President Donald Trump's attacks on Vice President Mike Pence worried Pence's security detail enough that they made goodbye calls to their families, the House Jan. 6 committee revealed Thursday night.
In a 2:24 p.m. tweet, Trump wrote: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."
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It gave a green light to the mob that had attacked the Capitol, the former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews told the House Jan. 6 committee. Trump should instead have been tweeting to his supporters that they should go home, she said.
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“It was essentially him giving the green light to these people, telling them that what they were doing at the steps of the Capitol, entering the Capitol, was okay, that that they were justified in their anger,” she said.
Matthews had worked on Trump's election campaign before moving to the White House.
“I’ve seen the impact that his words have on his supporters,” she said. “They truly latch on to every word and every tweet that he says.”
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House committee member Elaine Luria said, “He put a target on his own vice president’s back."
This is a live update. For more Jan. 6 hearings coverage, click here.
