Vice President Mike Pence reportedly refused to leave the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the building.
According to an excerpt of “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year,” by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, reporters for The Washington Post, Pence was reluctant to leave the building as rioters shouted “Hang Mike Pence!”
As they stormed the building, Trump tweeted an attack on Pence for not overturning the election, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
According to the book, the vice president was in his ceremonial office “protected by Secret Service agents, but vulnerable because the second-floor office had windows that could be breached and the intruding thugs had gained control of the building.”
The book continued to report that Tim Giebels, the lead special agent in charge of the vice president’s protective detail, asked Pence to evacuate the Capitol twice.
“I’m not leaving the Capitol,” Pence said. Leonnig and Rucker write that the vice president did not want people storming the Capitol to see him leaving the building because “that would only vindicate their insurrection.”
As rioters streamed into the building, Giebels told Pence, “They’re in the building… The room you’re in is not secure. There are glass windows. I need to move you. We’re going.”
However, Pence said, “I’m not getting in the car, Tim. I trust you, Tim, but you’re not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. I’m not getting in the car.”