Trump threatened Pence in phone call before Jan 6 riot, new transcript shows

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A White House valet who was with former president Donald Trump on the day Congress certified his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden told the House January 6 select committee that Mr Trump threatened then-vice president Mike Pence’s future political viability in a phone call just before Mr Pence was to preside over a joint session of Congress to count electoral college ballots. The valet also told investigators that he heard Mr Trump tell Mr Pence: “Do what’s right” and said Mr Trump’s voice at the time indicated that he was “disappointed and frustrated”. The transcript, which was first reported on by The New York Times, also shows that the anonymous White House employee told the committee that he did not hear Mr Trump denigrate the then-vice president by calling him by a vulgar term used to refer to female reproductive anatomy, though several Trump administration officials did say under oath that Mr Trump suggested that Mr Pence would be a “p***y” were he to allow Congress to certify their loss to Mr Biden and Kamala Harris, then a California senator. But at the same time, he has written about Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure him into trying to unlawfully prevent certification of their loss to Mr Biden and Ms Harris, including one conversation in which he berated the then-vice president as “too honest” and warned him that “hundreds of thousands are gonna hate your guts” and “people are gonna think you’re stupid” were he to not try to prevent the counting of electoral votes from swing states won by the Democratic ticket.