(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump repeatedly pressured Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 Election, even resorting to childlike bullying at times, according to an excerpt from Pence’s new memoir published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
In the article titled “My Last Days With Donald Trump,” the former vice president describes the dubious legal theories Trump and others used to goad him into rejecting the results.
“I told (Trump), as I had many times, that I didn’t believe I possessed that power under the Constitution,” Pence wrote.
To which Trump allegedly replied: “Hundreds of thousands are gonna hate your guts. … People are gonna think you’re stupid.”
In his memoir, Pence pointed out his support for all of the legal election challenges but believed that unitlaterally rejecting the will of the voters was a bridge too far and rightly thought it was a power he did not have.
Pence notified Trump of his decision to follow procedure in a phone call on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021: “I reiterated that I didn’t believe I had the power to decide which electoral votes would count and said I would be issuing a statement to Congress confirming that before the joint session started.”
Upon hearing the news, Trump laid into Pence, calling him a “whimp” and said he made a “big mistake” taking him on as a vice president, according to Pence.
As the fateful day unfolded, Trump continued to direct blame at his vice president, urging him “to do the right thing” in front of a raucous crowd.
Tempers eventually rose to a boiling point and thousands descended on the U.S. Capitol, breaching the building and attacking law enforcement.
“The protesters who had smashed their way into the House side of the Capitol were heading for the Senate,” wrote Pence. “I later learned that many had come looking for me.”
In his own telling, Pence was determined not to leave his post despite urging from the Secret Service. Eventually he hunkered down in a loading dock but refused to leave the Capitol so that Congress could reconvene and certify the results of the election.
Finally, around 3:40 a.m., Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota read the results of the 2020 election.
“Beyond the violence and destruction, the Jan. 6 rioters had managed to end the debate over election irregularities,” Pence wrote.
