Donald Trump found it “common sense” that the protesters who stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6 shouted “to hang up [su vicepresidente] Mike Pence ”, who that day presided over in the Senate the session in which Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 elections was to be certified. This was informed on March 18 by the journalist from ABC News Jonathan Karl in an interview that now comes to light.
Trump had asked Pence to take office so as not to validate the Democratic victory. When he refused, he became a traitor in the eyes of the former president’s followers. Thousands of them gathered on January 6 in Washington for a rally outside the Capitol that led to the attack.
The interview was known almost eight months after being held at the Mar-a-Lago club (Florida), the former president’s favorite refuge. It arrives in full investigation for those events, which Trump is trying to torpedo at any cost, and just in time to arouse interest in the book Betrayal Karl’s (Betrayal), scheduled for release next week. In the recording, made public this Friday on the web Axios, the following exchange is heard:
– “He [Pence] could have done it [evitar la designación de Biden]… and well, people were very angry, “said Trump.
“They said, ‘Let’s hang Mike Pence,'” added Karl.
– “It’s just common sense, Jon. It is common sense to understand what you are supposed to protect. How can you allow that? How can you let a fraudulent vote take place in Congress? ”Trump insisted.
Join now EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits
Subscribe here
Later, the former president emphasizes his theory, which has been proven false, that Pence had the ability to overrule the results of a handful of undecided states, such as Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, where Trump maintains, without evidence , that there was widespread electoral fraud.
At another point in the interview, Karl asks the tycoon if on January 6 he was concerned about the safety of Pence, who had to take refuge inside the Capitol with the rest of the senators while a mob took over the building. “No, I thought it was protected and they told me it was in good condition,” he said.
This Thursday, an appeals court temporarily blocked the release of White House documents on the attack, requested in August by a committee of the House of Representatives, which is investigating what happened that day. A judge had determined on Tuesday that Congress has the right to access those Trump papers, who with the decision of the appeals court has obtained a reprieve until November 30, wants them to be kept secret.
Follow all the international information at Facebook and Twitter, o en our weekly newsletter.
