Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said former Vice President Pence's life “wasn't actually in danger” when former President Trump allegedly said, “So what?” said. On January 6, 2021, in response to an aide who warned the former president that the vice president had been taken to a safe location.
CNN's Manu Raju asked Mast: suspicious comment — revealed in a newly unsealed filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith on Thursday's “Inside Politics.”
“What do you make of the president's apparent reaction to the then vice president's life being in danger?” Raju asked.
“I don't think it should be classified as anything other than hyperbole,” Mast said. “He had a—”
“I think it's based on the evidence presented by the prosecution,” Raju replied.
“He has Secret Service protection. Now, at the time, we thought that Secret Service protection was the gold standard of protection and that the Secret Service would keep him safe,” Mast said. spoke. “He's in custody, okay. He's being taken to a secure facility, okay. That's what's happening. You don't have to think too much about it,” Mast said. spoke.
“And he wasn't actually in any danger. That's the truth of the situation,” Mast added.
“They said, 'Let's hang Mike Pence in the Capitol, don't you think his life is in danger?'” Raju asked.
“His life was not really in danger and he was being protected by the Secret Service,” Mast said.
Mast's sensitive approach to the Secret Service came after a gunman fired multiple shots at the former president during a rally in Pennsylvania this summer, with one bullet grazing Trump's ear. I woke up.
President Trump has slammed the release of newly released court filings in an election interference lawsuit in Washington, D.C., claiming it constitutes election interference. Trump's press secretary, Stephen Chan, previously said Smith's filing was “full of lies” and “unconstitutional.”
Mast's assessment of the risks facing Pence comes after he said in an interview earlier this year that Pence “almost got killed” during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. There is a conflict with the evaluation of the office staff.
“The important thing for me is to remember that we actually got that close and that we had the 'what if we lose' conversation.” [vice president,] If it's the 25th [Amendment] ,” Mike Stigler said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos in May. “As it got closer, we started executing all these game plans.”
Stigler agreed with Stephanopoulos, who said the January 6 riots involved “our own people” and were “inspired” by Trump.
“But at the time, it wasn't even on our minds,” Stigler continued. “It doesn't matter how we got here. We're here. How do we execute? How do we move forward?”
The Hill has reached out to the Secret Service for comment.
