More on Pence, the insurrection, and the Secret Service

[Novara]

Charlie Pierce has the scoop:

i first got interested in politics through paranoia. (As the years have gone by, I’ve found that this was the best kind of introduction I could have had.) I devoured political thrillers about dark doings in Washington, D.C. Seven Days in May was my gateway drug. There was Night at Camp David, about a president who went crazy, and Vanished, about a secret peace conference, and the self-explanatory The President’s Plane Is Missing, about another secret peace conference. There was Fail-Safe, the classic about an accidental nuclear exchange. If you dig deep enough, you find that my politics were formed as much by Fletcher Knebel as by anyone else. However, this early reading has become increasingly relevant in recent weeks as we steadily discover that we actually had a half-mad president* who plotted to overthrow the government. Air Force One, I presume, is still where it’s supposed to be.

Over the weekend, speaking at Georgetown, Rep. Jamie Raskin brought us back to a genuinely scarifying tale that emerged concerning what happened with then-Vice President Mike Pence during the height of the violence at the Capitol. It came from an excerpt in the Washington Post from a book by the Post team of Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker published in July of last year:

At that moment, Pence was still in his ceremonial office — protected by Secret Service agents, but vulnerable because the second-floor office had windows that could be breached and the intruding thugs had gained control of the building. Tim Giebels, the lead special agent in charge of the vice president’s protective detail, twice asked Pence to evacuate the Capitol, but Pence refused. “I’m not leaving the Capitol,” he told Giebels. The last thing the vice president wanted was the people attacking the Capitol to see his 20-car motorcade fleeing. That would only vindicate their insurrection.

At 2:26, after a team of agents scouted a safe path to ensure the Pences would not encounter trouble, Giebels and the rest of Pence’s detail guided them down a staircase to a secure subterranean area that rioters couldn’t reach, where the vice president’s armored limousine awaited. Giebels asked Pence to get in one of the vehicles. “We can hold here,” he said.
“I’m not getting in the car, Tim,” Pence replied. “I trust you, Tim, but you’re not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. I’m not getting in the car.”

Wait. The vice president refused to obey his Secret Service detail because he was worried that the driver, also from the Secret Service, would abscond with him and Pence would be unable to complete the certification ritual that would make Joe Biden president? And, according to Leonnig and Rucker, this wasn’t the only scene of the Grab Pence drama.

Around this time, [Pence’s national security advisor Keith] Kellogg ran into Tony Ornato in the West Wing. Ornato, who oversaw Secret Service movements, told him that Pence’s detail was planning to move the vice president to Joint Base Andrews. “You can’t do that, Tony,” Kellogg said. “Leave him where he’s at. He’s got a job to do. I know you guys too well. You’ll fly him to Alaska if you have a chance. Don’t do it.”

More in the link.

[Native]

1. And yet he still speaks of Trump with admiration.

[Bluethroughu]

5. They knew their plan was already failing from the insurrection selfie brigade.

If Pence would have gone down the rabbit hole and refuse to certify the election, he would have been complicit in the insurrection. He's a lawyer, he's created doubt in his actions that day, yet praises a sitting President along with his party that incited and organized an insurrection?

He's a traitor in my eyes, and will be until he tells exactly what he knew and everyone involved.

President Biden won and would have been the President with or without him.

[spanone]

6. pence sold his soul years ago. tfg is the man he wants to be.

[Ohio Joe]

7. It's deeper than that...

He still looks to win the approval of the very people chanting 'hang Mike Pence' that day... He is dtill behind people who want him dead. How fucked up is that?

[Native]

8. Seriously fucked up.

[Tree Lady]

13. I think he thinks there is still a bunch

Of moderate republicans waiting till Trump goes away. A few might be but there isn't many left now.

[Faux pas]

2. Kickin'

[Achilleaze]

3. The Republican traitors were out to hang their own

freaking Republican VP.

That's how much integrity the freaking KGOP Republicans have.

Zippo.

[bottomofthehill]

4. Two different ways to stop the count

1) Blunt force mob rule. Attack the building and render it unusable.

2) Take the VP to a Secure location to prevent harm from coming to him. Either one could have worked. Thankfully, neither did.

[bringthePaine]

9. should read: "Moron Pence,..."

[Joinfortmill]

10. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what next?

[ChazII]

11. Fletcher Knebel's novel's as well as Allen Dury

drew me into the world of D.C.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

12. Yet he continues to side with those insurrectionist bastards.

Utterly flabbergasting!