5.4 President Trump Endangers Pence’s Life, Causing the Vice President, His Family, and Staff to Narrowly Miss the Rioters as They Flee the Mob Attacking the Capitol.

¶As the debate over Arizona’s legitimate electors took place on the Senate floor, the Vice President’s staff could see trouble brewing outside.²⁹¹²⁹¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), pp. 173-74. From inside the Vice President’s ceremonial office, staffers witnessed the crowds swelling on the east side of the Capitol. Then, the rioters broke through security barriers.²⁹²²⁹² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), pp. 173-75. Jacob told young staffers that they should stand back from the windows, because the Vice President’s office was not “the most popular office on the block right now.”²⁹³²⁹³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), p. 193.

¶The Vice President was presiding over the Senate debate on the Arizona objection when the noise from the rioters became audible and those in the Senate Chamber realized the rioters had entered the Capitol.²⁹⁴²⁹⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Chris Hodgson, (Mar. 30, 2022), pp. 208-09. The Secret Service evacuated Vice President Pence from the Senate floor at 2:12 p.m.²⁹⁵²⁹⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Chris Hodgson, (Mar. 30, 2022), pp. 208-10; Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R001019 – P-R001020 (Jan. 6, 2021, NSC Chat Log). Twelve minutes later, at 2:24 p.m., President Trump tweeted that Vice President Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution.”²⁹⁶²⁹⁶ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 6, 2021 2:24 p.m. ET, available at https://web.archive.org/web/20210106192450/https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1346900434540240897. By that time, the Secret Service had moved the Vice President to his ceremonial office across the hall.²⁹⁷²⁹⁷ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R001019 – P-R001020 (NSC Chat Log). But the situation was spiraling out of control—and they wouldn’t stay there long. As Sarah Matthews, the Deputy White House Press Secretary, later explained: President Trump’s tweet was like “pouring gasoline on the fire.”²⁹⁸²⁹⁸ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), pp. 37-38.

¶Thirty seconds after President Trump’s tweet, rioters who were already inside the Capitol opened the East Rotunda door just down the hall. A mere thirty seconds later, rioters breached the crypt one floor below the Vice President.

¶Though the Vice President refused the Secret Service’s first two attempts to evacuate him from his ceremonial office, the situation quickly became untenable and the Vice President was told that the Secret Service could no longer protect him in this office in the Capitol that was quickly being overrun.²⁹⁹²⁹⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 30-31. Marc Short recalls Tim Giebels, the head of the Vice President’s Secret Service protective detail, saying, “At this point, I can’t protect you behind these glass doors, and so I need to move you.”³⁰⁰³⁰⁰ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 30-31. This time, the third, the Secret Service was not asking the Vice President to move; they were stating the fact that the Vice President must be moved.³⁰¹³⁰¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 30-31. At 2:20 p.m., NSC staff monitoring radio communications reported that the second floor of the Capitol and the door to the Senate Chamber “ha[ve] now been breached.”³⁰²³⁰² Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R001019 – P-R001020 (NSC Chat Log).

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¶At 2:25 p.m., the Secret Service rushed the Vice President, his family, and his senior staff down a flight of stairs, through a series of hallways and tunnels to a secure location.³⁰³³⁰³ See Chapter 8; see also Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 31-32. The Vice President and his team stayed in that same location for the next four and a half hours.

¶The angry mob had come within 40 feet of the Vice President as he was evacuated.³⁰⁴³⁰⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 16, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. President Trump never called to check on Vice President Pence’s safety, so Marc Short called Mark Meadows to tell him they were safe and secure.³⁰⁵³⁰⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 63-65. Short himself became persona non grata with President Trump. The President directed staff to revoke Short’s access to the White House after Vice President Pence refused to betray his oath to the Constitution.³⁰⁶³⁰⁶ On the evening of January 6, 2021, the President’s Military Aide told the Vice President’s Military Aide (who relayed it to the Secret Service) that Marc Short’s access to the White House complex had been cancelled. Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Secret Service Production), CTRL0000513149 (January 6-7, 2021 emails), CTRL0000673145, (January 6, 2021 emails). Several people relayed to Marc Short that “some who instigated the President”—possibly Peter Navarro—suggested to the President that “Marc was responsible for leading the Vice President on the path he took,” which resulted in the President exclaiming that Mr. Short should be locked out of the White House. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 236-37; see also Biba Adams, “Pence’s Chief of Staff Denied Entry into WH: Trump ‘Blaming Me’,” Yahoo News, (Jan. 7, 2021), available at https://www.yahoo.com/video/pence-chief-staff-denied-entry-173848235.html.Show full note Marc Short never spoke with President Trump again.³⁰⁷³⁰⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), p. 238.

