The infamous riots, which saw five people die, have been high on the news agenda recently after Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, leaked thousands of pages of internal documents, and accused the social media company of helping fuel the insurrection by choosing to amplify hate and misinformation on the site.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday night, Pence was asked about his relationship with Trump, months after the pair reportedly fell out over the Capitol riots.
“I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,” Pence said. “They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020,”
Asked about his relationship with Trump now, Pence said: “Look, you can’t spend almost five years in a political foxhole with somebody without developing a strong relationship. And January 6 was a tragic day in the history of our Capitol Building, but thanks for the efforts of Capitol Hill police, federal officials, the Capitol was secured, we finished our work and the president and I sat down a few days later and talked through all of it. I can tell you that we parted amicably at the end of the administration and we’ve talked a number of times since we both left office.”
Trump and Pence fell out over the Capitol riots—with the former president reportedly being enraged that his second-in-command refused to try and overturn the election results. After he lost to President Joe Biden last November, Trump has consistently claimed—without any proof—that the result of the presidential election was a fraud. The riots on January 6 occurred shortly after Trump held a rally in Washington D.C., where he claimed the election results were invalid.
Disturbing footage from January 6 in the Capitol Building shows protesters shouting “Hang Mike Pence!” and “Bring out Pence!” as they roamed the halls searching for the former vice president and other lawmakers. The protests turned violent and five people died, including a Capitol police officer. Many were injured in the violence and four officers who responded to the riot took their own lives within seven months after the insurrection.
Trump is due to head to Iowa next weekend, adding to the speculation that he may be running again in 2024 for a second term as president.
