At 2:12 pm, the same moment the crowd stormed the building, Pence – who had defied the president by saying he planned to certify Biden’s victory – was expelled from the Senate. A minute later, the Senate session was interrupted. Two minutes after that, at 2:15 pm, groups of protesters started shouting, “Hang Mike Pence!”
Nine minutes later, at 2:24 pm, Mr. Trump tweeted a broadside to Mr. Pence for moving forward to certify Mr. Biden’s victory: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones they were asked to certify in advance. The USA demands the truth! “
At 2:26 pm, after Pence was taken away, a call was made from the White House to Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, according to the call records the senator provided during the impeachment process.
The president had made the call, but he was actually looking for Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama. Lee gave the phone to Tuberville, who told reporters he informed Trump that Pence had just been escorted out as the crowd approached the Senate chamber.
“I said, ‘Mr. President, they just removed the vice president, I have to go, ‘”Tuberville told Politico.
This was significant new information. House prosecutors used him to argue that Trump was clearly aware that the vice president was in danger and that he despised Pence’s security. On Friday, Trump’s defense team insisted that Trump was unaware of any danger that Pence faced.
Back at the White House, advisers were trying to get Trump to do something, but he rejected calls to intercede, including those from people who wanted to see the National Guard positioned. The president, several aides said, was expressing satisfaction at the delay in voting to certify Biden’s victory and that people were fighting for him.