Former Vice President Mike Pence was being pressured by former President Donald Trump to overthrow the election on the floor of Congress Jan. 6. What was previously unknown is how Trump tried to thrust the decision on Pence by pushing out statements saying that he agreed with Trump.
Robert Costa, the co-author of the book Peril, called attention to a Jan. 5 statement from Trump that he and Pence were in "total agreement that the [VP] has the power to act" on Jan. 6.
Pence and his team were reportedly so furious that Marc Short called Trump's Jason Miller to demand a retraction.
The meeting between them on Jan. 5 wasn't the end of the pressure campaign. At one point, far-right Trump ally Boris Epshteyn said that Rudy Giuliani would like to drop by the Vice President's residence at the Naval Observatory to explain the conspiracy to him.
Things have changed since then, and Pence is now trying to have it both ways on Jan. 6. Last week, Pence told Sean Hannity that the attack on the U.S. Capitol wasn't all that bad, claiming that the Capitol Police took care of things.
"Saying 'one day in January' is kind of like calling 9/11 one day in September," Fox News host Howard Kurtz noted Sunday. "It was a pretty tragic day!"
See the full Twitter update from Costa below:
"This breaks protocol," Pence chief Marc Short said tersely in phone call with Trump adviser Jason Miller, who was at the Willard with Giuliani and Bannon, among others. Miller refused to retract a word. \n\nFrom pgs. 233-234 of PERIL— Robert Costa (@Robert Costa) 1633985103
And even when Pence was at home for dinner on January 5, the pressure campaign continued. \n\nLet's not forget: Giuliani was hoping to come over there and have his own one-on-one talk with the VP... a follow up to Trump's Oval showdown with Pence— Robert Costa (@Robert Costa) 1633985655
Pg. 233 of PERIL\n\nBoris "Epshteyn told [Pence adviser Marty] Obst Giuliani would be happy to come over to Pence's residence and have a discussion. For Obst, the suggestion felt straight out of a bad mafia movie."— Robert Costa (@Robert Costa) 1633985897
