Pence told Jan. 6 special counsel harrowing details about 2020 aftermath, warnings to Trump: Sources [View all]

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The former VP is the top official known to have spoken with investigators.

Katherine Faulders, Mike Levine, and Alexander Mallin
November 28, 2023, 11:27 AM

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But, the sources said, with the pressure on Pence mounting, he concluded on Christmas Eve -- just for a moment -- that he would follow Trump's suggestion and let someone else preside over the proceedings on Jan. 6, writing in his notes that doing otherwise would be "too hurtful to my friend."

"Not feeling like I should attend electoral count," Pence wrote in his notes in late December. "Too many questions, too many doubts, too hurtful to my friend. Therefore I'm not going to participate in certification of election."

Then, sitting across the table from his son, a Marine, while on vacation in Colorado, his son said to him, "Dad, you took the same oath I took" -- it was "an oath to support and defend the Constitution," Pence recalled to Smith's investigators, sources said.

That's when Pence decided he would be at the Capitol on Jan. 6 after all, according to the sources.

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ABC News article

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The Raw Story article summarizing this article highlighted Chuck Grassley's involvement and how he was supposed to preside over the certification instead of Pence. Grassley, of course, is denying this.

Raw Story article