t talk about the main point, which is the legislatures did not approve — five states. The legislatures did not approve all of those changes that made the difference between a very easy win for me in the states, or a loss that was very close, because the losses were all very close.”
It’s common sense to hang Mike Pence. Sounds like a good campaign slogan. And it has the virtue of being original, unlike his other slogans.
And you have to love the Axios “why it matters”
Well, it is unprecedented for a former president to openly say it was OK to threaten the life of his vice president.
Yeah.
Trump says that he had heard Pence was “in good shape” which makes you wonder what he heard and when. Recall that he posted this tweet as the mob was storming the capitol:
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
This was an issue in the impeachment trial:
What former President Donald Trump knew of the safety of his vice president, Mike Pence, when Trump disparaged Pence during the Capitol insurrection was a key question in Day 4 of Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.
In the trial’s question-and-answer session Friday, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, asked whether Trump knew that Pence was being evacuated from the Capitol as the former president composed a tweet condemning Pence for not having the “courage” to stop then-President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
“When President Trump sent the disparaging tweet at 2:24 p.m., was he aware that the vice president had been removed from the Senate by the Secret Service for his safety?” Romney asked.
Pence was presiding over the Senate as it counted the electoral votes.
House Democratic managers stressed in their presentation how close a mob of Trump supporters got to Pence, and that some rioters had yelled, “Hang Mike Pence.” Managers’ reconstructed timeline of the events also included Trump’s tweets throughout Jan. 6.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the lead impeachment manager, was first to respond to Romney’s question. He noted the events of Jan. 6 were broadcast on live television and on the radio, saying Trump had to know that the rioters had already breached the building and were armed with weapons, and that the police were outnumbered.
“Here are the facts that are not in dispute,” Raskin said. “Donald Trump had not taken any measures to send help to the overwhelmed Capitol police. As president, when you see all of this going on and the people around you are imploring you to do something, and your vice president is there, why wouldn’t you do it?”
Raskin also noted remarks by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who has told reporters that he spoke to Trump over the phone as the mob began ransacking the Capitol. During their brief conversation, Tuberville said he told the former president that Pence had been evacuated from the chamber moments earlier.
“Sen. Tuberville specifically said that he told the president, ‘Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go,’ ” Raskin said.
That conversation took place shortly after 2 p.m., Raskin noted.
As it turned out Trump tweeted his nasty tweet just before that. But this latest comment indicates Trump may have heard from other sources that Trump was “in good shape” and this comment may indicate that Trump has waived privilege on that question.
I can’t wait to see Pence give a speech in which he says that Trump excusing his rabid crowd wanting to kill him was just a matter of disagreement but he is still very proud to have served the man who incited a crowd to kill him.