MIKE Pence felt "scared, angry, and betrayed" during the Capitol insurrection, an ex-White House staffer revealed, as rampaging protesters threatened to “hang” the former vice president.

Protesters stormed the Capitol on January 6 2021 as they railed against lawmakers certifying Joe Biden's election victory.

Five people were killed in the deadly insurrection and some officers who defended the Capitol were left battling post-traumatic stress.

Four cops who responded to the attack died by suicide. 

Riled-up rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence” while the then commander-in-chief accused his veep of lacking "courage" – hours before Pence presided over the certification of the election results.

Olivia Troye, a former staffer on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, told The Sun that she feared violence would erupt on January 6.

She said: "In the aftermath of the election, I was very concerned about violence on January 6. I was concerned for Mike Pence."

Troye said she has no doubt that Pence was "angry, scared and worried" as he was with his family when the chaos unfolded.

Most read in The Sun

She revealed: "I think the most jarring thing was seeing the gallows set up outside the Capitol and the ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants toward someone who had remained so loyal for many years.

“He is known to the GOP as a very traditional, conservative Republican.

“You can say a lot of things about Pence, but I’m sure that he was concerned for the safety of all those who were inside the Capitol that day."

She believes the former vice president felt a sense of betrayal.

Trump was impeached for the second time after being accused of inciting an insurrection. He was acquitted in the Senate.

Footage played at the impeachment trial revealed how close the mob got to the “nuclear football”.

'SENSE OF BETRAYAL'

During the riots, Pence, his wife, and daughter were rushed out by security staff.

Secret Service agents and a military officer carrying the “nuclear football” followed closely behind.

Officials who oversee the process to launch missiles were reportedly unaware that the "football" was potentially in danger.

Impeachment manager Rep. Stacey Plaskett said: “As the rioters reached the top of the stairs, they were within 100 feet of where the vice president was sheltering with his family, and they were just feet away from one of the doors to this chamber.”

But, Kingston Reif, a nuclear weapons policy expert, told CNN that rioters wouldn’t have been able to initiate a launch if they got their hands on Pence’s football.

He warned: “Had they stolen the football and acquired its contents, which include pre-planned nuclear strike options, they could have shared the contents with the world.”

Reif said it would’ve been a security breach of “incomprehensible proportions”.

Lawmakers on the January 6 committee are calling for Pence to voluntarily cooperate with their investigation.

Chair Bennie Thompson told CNN Tuesday: “I would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee.”

'A DARK DAY'

The Democrat revealed that he wants Pence’s take on his experience inside the Capitol building when protesters were calling for him to be hanged.

In June, Pence told Republicans in New Hampshire that he will likely never “see eye to eye” with Trump regarding the insurrection.

He said: “As I said that day, Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.

“You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office, and I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye about that day," he continued. 

"But I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years."

Trump previously revealed that he was “disappointed” in Pence certifying Biden’s win.

As the one-year anniversary approaches, lawmakers have since recalled their harrowing experiences.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who serves Washington's 7th congressional district, was recovering from knee replacement surgery at the time of the riots.

She told the Associated Press: “It was terrifying. Somebody (in the gallery) was saying, ‘Do you have a key? Does anybody have a key to the doors?’

"Because we didn’t know if the doors could be locked. And so I was focused on planning my escape if I had to get out.”

She said that she couldn’t bend her knee, but had a “plan” that she was going to hit an insurrectionist in the knee with a mask, then in the other knee with a cane.”

Meanwhile, Annie Kuster, who represents New Hampshire's second congressional district, told her son that she was "running for her life" and reassured him that she would phone him back after receiving a call.

Troye said the images of the insurrection were “humiliating” to the US on the global stage.

She said: “Images of January 6 were incredibly harmful on a global scale.

“Those images were being played by foreign adversaries as images of a failing democracy, and they are being used to exploit us.

“All of that is a dangerous precedent because it’s part of our electoral system and what makes our democracy work.

“When you have the pillars of our democracy starting to erode and you have the presence of extremism, we see public confidence in our elections start to be undermined."

Olivia Troye was Mike Pence's lead staffer on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. She resigned from the White House in August 2020.

We pay for your stories!

Do you have a story for The US Sun team?

Email us at [email protected] or call 212 416 4552.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS

Source: Read Full Article