GOP operative warns Mike Pence is up to something dangerous with Jan. 6 denials: 'He’s not a victim'

Conservative operative Amanda Carpenter isn't fooled by Mike Pence's claims about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The former vice president is trying to downplay the deadly U.S. Capitol riot, saying that "one day in January" was being used as a distraction from President Joe Biden's failures -- but Carpenter warned Pence was up to something nefarious.

"I'm gonna clear some things up about Mike Pence," tweeted Carpenter, a CNN political contributor and former staffer to Sens. Ted Cruz and Jim DeMint. "He's not the lackey you all think he is. He's not a victim. He's not (just) a sycophant. It's worse."

"Why is he saying the media wants to 'distract' from 1/6?" she added. "Because he wants to distract everyone from HIS role in creating 1/6."

The former vice president is trying to sell himself to voters as "Trump's policies without Trump's personality," Carpenter said, but she pointed out that the insurrection was planned for months and Pence was present for all of it -- and helped motivate the rioters.

"Pence gave inspiration to the insurrectionists by entertaining the idea Congress might not certify or stall the counting of Electoral Votes," she tweeted. "HE DID THAT. Pence could have come out in December, kinda like Bill Barr, and said there as no widespread fraud. I'm out. But no. He became a Stop the Steal rally speaker. He egged it on. He was all in."

She pointed out that Pence gave serious consideration to right-wing attorney John Eastman's memo outlining a legal argument for a coup, even if he ultimately decided not to act on it, but gave the theory enough space and time to grow into a violent assault on the Capitol in an effort to carry it out.

"Would 1/6 have happened if Pence had put an end to the idea that the election would not be certified?" Carpenter tweeted. "I think there's a decent chance. He didn't. He let the mob go on with the idea until the very very very very last second. He gave them time to organize."

The mob chanted their desire to hang Pence for his failure to overturn Trump's election loss, but Carpenter said he should share the blame with the twice-impeached one-term president he served and all the others who tried to subvert democracy.

"There is only one reason to feel sorry for Mike Pence if you must," Carpenter tweeted. "He thought he would get away with it. He thought he could feed the leopards and they wouldn't eat his face. And they tried to eat his face. But I don't have sympathy for that."