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Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she commended former Vice President Mike Pence for certifying Joe Biden as president on January 6 despite him facing tremendous pressure by former President Donald Trump to overturn the election.
“I think that he did his job that day,” Harris said in a CNN interview after reporter Dana Bash asked her whether her opinion of Pence had changed. “And I commend him for that because clearly it was under extraordinary circumstances that he should have not had to face. And I commend him for having the courage to do his job.”
This month the House Select Committee probing the January 6 Capitol attack has detailed how Trump tried to push Pence not to recognize Biden’s victory in the days leading up to January 6, 2021. Trump wanted Pence to “send back” slates of electors for Biden back to their states in order to overturn his election loss.
But Pence put out an open letter saying he didn’t have the authority to take such actions, and his role in the certification process was largely ceremonial.
In a phone call that morning, Trump called Pence a “wimp” and the “p-word,” witnesses revealed during the House hearings. Some of the rioters at the Capitol that disrupted the certification chanted “hang Mike Pence”
New photos also showed Pence was within 40 feet of the pro-Trump mob before he was moved to safety in a loading dock beneath the Capitol, where he remained for up to five hours until the riot was over because he refused to evacuate the premises.
When the riot was over, Pence certified Biden’s win.
During the January 6 hearings, witnesses and lawmakers outlined how Pence might have caused the “first constitutional crisis since the founding of the Republic” if he had given in to Trump.
On CNN, Harris’ was complimentary of Pence even though the two of them had a testy debate during the 2020 presidential election, with Pence interrupting Harris 10 times, CBS News found.
“Mr. Vice President, I am speaking,” Harris said after Pence interrupted one of her responses on the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the select committee investigating the Capitol attack unexpectedly announced it would hold a sixth public hearing on Tuesday. The hearing will reveal “recently obtained evidence” as well as testimony from witnesses, according to an advisory sent to reporters.
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