Politics

Pence’s Shocking Notes on Trump Jan. 6 Phone Call Revealed

Pence’s Shocking Notes on Trump Jan. 6 Phone Call Revealed

Donald Trump warned Mike Pence that he’d be remembered as a “wimp” after the then-vice president refused to block Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, according to a new book.

Pence’s previously unseen notes from Jan. 6, 2021 have been published in Retribution, a new book by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Just before Trump took the stage at the infamous “Save America” rally that preceded the Capitol attack, he reportedly made one last call to pressure Pence into overturning his loss to Biden.

But Pence informed Trump that he would let the election results be certified.

“You’ll go down as a wimp,” Trump told Pence in response, according to handwritten notes about the call on the morning of Jan. 6. “If you do that, I made a big mistake five years ago.”

The president is also said to have told his vice president, “You listen to the wrong people,” according to Retribution. In Pence’s notes, a rough sketch of an angry emoji reportedly appears beside the comment.

“You’re not protecting our country, you’re supposed to support + defend our country,” Trump apparently said to Pence, according to the notes.

Pence reportedly replied, “I said we both [took] an oath to support + defend the Constitution. It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and a contact for Pence for comment.

Special counsel Jack Smith planned to use the notes—written in Pence’s day planner—as evidence to support the allegation that Trump knowingly deceived his supporters to try to reverse his defeat in the election.