During the Jan. 6 committee hearing on June 16, Greg Jacob, the chief counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence, said Pence refused to leave the U.S. Capitol as rioters breached the building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pence had been moved to a secured location as rioters moved through the building. At one point, the head of his Secret Service detail asked him to get into a car for his safety. Pence refused, saying he did not want to risk the car leaving with him in it.
“The vice president did not want to take any chance that the world would see the vice president of the United States, fleeing the United States Capitol,” Jacob said.
Jacob added that Pence was “determined” to certify the votes and did not want to give the rioters the “satisfaction” of further delaying or stopping the count.
The committee presented new evidence about the danger Pence faced as former President Donald Trump sent out a tweet criticizing the vice president. As rioters at the Capitol focused their anger on the vice president, they at one point came within 40 feet of Pence within the building.
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