Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/609

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
187 MINUTES OF DERELICTION
583

President Trump on a phone call with Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office on the morning of January 6, 2021.
(Photo provided to the Select Committee by the National Archives and Records Administration)

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