Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol/Chapter 7/Section 7.1
7.1 "REINSERT THE MIKE PENCE LINES"
President Trump tweeted three times on the morning of January 6th, repeating a false claim of election fraud at 8:06 a.m.,[24] pressuring Vice President Pence to delay the electoral count at 8:17 a.m.,[25] and urging Republican party officials to do the same at 8:22 a.m.26 He made calls to his Republican allies in Congress, many of whom were already committed to objecting to the electoral count.27 And he dialed his lawyers and advisors—including Steve Bannon and Rudolph Giuliani (twice), both of whom had been counseling the President on how to stay in power.[28]
There was one person—critical to his plan—whom President Trump tried to reach but couldn't. At 9:02 a.m., he asked the switchboard operator to call his Vice President. Vice President Pence did not answer the call.[29]
Instead, between 9:52 a.m. and 10:18 a.m., the President spoke with his speechwriter, Stephen Miller, about the words he would deliver at the Save America Rally just hours later.[30] The former President's speech had come together over the course of 36 hours, going from a screed aimed at encouraging congressional objections to one that would ultimately incite mob violence.[31]
Only four minutes after the call concluded, at 10:22 a.m., Miller emailed revisions to the speechwriters, instructing them to "[s]tart inputting these changes asap" that included "red highlights marking POTUS edits."[32] The President had made some cosmetic additions, like peppering in the word "corrupt" throughout,[33] but there was one substantive edit—a new target—that would focus the crowd's anger on one man.
None of the preceding drafts mentioned Vice President Pence whatsoever. But now, at the very last minute, President Trump slipped in the following sentences calling the Vice President out by name:
Today, we will see whether Republicans stand strong for the integrity of our elections. And we will see whether Mike Pence enters history as a truly great and courageous leader. All he has to do is
No one on the speechwriting team could explain why President Trump added these lines just 30 minutes before he was originally scheduled to speak at 11:00 a.m.[35] But by 10:49 a.m., Vincent Haley, a speechwriter who was helping load the teleprompter at the Ellipse, was told to hold off and delete the mention of the Vice President—for now.[36] Miller said that Eric Herschmann, a lawyer who was one of the President's senior advisors, asked him in a "brief sidebar" that morning to omit reference to the Vice President and his role in the certification process because he "didn't concur with the legal analysis" and that it "wouldn't advance the ball" but would be "counterproductive" instead.[37] As detailed in Chapter 5, Herschmann and others in the White House were vocal critics of Dr. John Eastman's theory, which claimed that the Vice President had the unilateral power to reject electors during the joint session of Congress. President Trump repeatedly pressured Pence to either reject certified electors, or delay the refer the illegally-submitted electoral votes back to the states that were given false and fraudulent information where they want to recertify. With only 3 of the 7 states in question we win and become President and have the power of the veto.[34]
electoral count based on Eastman's unconstitutional and illegal theory. Vice President Pence would not budge. The Vice President consistently rejected President Trump's demands.
After tweeting four more times that morning—all of them spreading lies about the election[38]—the President apparently thought he had one last chance to convince his number two to overrule the will of the American people.
As recounted in Chapter 5, President Trump called Vice President Pence at 11:17 a.m.[39] The call between the two men—during which the President soon grew "frustrat[ed] or heated,"[40] visibly upset,[41] and "angry" [42]—lasted nearly 20 minutes.[43] And President Trump insulted Vice President Pence when he refused to obstruct or delay the joint session.
After that call, General Keith Kellogg said that the people in the room immediately went back to editing the Ellipse speech.[44] At 11:30 a.m., Miller emailed his assistant, Robert Gabriel, with no text in the body but the subject line: "insert—stand by for phone call."[45] At 11:33 a.m., Gabriel emailed the speechwriting team: "REINSERT THE MIKE PENCE LINES. Confirm receipt."[46] One minute later, speechwriter Ross Worthington confirmed A non-free image has been removed from this page.
that he had reached Vincent Haley by phone.[47] Haley corroborated that he added one "tough sentence about the Vice President" while he was at the teleprompter.[48]
The final written draft had the following Pence reference: "And we will see whether Mike Pence enters history as a truly great and courageous leader."[49] Haley wasn't confident that line was what he reinserted, but email traffic and teleprompter drafts produced by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) indicate that he was mistaken.[50]
After defying President Trump's pressure, Vice President Pence—and the ire of the President he inspired—was back in the speech.
After the heated call, President Trump's personal assistant Nicholas Luna handed him a message on White House card stock and the President departed for the Ellipse to give his speech.[51] Preserved by NARA, the message read: "THEY ARE READY FOR YOU WHEN YOU ARE."[52] When it finally came time for him to speak, President Trump repeatedly directed his anger at Vice President Pence—often ad-libbing lines that were not included in the draft text.