‘You put me and my family at risk,’ Tucker Carlson challenged Mike Pence on January 6 | World news

Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who dismissed the events of January 6, 2021, as “the most peaceful chaos” when he was on the network, singled out former United States Vice President Mike Pence on Friday for how he see the day when a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, blocking the counting of ballots in the 2020 election and forcing lawmakers to flee.

The tough question by Carlson highlighted how Pence’s split with former President Trump on January 6 will be a big challenge for his election campaign.

Many of Trump’s loyalists have not forgiven Pence, who faced “write Mike Pence” chants from detractors that day, for his actions on January 6, and it was a major setback in his bid for the White House. .

The former Fox News host began his questioning of Pence by asking him if he agreed with the word “insurgency” to describe the attack on the Capitol.

“I haven’t used the word rebellion, Tucker, in the last two years, but it was a riot that took place in the Capitol that day,” Pence said at an event hosted by the family president in Des Moines, Iowa.

“All I know for sure carried by him in the Capitol is that it was a tragic day.”

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The former vice president, who rushed to safety as rioters tore apart the Capitol to try and hand over the certificate of President Biden’s election victory, said he saw with his own eyes the violence inflicted on dozens of people. police and “tragedy. loss of life” that resulted.

Carlson pressed Pence on who he was referring to when he mentioned the loss of life, and Pence named Ashli ​​Babbitt, a protester who was shot by law enforcement in the Capitol and whose death has become a cause for Trump and other conservatives.

“I just think it’s a tragic moment, without question,” Pence said. “But I have to tell you that seeing people attacking law enforcement officers, breaking windows, breaking the Capitol building, makes me angry. And it’s very possible that the restraint shown by law enforcement officers saved lives that day.”

Pence presided over the certification that day. Trump, who addressed the crowd before storming the Capitol and repeated his false claims that the election had been stolen from him, has urged the vice president to change the results of the election.

The 64-year-old said he had no legal authority to do so, a position widely accepted by policymakers from both parties and constitutional experts.

Pence received a standing ovation from the audience as he told Carlson that “a day of tragedy has become a victory for freedom” and that he did his duty under the Constitution.

He received an even colder response from the crowd as he told Carlson that Trump’s words that day were “disrespectful.”

“I believe whatever his intentions were at that time, he endangered me and my family and everyone in the Capitol that day,” Pence said. “I believe history will account for that.”

Those who marched to the Capitol that day were heard chanting “hang Mike Pence” because they were seen as anti-Trump.

The former US vice president launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination last month by arguing that Trump’s behavior around January 6 should be discredited for another White House term.

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Trump spent weeks saying the 2020 election was stolen before the Jan. 6 attack, and members of both parties criticized him for leading the crowd that day. Some of Carlson’s former colleagues at Fox were among those who on January 6 tried to get Trump to calm the mob that overpowered the police and entered the Capitol.

Trump attacked Pence on Twitter Jan. 6 for his lack of courage as the vice president then went to safety.