A top aide to former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that he spoke to the Secret Service ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill about concerns about the fallout from then-President Trump’s rhetoric as thousands of his supporters descended on Washington. , DC
Marc Short, who served as Pence’s chief of staff at the time, said he spoke with the vice president’s top Secret Service agent after it became clear that the belief among Trump and his aides that Pence could unilaterally stop certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory was about to spill into the public.
“And I think with thousands of people descending on Washington hoping for a different outcome, I thought it was important that they be alerted to that,” Short said on CNN. “But I didn’t have any specific intelligence, I didn’t know that the Capitol would be attacked the way it was.”
Asked if he was worried about Pence’s safety, Short said he “wouldn’t have said anything any other way.”
Short, who praised the work of the Secret Service, said he was concerned that Trump was about to go public with his belief that Pence had the power to change the outcome of the election, saying, “I’m not sure the consequences of that have been carefully thought out. by people around the president with thousands of people coming to Washington.”
The New York Times previously reported that Short had spoken with the Secret Service before the Jan. 6 Ellipse rally, which preceded the riots on Capitol Hill.
Short’s appearance on CNN came on the eve of a House committee hearing investigating the Jan. 6 riots that is expected to focus on the pressure campaign on Pence by Trump and his allies. For weeks, Trump insisted that Pence could single-handedly reject Electoral College-certified electors and prevent President Biden from taking office.
Pence ultimately wrote in a letter on January 6 that he did not think he had the constitutional authority to do so. He has since said that Trump was “wrong” in claiming that the vice president could change the outcome of the election, calling the idea un-American.
Short will not testify in person Thursday, but previously testified behind closed doors for eight hours under subpoena. Some of that testimony is likely to be played at Thursday’s public hearing.
Short said he was concerned about the composition of the Jan. 6 committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected an initial list of Republican appointees because some had voted to contest the results of the elections. 2020 election. And he said the committee’s intent did not appear to be focused on security lapses or legislative fixes to prevent a similar event in the future.
When asked if Pence had been watching the hearings, Short said, “I think it’s hard not to avoid some of the coverage, but I don’t think I’m glued to the TV watching the hearings every day.”
Reference-thehill.com