Mike Pence describes 1st conversation with Trump after Capitol attack

Former Vice President Mike Pence revealed that former President Donald Trump apologized not in words but "in sentiment" for putting his life in danger during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Pence shared this with ABC's World News Tonight anchor David Muir during an interview at his Indiana home. On Jan. 6, 2021, Pence was overseeing Congress' certification of the Electoral College results when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to go into lockdown. Outside, someone had built a gallows and noose, and some of the rioters were heard chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!"

Pence told Muir that he didn't speak to Trump until five days later, and the first thing Trump asked was how his wife, Karen, and daughter Charlotte were doing. Pence said Trump had "just learned" they were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and "I told him we were ... fine. And then he asked, 'Were you scared?' I said, 'No, I was angry.' We had our differences, and I told him that seeing those people ransacking th Capitol infuriated me. And I sensed genuine remorse by the president."

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Muir asked Pence if Trump apologized for the events leading up to the attack, when he urged supporters at a rally on the Ellipse to go to the Capitol. "Not in so many words, but in sentiment, he did, if you get my meaning," Pence responded. "I sensed the president was genuinely saddened by what had happened, and he expressed it."

When pressed to elaborate, Pence said, "Well, at ... one point I think he simply said, with his voice much more faint than it had ever been, he said, 'What if we hadn't had the rally?' He said, 'It's so, it's so bad to end like this.'"

Pence also told Muir he and his family are giving "prayerful consideration" into whether he should run for president in 2024, and it's up to the "American people" to decide whether Trump should serve a second term. "I think we have better choices in the future," he added. "People in this country actually get along pretty well once you get out of politics. And I think they want to see their national leaders start to reflect that same, that same compassion and generosity of spirit."