Former Vice President Mike Pence stunned CNN’s Dana Bash over the weekend when he said he wasn’t concerned about Donald Trump’s veiled threat about what his supporters might do if he were sentenced to prison.
The twice-indicted former president told an Iowa radio station last week that the possibility of jail time was “a very dangerous thing to even talk about, because we have an extremely passionate group of voters.”
Pence — whose security guards reportedly called family members to say goodbye during the United States Capitol riot led by some of those voters — told CNN over the weekend that Trump’s rhetoric “doesn’t worry me” because “I have more faith in the American people and people in our movement.”
“Virtually everyone in our movement is the kind of American who loves this country, is patriotic, is a law and order people, who would never have done something like this,” he said, referring to the violent January 6, 2021, uprising.
“I hear my former running mate’s frustration in his voice, but I’m sure the American people will respond in our movement in a way that will express — as they have every right under the First Amendment — to voice their concerns about what they perceive to be the unequal treatment of the law,” Pence continued.
Bash looked shocked at the response.
“It’s pretty remarkable that you don’t mind, considering they wanted to hang you on January 6th,” she replied.
Pence pushed back, arguing it was unfair to “take those who committed violence on January 6 and use a broad brush to describe everyone in our movement.”
After rioters stormed the Capitol in 2021, the Secret Service rushed Pence to a secure area near the Senate floor. The intruders came within 40 feet of him before he was evacuated.
A gallows was erected outside the building, where some rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence” because he presided over the certification of the 2020 election results which Trump did not like.
Trump has since been indicted twice: first, in March, in a state-level case in New York over an alleged secret money scheme that may have influenced the 2016 election, and again in June in a federal investigation into his handling of classified documents after leaving office.
He is also the target of a federal investigation on Jan. 6, 2021, and could potentially be charged a third time as part of that investigation.