The committee detailed the efforts of then-President Donald Trump and his allies before and on Jan. 6, 2021, to get Pence to reject electoral votes Congress was certifying -- as part of what it says was a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Pence told Trump ‘many times’ he couldn't overturn election: Marc Short
The committee aired several clips featuring Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Jason Miller, Steve Bannon and others publicly pressuring Pence to refuse the Electoral College votes that were in favor of Joe Biden.
“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Trump said in one video from his rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. “He’s a great guy. If he doesn't come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, told the committee in previously recorded testimony that Pence directly conveyed his view to Trump “many times” that he didn’t have the authority to do what they were asking of him.
“He'd been consistent in conveying his position to the president?” the committee asked Short.
“Very consistent,” Short replied.
Jun 16, 2022, 2:09 PM EDT
Pence and adviser found that 'history was absolutely decisive': He couldn't help Trump
Greg Jacob, a former adviser to Pence, said they analyzed history and constitutional text to map out the vice president’s role when it came to certifying elections.
The two then examined “every single electoral vote count that had happened in Congress” since the country’s founding, Jacob testified. They found no vice president ever claimed to have the kind of authority Trump and his attorney John Eastman claimed Pence had.
Greg Jacob, who was counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence, testifies as the House select committee investigates the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol during a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, June 16, 2022.
Susan Walsh/AP
“The history was absolutely decisive and again, part of my discussion with Mr. Eastman was, ‘If you were right, don't you think Al Gore might have liked to have known in 2000 that he had authority to just declare himself president of the United States? Did you think that the Democrat lawyers just didn't think of this very obvious quirk that he could use to do that?'”
Jun 16, 2022, 2:15 PM EDT
Trump, Pence haven't spoken in a year: Sources
Trump and Pence haven't spoken to one another since last summer, according to sources familiar with their conversations.
Pence defended Trump through a slate of controversies during their administration. But, as the House committee is highlighting at its hearings, Pence drew a line at Trump's alleged plot to overturn the election -- breaking from the president and drawing the rage of the Trump mob on Jan. 6.
An image of former US Vice President Mike Pence is projected at the hearing where the House Select Committee investigates the Jan. 6 Attack on the US Capitol, in Washington, D.C., June 16, 2022.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
When ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl interviewed Trump for his book "Betrayal," Karl asked about the "Hang Mike Pence" chants and whether Trump had been concerned for the safety of the man he chose to be his vice president.
“Well, the people were very angry,” Trump said.
“They said, ‘hang Mike Pence,’” Karl told Trump.
“It’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect,” Trump said. “How can you, if you know a vote is fraudulent, right, how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?”
An image of the attack on the US Capitol is projected at the hearing where the House Select Committee investigates the Jan. 6 Attack on the US Capitol, in Washington, D.C., June 16, 2022.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
While Pence himself isn't testifying and has not sat before the committee, a range of former Pence aides cooperated with the investigation.
Since his term ended, Pence has publicly reiterated he had no power to overturn the 2020 results. But like other conservatives, he has said "election integrity" should be a national priority.
-ABC News' Katherine Faulders
Jun 16, 2022, 1:40 PM EDT
Inside the hearing room
Notable faces were spotted across the hearing room as proceedings kicked off Thursday.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who testified at the committee's first hearing last year on their experience defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, were all present.
U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell talks with Olivia Troye, who served as a homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, June 16, 2022.
Susan Walsh/AP
Former Pence national security adviser Olivia Troye, who resigned from the administration in 2020, was spotted sitting next to Gonell as well as Allison Gill, a former high-level Veterans Affairs official who was secretly recording a podcast on the weekends about Robert Mueller's investigation that attracted thousands of listeners.
A couple of members of Congress have been spotted in the back of the room including Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., sitting together. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who along with Vice Chair Liz Cheney has been ostracized by the Republican Party for speaking out against Trump, also stopped by.
