Pelosi Reveals Mike Pence’s Behind-the-Scenes Reaction to January 6

Back in January 2021, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer tried to convince Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from presidential office.

The Democratic leaders made a call to Pence’s office shortly after the January 6 Capitol riot, according to revelations in Pelosi’s upcoming memoir, The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House. An advance copy of the book, due to be released next week, was obtained by The Guardian. But Pence’s office left the two on hold for 20 minutes and never responded to them.

“Following January 6, the Democratic leadership discussed asking the vice president to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which allows for the vice president and a majority of cabinet members to certify that a president is unable to discharge the duties of the office,” Pelosi wrote.

She and the then-Senate minority leader Schumer called Pence to talk about invoking the provision, but Pence didn’t reply.

“The vice president’s office kept us on hold for 20 minutes,” Pelosi wrote. She added that she was “thankfully” at home at the time and “could also empty the dishwasher and put in a load of laundry” while waiting for Pence to respond. But, he didn’t.

“Ultimately, Vice President Pence never got on the phone with us or returned our call,” wrote Pelosi.

While it’s well-known that Pelosi, Schumer, and several other members of Congress made public calls to have Trump removed from office during that time, this phone call wasn’t public knowledge until now. Pence went on to publicly reject calls to invoke the constitutional provision in a letter to Pelosi later that month, despite defying Trump and his supporters on January 6 and certifying his election loss.

The missed phone call is another reminder that Pence, while doing the bare minimum of certifying the 2020 presidential election, failed to step up and take action against the biggest danger to democracy when he had the chance.