In repeated conversations day after day, Trump asked his vice president to use his position as secretary of state as president of the Senate to change the results of the election without confirming the results, Smith’s report said.
Pence refused, and Trump once told him that “hundreds of thousands” of people would “hate him inside” if he didn’t back down.
A public campaign of pressure on his deputy continued. In his speech, Trump said he hoped Pence would, but if he didn’t, “he wouldn’t like him as much.”
Just before he left the White House to give a speech at the Ellipse before the attack on the Capitol, Trump called Pence one last time, Smith says. When the vice president told him during the call that he didn’t have the authority to carry out Trump’s wishes, Trump ordered staff to reinsert into his speech some language he had written earlier aimed at Pence.
Moments after the speech, Trump supporters roamed the halls of the Capitol chanting “hang Mike Pence” and sought him in his offices.
