Trump has not reached out to Pence since the Capitol riots: report
- President Donald Trump has not reached out to Vice President Mike Pence since the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol building, according to a NBC News report.
- NBC News Senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson reported on Sunday that Trump did not contact Pence on Wednesday night, when the vice president presided over the Electoral College certification process.
- For weeks, Trump has implored Pence to overturn the election results, with a public pressure campaign that included extraordinarily high levels of tweeting.
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President Donald Trump has not reached out to Vice President Mike Pence since the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol building, according to a NBC News report.
NBC News Senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson reported on Sunday that Trump did not contact Pence on Wednesday night, when the vice president presided over the Electoral College certification process that was restarted after being disrupted by the pro-Trump rioters who breached the Capitol.
“I’m told that not only did the president not reach out to Vice President Pence on Wednesday night – he has not called him since, per a source familiar with the matter,” Jackson tweeted. “It’s an extraordinary detail.”
—Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) January 10, 2021
Jackson appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where she said that the relationship between the two men was “not good” and noted that after the Jan. 6 riots erupted, Pence was moved to a secure location with his family, who had come to the Capitol to attend the certification.
“I think it reflects … how acrimonious [their relationship] has become,” Jackson said.
Read more: Secret Service experts are speculating in group chats about how Trump might be hauled out of the White House if he won’t budge on Inauguration Day
Pence reportedly never left the Capitol building during the rioting that left five people dead.
For weeks, Trump has implored Pence to overturn the election results. Under the Constitution, Pence, who acts as president of the Senate in his role as vice president, is bound to announce the final Electoral College count before a joint session of Congress.
Early on Jan. 7, Congress ultimately certified President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College victory.
Jackson detailed the extraordinary pressure that was applied to Pence.
“I’m told that as far back as December 15 — mid December, so weeks ago — there were behind-the-scenes maneuvering to try to essentially get the vice president to do what the president wanted,” she said.
Since the Capitol riots, a bipartisan group of lawmakers have asked for Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office, but Jackson stated that she’s been told that the vice president is skeptical of such a move.
“That’s what we’ve been hearing and reporting from people close to him allies,” she added. “But there is real concern, and anger here about how this moves forward.”
