Mike Pence Shared His Harshest Words Yet About Donald Trump & the January 6 Insurrection

Let’s just say Donald Trumpisn’t having the best week ever. After a number of his endorsed candidates lost the midterm election, the former president is now getting criticized by Mike Pence about his behavior during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. They used to be on the same team, but it doesn’t sound like it anymore. 

Of course, Pence is likely to mount his own presidential campaign for 2024, so it’s in his best interest to distance himself from the controversial political figure. However, his new interview with ABC’s World News Tonight is the harshest we’ve ever seen the former vice president speak about Donald Trump. Telling anchor David Muir that Donald Trump was “reckless” on Jan. 6, Pence believes that his former colleague “endangered” his life as well as “everyone at the Capitol building” with his inflammatory speech to the crowd. 

Pence was at the Capitol to certify the 2020 election results which named Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Donald Trump, who was leaning way into his own conspiracy that the election was stolen from him, wanted Pence to “have the courage to do what should have been done,” which was to break the law. The former Vice President shared that Donald Trump’s tweet “angered” him. 

“But I turned to my daughter, standing nearby, and I said, ‘It doesn’t take courage to break the law, it takes courage to uphold the law,'” Pence added. “The president’s words were reckless. It’s clear he decided to be part of the problem.” While Pence has lightly condemned Donald Trump’s actions on that day, this is the most damning acknowledgment that the Republican politician truly feels that his former running mate was complicit in the insurrection.

Donald Trump will likely have some type of name-calling response to Pence’s thoughts, but it’s one more realization that the GOP is swerving away from MAGA politics. It has to be a shocking wake-up call for the former president who thrives on adulation.

Before you go, click here to see photos of Donald Trump’s family over the years.