Mike Pence Says He Was ‘Angry’ During Capitol Riot: ‘Dishonored the Patriotism of Millions of Our Supporters’

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Former Vice President Mike Pence claimed he was not “afraid” during the January 6 Capitol riot despite being forced to hunker down in the basement while rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence.” Instead, the Republican said he was “angry” by what he saw, claiming the actions of some “dishonored” patriotic MAGA supporters.

“I was not afraid, but I was angry,” Pence wrote in his upcoming memoir So Help Me God, according to excerpts obtained by Axios and published Tuesday.

Pence said the riot “desecrated” the U.S. Capitol and claimed “millions” of his and Trump’s supporters “would never do such a thing.”

“I was angry at what I saw, how it desecrated the seat of our democracy and dishonored the patriotism of millions of our supporters, who would never do such a thing here or anywhere else,” Pence wrote in the book, which is due to be released on November 15 from Simon & Schuster.

The final chapters of Pence’s book focus on the January 6 riot and much of the work is based on the former vice president’s faith, Axios’ Mike Allen noted in the report.

Pence received plenty of criticism leading up to the Capitol riot as he was responsible for certifying the 2020 presidential election results, which were called into question by then President Donald Trump and some of his supporters.

Pence’s comments on the riot also stand in contrast to how Trump has discussed the event. The former president recently floated the idea of pardoning people charged for the Capitol riot if he were to become president again. Trump has not confirmed whether he’s running again in 2024.

“If I run and I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly,” Trump said. “We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”