¶After arriving at the secure location, the head of the Vice President’s Secret Service detail wanted to move the Vice President away from the Capitol, and staff hurried into the waiting vehicles. But the Vice President refused to get in the car.³⁰⁸³⁰⁸ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), p. 31, 45 (“The reason was he felt like, for the world’s greatest democracy, to see a motorcade, a 15-car motorcade fleeing the Capitol would send all the wrong signals. So he was adamant to say: I want to stay here in the Capitol.”); see also Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 16, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.Show full note As Greg Jacob explained in his testimony to the Select Committee:

The Vice President wouldn’t get in his car. . . . [H]e was determined that unless there was imminent danger to bodily safety that he was not going to abandon the Capitol and let the rioters have a victory of having made the Vice President flee or made it difficult to restart the process later that day.³⁰⁹³⁰⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 29-31, 44-45; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), pp. 176-77; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 16, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.Show full note

¶It was an unprecedented scene in American history. The President of the United States had riled up a mob that hunted his own Vice President.

¶The Vice President’s staff came to believe that the theory “pushed and sold” to the public that the Vice President had a role to play in the joint session was a cause of the attack on the Capitol. “The reason that the Capitol was assaulted was that the people who were breaching the Capitol believed that . . . the election [outcome] had not yet been determined, and, instead, there was some action that was supposed to take place in Washington, D.C., to determine it,” Jacob said.³¹⁰³¹⁰ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), p. 198. “I do think [the violence] was the result of that position being continuously pushed and sold to people who ended up believing that with all their hearts.”³¹¹³¹¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), pp. 198-99. The people had been “told that the Vice President had the authority” to determine the outcome of the election during the joint session.³¹²³¹² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), pp. 198-99.

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¶Of course, that was President Trump’s and John Eastman’s plan all along—to convince people that the election had been stolen, and that Vice President Pence could take action to change the outcome during the joint session on January 6th.

¶Jacob was writing an email to Eastman when the Capitol was breached.³¹³³¹³ Jacob told the Select Committee that he recognized that January 6 was going to be “an historically important day” and he wanted to memorialize exactly what he thought of the arguments made by Eastman on January 5th, to supplement the memo he wrote to Vice President Pence reflecting the arguments Eastman made on January 4th. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), pp. 200-01.Show full note At 2:14 p.m., just before being evacuated, Jacob hurriedly hit send on his email, but not before adding the following: “thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”³¹⁴³¹⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Chapman University Production), Chapman005370 (January 6, 2021, emails between Greg Jacob and John Eastman).

¶Eastman quickly replied to Jacob’s email and, incredibly, blamed Vice President Pence and Jacob for the attack. “The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so the American people can see for themselves what happened,” Eastman wrote.³¹⁵³¹⁵ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Chapman University Production), Chapman005379 (January 6, 2021, emails between Greg Jacob and John Eastman). Naturally, Jacob was “somewhere between aghast and livid.”³¹⁶³¹⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), p. 200. It was “ridiculous” to blame Vice President Pence for the attack, when he simply followed the law.³¹⁷³¹⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), p. 200.

The Joint Session Reconvenes: “Let’s Get Back to Work.”

