Donald Trump (L); Mike Pence.Photo: Getty (2)
Donald Trumpwasn’t concerned aboutMike Penceon Jan. 6 — even when some of the former president’s supporters, whostormed the U.S. Capitol, chanted abouthanging the vice president.
“I thought he was well protected, and I heard that he was in good shape. No, because I had heard he was in very good shape,” Trump toldABC News' Jonathan Karl, who asked the president if he worried for Pence’s safety during an interview for his bookBetrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.
Axios obtained audio of the interview, conducted March 18 at Mar-a-Lago.
“You heard those chants,” Karl says in the audio. “That was terrible … They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence.'”
“Well, the people were very angry,” Trump replies. “It’s common sense. 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 a fraudulent vote to Congress?”
Trump’s claim that fraud is to blame for his defeat in the 2020 election isfalse.
In another portion of the interview, Trump says he spoke to Pence about throwing out electoral college votes.
“I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election,” Trump said, according to Axios. “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.”
InBetrayal, out Tuesday, Karl describesunpublished photos of Pence in hiding. “The photos show Pence in a barren garage. There were no windows and no furniture. This was a loading dock with concrete walls and a concrete floor,” Karl writes.
Karl tweetedthat more of his interview with Trump will air during ABC News’This Weekon Sunday.
His book also documents Trump’s anger with Republicans after the Capitol attack, his subsequent impeachment in the House andJoe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, when the outgoing president told Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel he wasgoing to leave the Republican Party.
source: people.com
