Rioters got within 40 feet of Pence and informant reveals Proud Boys ‘were willing to kill vice president’

Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by ohnoh18
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One of the most stunning moments of Thursday’s hearing of the January 6 committee came as members presented a 3D model of areas of the Senate basement where Mike Pence was evacuated to after leaving the Senate floor with Secret Service.

According to security footage of the day, rioters came dangerously close to the vice president while members of the crowd inside and outside of the Capitol chanted, “hang Mike Pence”.

And according to committee member Pete Aguilar, a confidential witness has testified to the FBI that members of the Proud Boys, who were present in the riot, “would have killed Mike Pence if given the chance”.

"Make no mistake about the fact that the Vice President's life was in danger,” said the congressman.

“Approximately 40 feet,” he continued. “That’s all there was between the vice president and the mob.”

The extent to which Mr Pence was personally in danger during the riot has never been known before now. It was publicly reported as it happened that Mr Pence was removed from the Senate chamber as rioters breached the building, but his whereabouts up until now were unknown.

The vice president found himself a target for the attackers’ ire after it became clear that he would not interfere to overturn the election result and attempt to give Donald Trump a second term, in spite of what Mr Trump had promised the legions of his supporters who descended upon the Capitol that day. Mr Pence’s role overseeing the count of the Electoral College’s votes made convincing him to interfere in the process a prime goal of Trump’s lawyers like John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani.

But Mr Pence repeatedly refused to do so and found himself the target of violent threats alongside Democrats including Nancy Pelosi during the riot.

Thursday’s hearing largely centred on the effort to convince Mr Pence to interfere in the election, despite testimony from members of Mr Trump and Pence’s legal teams indicating that many of those engaged in the effort knew it had no legal standing.

Never-Too-Late-89 on June 17th, 2022 at 00:57 UTC »

They were not "rioters." They were seditionist traitors. This was not a riot. It was attempt to overthrow the US Government by force.

For years I chaffed at being forced to take sign statements that I had never advocated the forceful overthrow of our government. It seemed to me a silly question. If had been guilty that, why would I admit it? But now I see there are people who actually have taken that oath but advocated an insurrection and conspired to make it happen. Let's apply the laws against sedition.

Catlover2727 on June 16th, 2022 at 20:53 UTC »

My favorite part of all of this is monitoring right wing spaces online and seeing when the talking points finally drop.

/r/conservative doesn't post an article until Fox News drops their FB articles and responses on their website.

Until the talking points are made, it's just "deflect deflect deflect " and "whataboutism"

EmmaLouLove on June 16th, 2022 at 20:10 UTC »

Conservative Federal Judge Luttig testimony: “Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy…

That’s not because of what happened on January 6. It’s because to this day (Trump), his allies and supporters pledge that …they would attempt to overturn the 2024 election …

I don’t speak those words lightly. I would’ve never spoken those words ever in my life except that’s what the former president, his allies are telling us…

As I said, the former president is executing that blueprint for 2024 in open and plain view of the American public.”