The January 6 Select Committee presented evidence last summer that showed concern among Secret Service and the National Security Council that then-VP Mike Pence would have no way out of the Capitol as the riot unfolded. In radio communications from that day, which were played at one of the hearings, the Secret Service agent guarding Pence urged getting out immediately before they “lose the ability to leave.” Some agents reportedly made goodbye calls to family members, according to reporting from Axios.
And though Pence spent years avoiding criticism of his former boss, in his book, “So Help Me God,” he finally opened up about the day, and said former President Trump’s “reckless words had endangered my family and all those serving at the Capitol.”
“All around was a blur of motion and chaos: security and police officers directing people to safety, staffers shouting and running for shelter. I could see the intensity in the eyes of the Secret Service detail; it was audible, too, in the voices of the Capitol Police. I could hear the fall of footsteps and angry chanting,” Pence writes in the book.
Despite the chaos of the riot and the discernible fear among Secret Service agents, former second lady Karen Pence says she “never felt afraid” that day – a sentiment shared by her husband, according to his account of Jan. 6 in "So Help Me God."
In an “ABC News Live Prime” interview, which airs Monday evening, Karen Pence explains why she was at "peace" despite the circumstances around her.
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“I never felt afraid, and I really felt like we just had such a peace and God’s presence and just a sense of purpose and determination, that I don’t think any of us in the whole group — all the staff and everyone with us — I don’t think any of us felt fear,” she said. “I think we felt like a sense of resolve.”
Asked why she decided to close the shades in the room Pence and his family were evacuated to, she explained it was a "conditioning thing."
“Once you become second lady, life changed a lot for us,” she said. “In fact, during the transition, we rented a home near D.C., and I remember walking in that home the first day and Secret Service had put butcher block paper, you know, all over the windows, and you couldn’t even see outside. And every time we traveled they would have traveling bulletproof glass in every hotel room.”
“So it’s a conditioning thing, that I just knew: Whenever you’re in a situation where someone might be able to shoot through the window, just close the drapes,” she said. “That was my thinking at the time. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, things are starting to happen out there. Let’s close the drapes.’”
"I don't think any of us felt fear. I think we felt like a sense of resolve."
— ABC News (@ABC) August 14, 2023
EXCLUSIVE: Former second lady Karen Pence speaks out for first time about Capitol riot. https://t.co/CunvMvG34K pic.twitter.com/aL1iCC7t5C
Karen Pence's comments come as her husband is gearing up for the first GOP presidential primary debate, which he recently qualified for. He is currently at 5.2 percent in RealClearPolitics' average of national surveys, behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