¶The Senate reconvened at approximately 8:06 p.m.³¹⁸³¹⁸ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Chris Hodgson, (Mar. 30, 2022), pp. 246-47. Congressional leadership and the Vice President insisted on finishing the work of the people. “Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol,” Vice President Pence said. “But thanks to the swift efforts of U.S. Capitol Police, federal, state and local law enforcement, the violence was quelled. The Capitol is secured, and the people’s work continues.” The Vice President addressed “those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today,” saying “you did not win.” Vice President Pence continued:

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Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house. And as we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

¶“Let’s get back to work,” Vice President Pence concluded.³¹⁹³¹⁹ “READ: Mike Pence’s Statement to the Senate on the Storming of the Capitol,” U.S. News, (Jan. 6, 2021), available at https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2021-01-06/read-mike-pences-statement-to-the-senate-on-the-storming-of-the-capitol; see also Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Chris Hodgson, (Mar. 30, 2022), p. 246 (testifying that the Vice President wrote his remarks himself in his ceremonial office after the Capitol was cleared).Show full note

¶Despite the violence that had unfolded at the Capitol, Eastman kept agitating for further delay. At 11:44 p.m. on January 6th, Eastman sent yet another email to Greg Jacob.³²⁰³²⁰ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), VP-R0000155, (January 6, 2021, emails between Greg Jacob and John Eastman). In a shockingly tone-deaf manner, Eastman claimed that the Electoral Count Act had been violated already, by allowing debate beyond two hours, so—he argued—Vice President Pence should no longer be concerned that what President Trump and Eastman had pressured him to do also would violate it.³²¹³²¹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, (National Archives Production), VP-R0000155, p. 1, (January 6, 2021, emails between Greg Jacob and John Eastman). “Of course,” as Jacob pointed out, the debate couldn’t have been completed in two hours due to the “intervening riot of several hours.”³²²³²² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 16, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.

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¶Eastman argued that Vice President Pence should “adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations, as well as to allow a full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that has occurred here.”³²³³²³ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), VP-R0000155, (January 6, 2021, emails between Greg Jacob and John Eastman). Note that Greg Jacob’s testimony establishes that this email was likely received on January 6, 2021, at 11:44 p.m., not at 4:44 a.m. the following morning as shown on the face of this document as produced. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), p. 205. As noted in the Executive Summary, the Select Committee also received certain documents in UTC time, which is five hours ahead of EST.Show full note Eastman described this—a delay in the certification of the vote and the peaceful transfer of power with no legal or historical precedent or support, based on entirely specious and disproven allegations of election fraud, following on a violent attack on the seat of American democracy—as a “relatively minor violation.”³²⁴³²⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Chapman University Production), Chapman005479 (January 6, 2021, emails between Greg Jacob and John Eastman). This email represents John Eastman again encouraging, in writing and just after the violent attack on the Capitol had been quelled, that the Vice President use this as a justification for a further and much more serious violation of the law—delaying the certification. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 16, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. Eastman attempted to minimize what he was doing by calling the Electoral Count Act a “minor procedural statute.” Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Greg Jacob, (Feb. 1, 2022), p. 133. In an email sent at 1:33 p.m., just before the Capitol was breached, Eastman wrote, “I’m sorry Greg, but this is small minded. You’re sticking with minor procedural statutes while the Constitution is being shredded.” Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), VP-R0000166.Show full note

¶Vice President Pence later described Eastman’s email as “rubber room stuff,” meaning it was certifiably crazy.³²⁵³²⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 16, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.

5.5 Aftermath of the Attack.

¶Eastman called Herschmann on January 7th to discuss litigation on behalf of the Trump Campaign in Georgia.³²⁶³²⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), pp. 43-44. This gave Herschmann another opportunity to lay into Eastman. “[Are] you out of your F’ing mind?” Herschmann asked. “I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition.” Herschmann said. After some berating, Eastman repeated after Herschmann: “Orderly transition.” “Now I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’re ever getting in your life,” Herschmann said. “Get a great F’ing criminal defense lawyer, you’re going to need it.”³²⁷³²⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), pp. 43-44. Days afterward, Eastman sent an email to Giuliani, making a request that tacitly acknowledged just how much trouble he was in: “I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.”³²⁸³²⁸ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Chapman University Production), Chapman0064047, (January 11, 2021, email from John Eastman to Rudy Giuliani).

¶Vice President Pence and his team never bowed to President Trump’s relentless pressure. They began January 6, 2021, with a prayer. The attack on the U.S. Capitol delayed the peaceful transfer of power. The joint session did not end until early in the morning on January 7th.

¶At 3:50 a.m. that morning, Short texted Vice President Pence a passage from Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7: “I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the faith.”³²⁹³²⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), pp. 35-36.

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