New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s Friday noose report has some interesting tidbits from her upcoming book “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” about Mike Pence being at the end of his rope, facing the gallows, and barely able to breathe as the pressure from Trump allies came at a breakneck speed in the days between the 2020 election and the fateful events of January 6th. But Pence remained on his feet and would not sway.
Original Story by Jack follows: The chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence called the head of Pence’s Secret Service detail to his office on January 5th, 2021 to advise him of a potential security threat that may occur on the 6th because he expected Donald Trump to turn against Pence after Pence certified election results.
The shocking disclosure – made in an upcoming book by Maggie Haberman that will be out in October – is another example of the media or members of the Trump Administration withholding key information to help sell books, instead of disclosing the information when uncovered.
But it also shows that even with the Trump White House, staff and administration officials knew and understood the life-threatening actions Trump would take to maintain his power and control, even after he had been repeatedly told that there was no malfeasance in vote tallies and the election results.
Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, sent a message to the head of Pence’s security detail, Tim Giebels, warning him of the likely backlash that would come from a Trump outburst targeting Pence. On January 5th, the prospect of a Trump rally ginning up anger at the election certification process was imminent: Trump and his staff had taken over planning for a January 6th rally, and Trump intended to incite the crowd to march on the Capitol to prevent the certification of his loss in the November 2020 election. Trump has made multiple and frequent unjustified claims that the election was “stolen” from him through various debunked means.
On January 6th, a crowd of 2,000 domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol and attacked law enforcement officers before the VP and members of Congress were ordered off the House floor and into safe harbors within the building. Pence and Pence’s brother, who had been sworn in as a Congressman days before, were escorted by Secret Service to a loading dock in the basement of the Capitol. Pence refused to leave the building, fearful that such a move would embolden the protesters and permanently derail the certification process.
Trump and his allies have claimed that they had no idea or intention that the crowd would turn violent, and many Republicans continue to maintain that the crowd was a peaceful group of protestors who undertook no violence, even though they chanted “Hang Mike Pence” repeatedly. Trump himself tweeted on January 6th that Pence was a traitor, posting, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”