The leaders at the US Strategic Command learned Wednesday while watching the Senate impeachment trial that the domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol were seconds away from Vice President Mike Pence's military aide who was carrying the "nuclear football," CNN reports.
A briefcase with nuclear launch codes, "The Football" for the Vice President is identical to one that accompanies the President wherever he goes; the VP has one in case something happens to the President.
For the first time, commanders at USSC saw the security video shown by House impeachment managers on Wednesday in which Pence and his family were rushed out of the Senate chamber. One of the people in the group of people was the aide carrying The Football.
"As the rioters reached the top of the stairs, they were within 100 feet of where the vice president was sheltering with his family, and they were just feet away from one of the doors to this chamber," US Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett, one of the impeachment managers, detailed in the Senate trial Wednesday. As she spoke, a graphic depicting the insurrectionists and the Pence party played on the screen; it showed the insurrectionists within 100 feet of Pence.
According to officials, the device with Pence was always active, but the device could not have been used because of safeguards in place.