Former Vice President Mike Pence refused to leave the Capitol on Jan. 6 despite urging from Secret Service because he "did not want to take any chance that the world would see the vice president of the United States fleeing the United States Capitol," his former counsel testified on Thursday.
Driving the news: The committee displayed photos of Pence in an underground location during the riot, including one showing Pence reading former President Trump's tweet from that day. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) also said that the rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol came within 40 feet of the former vice president.
- "Make no mistake about the fact that the Vice President's life was in danger," Aguilar said.
The head of the Secret Service told Pence on Jan. 6: "'We're not going to drive out of the building without your permission," to which Pence replied: "I know you, I trust you, but you're not the one behind the wheel," Greg Jacob testified to the Jan. 6 select committee.
- "He was determined that we would complete the work that we had set out to do that day, that it was his constitutional duty to see through," Jacob said.
- "The rioters who had breached the Capitol would not have the satisfaction of disrupting the proceedings beyond the day on which they were supposed to be completed," Jacob continued.
- Jacob also testified that "most of" the vice president's staff got in cars to depart the Capitol.
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