Former Vice President Mike Pence has confirmed that he took notes on his conversations with former President Trump leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, as Trump repeatedly pressured him to reject the res…
Former Vice President Mike Pence has confirmed that he took notes on his conversations with former President Trump leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, as Trump repeatedly pressured him to reject the results of the 2020 election during the certification in Congress.
Well, that, and complying with lawful subpoenas. No lawyer takes these type of notes because they're keeping a diary. They do it because they know that shits gonna hit the fan eventually, and they want to keep out of the splat zone.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has confirmed that he took notes on his conversations with former President Trump leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, as Trump repeatedly pressured him to reject the results of the 2020 election during the certification in Congress.
“I generally didn’t make a practice of taking notes in meetings over the four-year period of time, but given the momentous events that were unfolding, I did take a few notes to remind myself of what had been said,” he added.
The four-count indictment brought against Trump on Tuesday over his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election referenced Pence’s contemporaneous, and previously unreported, notes from the time.
The former vice president’s notes from a Jan. 4, 2021, meeting detailed various election fraud claims that Trump made, as he pushed Pence to send back or reject electoral votes during the Jan. 6 certification.
When Pence noted at the meeting that “even your own counsel is not saying I have that authority” to send the votes back to the states, Trump reportedly responded, “That’s okay, I prefer the other suggestion,” in which the former vice president would unilaterally reject the votes.
I knew the founders of this country would never have given any one person the right to choose what Electoral College votes to accept and which ones to reject,” Pence said in the interview.
I prefer to not set myself up for further disappointment. Remember when it almost appeared certain that Mueller was going to pin Russia conspiracy shit on Trump? All we got was a lot of "sure looks bad but not enough proof to indict" kinda stuff. Whether because he was kept on a tight leash or the investigation cut off too soon idk. Maybe both.
As much corruption as there is in politics at the higher levels, and as much as the richy-riches aren't held to the same legal standard as the rest of us peons, I think it is a good idea to wait and see and not get ahead of ourselves.
The first criminal trial is March 2024, election in November. I don't think he'll be in jail before the election, and it's hard to know what is going to happen, but he might win.
Its complicated, because he did stop it. He also immediately took notes and immediately told others about the conversations, actions which clearly paint him as somebody fully versed in the processes of establishing cooperation with law enforcement on an informer basis.
It is also arguable that the entire insurrection that day was a cover to specifically murder Mike Pence on the Capitol steps. There was day of chatter that the gallow was brought into the city in one of the vehicles in Alex Jones' caravan. We know that with the charging of Donald Trump, Alex Jones is now essentially the only conspirator of Jan. 6 who remains charge free.
Whatever we think of Mike Pence, our country still existing might have solely rested in his hands and it appears he did the right thing in the way he knew how. He saved his life. He saved his family's life. He saved his country.
I find the idea of giving Pence one iota of credit for any of that to be profane in the extreme, but if it turns out to be true… ugh… I suppose I would have to. I also don’t believe his motivations would have been anything other than self-serving.
Its complicated, because he did stop it. He also immediately took notes and immediately told others about the conversations, actions which clearly paint him as somebody fully versed in the processes of establishing cooperation with law enforcement on an informer basis.
Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I might not be giving him enough credit. When I read about his conversation with Dan Quayle I thought he was trying to find a legal basis for doing what the mob wanted, but it may have been the other way around. He may have been attempting to establish unambiguously that he intended to comply with the law, and he consulted with someone who is not only another attorney, but a former vice president, in order to leave no doubt about what the law mandated.
He saved his life. He saved his family’s life. He saved his country.
And then he failed to assure that all of these things would remain safe going forward. This is still going on, and had Pence not refused to be cooperative before, the path forward would be much more clear today than it is.
Only time will tell whether Pence did just barely enough to avert collapse, or only enough to delay collapse. Neville Chamberlain was trying to keep Britain out of war, and he did, for a time. Until he didn't, and history remembers the outcome.
Doing nothing was doing something. He didn't cave to rejecting the votes selectively, which is what made that fail. So it seems like Pence did exactly what needed doing.