Mike Pence issues new statement regarding his conversations with Trump on Jan. 6

Speaking to PBS Newshour this Thursday, former Vice President Mike Pence said soon after the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, he approached then-President Donald Trump to suggest that “he ought to be prepared to accept the outcome of the election and move forward.”

Pence defended the more than 60 legal challenges brought by Trump to challenge the election's results, as well as the "Stop the Steal" rally that was held before the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, saying, “I actually thought there might be some use in having people come and draw attention to the legal process that would take place in the Congress, that we’d have an opportunity to vent concerns about irregularities that did occur and and look at any fraud evidence that ultimately did not come."

“But it never occurred to me, any more than I think almost anyone else, that the violence of that day would ensue,” Pence said, adding that as the violence unfolded, he was “determined not to leave [his] post."

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When asked if he was angry at Trump at the time, Pence said yes and added that he "was angry at what I saw and the way it dishonored the millions of people who had supported our cause around the country.”

From PBS Newshour: "According to Pence, he and Trump made no effort to reach out to each other during the insurrection or in its immediate aftermath, but the former president did ask to speak with him about five days later. During that 90-minute conversation, Trump asked about his wife, Karen Pence, and daughter, who’d both been at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Pence said. Pence said he told Trump 'sternly' that his family was fine, then conveyed his anger over how the day had unfolded. He also said he sensed that Trump felt 'deep remorse,' but at no time during their conversation did Trump apologize to Pence, despite the fact that some Jan. 6 rioters called Pence a traitor, brought a gallows to the Capitol and wrongfully believed, at Trump’s suggestion, that Pence had the ability to overturn the results of the 2020 election."

Read more at PBS Newshour.