Mike Pence's day ended as it began: with a tweet from Donald Trump and prayers.
According to the House committee investigating the Capitol attack, Jan. 6 marked the culmination of a campaign of pressure by the US commander-in-chief on his vice president to overturn the election results.
At the third hearing on Thursday, the committee revealed new details.
Most importantly, legally: Donald Trump had been repeatedly warned that his plan to ask Mike Pence to reject voters during the certification of the results was illegal, but he continued to insist on Twitter and in front of his supporters.
Who, when they swept through Congress, found themselves just 40 feet from Mike Pence as he was evacuated.
And if this last point was already known, it remains crucial: according to an elected Democrat, who quoted an FBI informant, members of the Proud Boys intended to kill Mike Pence if they had the opportunity.
A look back at 3 p.m. that shook America.
1:00 a.m.: First salvo on Twitter
Two days before, Mike Pence officially announces it to Donald Trump: he will not oppose the certification of the results.
The legal theory put forward by lawyer John Eastman has, according to Judge Luttig – who is advising Pence – no legitimacy.
But on January 5, Donald Trump lies and yet announces that his vice-president is on the same wavelength as him.
And at one o'clock in the morning, on January 6, he called out to him on Twitter to ask him to reject certain electors.
8:17 am: Trump appeals to Pence's "courage"
"Do it Mike, now is the time to show extreme courage," Trump insisted on Twitter.
10:02 am: Pence issues official statement
The vice-president publishes on Twitter a statement written with his legal adviser Greg Jacob.
He explains why a vice-president is only used to count the votes of the electoral college.
10:58 a.m.: Members of the Proud Boys head to the Capitol
Members of the Proud Boys leave Ellipse Park, where Donald Trump is to give a speech, and head for the Capitol, located 2.5 km away.
11:20 am: Insults on the phone
🔴Pretty extraordinary documents documenting Trump's 6/01 morning phone call to Pence, with National Archives photos + testimony Ivanka and advisers:
- Trump called Pence a "wimp"
- says regretted choosing him
- treated to "pussy" #January6th pic.twitter.com/Iid3LC4au0
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) June 16, 2022
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At the White House, Donald Trump is furious.
His children, Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka, and many advisers, are there.
He telephones his vice-president.
The conversation is “heated,” according to recorded video testimony of Ivanka Trump before the committee.
Trump tells Pence that he is a "wimp," according to Nicholas Luna, the president's former aide, and that he regrets choosing him as his running mate five years earlier.
Then comes the insult that had leaked into the book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa: Trump calls Pence "pussy" (a vulgar term close to "fiotte"), confirms Julie Radford,
chief of staff
of Ivanka Trump.
12:15 p.m .: Trump warns Pence during his speech
The American president addresses his supporters.
He again asks that Mike Pence intervene in Congress.
"If you don't, I will be very disappointed," Trump warns.
2:13 p.m .: The first rioters enter the Capitol
Among them is a member of the Proud Boys.
2:24 p.m.: “Mike Pence didn’t have the guts,” Trump tweets
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what he should have done to protect our country our constitution,” wrote the American president on Twitter.
“He threw oil on the fire,” accuses an assistant to Pence.
An FBI informant claims members of the Proud Boys – charged with sedition – intended to kill Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi if given the opportunity.
2:26 p.m .: Mike Pence is evacuated
The Secret Service escorts the Vice President to an office near the Senate.
Then, via a staircase, to a Capitol bunker.
Rioters are across a hallway, a dozen yards from Mike Pence.
It is not known if any members of the Proud Boys were among them.
4:19 p.m .: Trump calls on rioters to go home
A photo from the National Archives captures the moment Mike Pence looks at the video posted by Donald Trump on Twitter, in which the American president calls on the rioters to go home.
In total, Mike Pence remains for more than four hours in the underground.
Some are pushing to evacuate him from the Capitol.
But he refuses, so as not to "give the world the image of a vice-president of the United States on the run".
Conservative Judge Michael Luttig assured the committee, weighing every word: “If Vice President Pence had obeyed the orders of his president (…), it would have plunged America into a revolution in the midst of the first crisis. constitutional (…), the first since the founding of the republic.
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