[Unpopular Opinion?] Mike Pence was not 40ft away from being murdered.

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39. Here's some evidence for you, Ohio Joe

CNN AC360 transcript, June 16, 2022. I also saw this live and was stunned:

COOPER: The Committee also revealed testimony by White House aides that the President Trump already knew rioters were inside the Capitol before he tweeted that Pence quote, didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution.

I'm joined now by the Washington Post, Carol Leonnig, who has chronicled the security issues depends finally face that day. She is also the author of Zero Fail The Rise And Fall Of The Secret Service and co-author of I Alone Can Fix It. Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year.

Carol, what did today reveal to the American people about the danger the Pence family and their entourage were in.

CAROL LEONNIG, NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Anderson, I think what today unveiled and uncovered was how much closer to mortal danger, Pence, his wife, his daughter and his aides all were in. You know, we chronicled very shortly after January 6 that Pence came within 100 feet of rioters that were storming into the building as he was spirited off the Senate floor and to the hideaway with his secret service detail. Actually, it was not 100 feet, it was 40 feet. And what we also learned is the degree to which his secret service detail was pressuring him to leave as soon as possible. Because of the people chanting hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence outside. The family was aware of this, but they weren't aware of just how horrible it was.

Greg Jacobs, Pence's attorney told the World Today, you know, he heard rumblings outside but he didn't really realize just how catastrophic things could have been.

COOPER: It's interesting. I mean, was and I'm not sure if we know this, but was Vice President Pence aware in that moment at that time, just how close the mob was and 40 feet away from him and his family.

LEONNIG: No, my understanding from sources is that he knew it was close, but not that close. He was spirited to the hideaway before those rioters got to the basically the riser in between the two floors and confronted officer Goodman who brilliantly as you know, in this video, led those rioters away from the Senate floor and ultimately away from where Pence and his family in his detail were in hiding. Then he was taken to the basement because his detail leader said OK, we're done. We're out of here.

Pence had turned him down Anderson, two times and on the third time to evacuate, his detail leader said we have to get out of this floor. We have to get to the basement. It's not safe. But of course as you know from Today's testimony when they got to the basement Pence was still suspicious essentially about being spirited away from the Capitol. And he had gained a new determination that he was going to stay, finished the work, certify the election, the victory of his opponent, Joe Biden. He was going to finish the work, even though, as you've shown here tonight, the President had put a target on his vice presidents back.

[20:35:31]

COOPER: And to see him I mean, again, reading, you know, looking at the phone, being aware of the, you know, the tweet that the President had sent out in this incredibly dark moment for him and his family. That's just such an extraordinary, extraordinary moment. What other reasons based on your reporting, made the Vice President want to stay put?

LEONNIG: You know, what I learned in Zero Fail and the reporting about the deep dive into the Secret Service is that the service was very conflicted. Many people who served at the right hand of President Trump were essentially MAGA hat supporters. They were all in for Donald Trump.

COOPER: I mean, not the Secret Service personnel.

LEONNIG: Yes, they took to their own social media platforms, their own Facebook postings, or Instagram postings to cheer on some of the rioters as patriots.

COOPER: Wow.

LEONNIG: And buy that, now, of course, Pence didn't know that when he's in the basement of the Capitol. But what he did know and what his aides knew was that the President was not caring about Vice President Pence's life. He had just said Pence shows no courage as people are chanting. Trump supporters are chanting to end Pence's life. And he was suspicious and his aides were especially suspicious that perhaps the Secret Service wasn't calling the ball. Perhaps Donald Trump, through other secret service senior leaders in the White House was calling the ball about removing and whisking Pence away from the Capitol. And he was determined not to do that.

COOPER: Wow.

LEONNIG: He decided somewhere between, you know, the Senate hideaway and the basement limousine. I'm not getting in that car. I'm not leaving.

COOPER: It's so chilling that reporting that -- it's just incredible. Carol Leonnig, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Just ahead, an in depth look at someone we mentioned earlier, Ginni Thomas wife is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas why the committee is increasingly interested in her and her response to their request for an interview.

And later new photos supposedly the two Americans in Ukraine who's worried family members we talked to last night in this program. The photo which we can't confirm appears to show them hands tied behind their backs bound held by the Russians, the back the truck looks like. We'll have the latest on what we know about them and word of a third American now missing as well in Ukraine.