Mike Pence and Donald Trump met in the Oval Office on Monday night in a bid to repair their deeply-damaged relationship, which had been shredded by Wednesday’s rioting.
Trump on Wednesday unleashed his followers on Pence, accusing his vice president of failing to support him in his bid to overthrow the election.
A mob of MAGA-hatted rioters stormed the Capitol and roamed the corridors calling for Pence to hang. A gallows was even set up outside Congress.
One high-profile Trump supporter, attorney Lin Wood, praised by Trump for doing ‘good work’ on election fraud, called for Pence to face the firing squad.
Yet on Monday evening Pence, who reportedly did not speak to Trump during or after the insurrection, was at the White House for a meeting described by aides as cordial.
Mike Pence, pictured with Trump in the Oval Office in September, met the president Monday
John Roberts, Fox News’ White House correspondent, tweeted a summary of the meeting
Fox News’ White House correspondent, John Roberts, reported that a senior administration official said: ‘The two had a good conversation, discussing the week ahead and reflecting on the last four years of the administration’s work and accomplishments.’
The official said that the two men united in their contempt for the rioters, disowning those who stormed the Capitol.
‘They reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America First movement backed by 75 million Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term.’
Trump on Wednesday told his followers to ‘fight’ to ‘persuade’ Pence to block Biden’s election
A mass of Trump supporters left his rally on Wednesday and headed straight for the Capitol
Trump supporters scaled the walls of the Capitol and broke in, for the first time since 1814
Congress staffers barricade themselves after Trump supporters stormed inside the US Capitol
Twitter stepped in to stop ‘Hang Mike Pence‘ trending in the wake of the MAGA mob riot, after the phrase began trending on the platform in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The social media giant permanently banned Trump on Friday night, citing risks of ‘further incitement to violence’.
A screenshot shows that of 1.26am, over 14,400 Twitter users had used the phrase.
Twitter confirmed in a statement to Newsweek that it had moved to block the phrase because it violated rules on trending subjects.
‘We blocked the phrase and other variations of it from trending. We want trends to promote healthy discussions on Twitter. This means that at times, we may prevent certain content from trending,’ a spokesperson said.
‘As per our Help Center, there are Rules for trends – if we identify accounts that violate these rules, we’ll take enforcement action.’
Twitter has been forced to step in and stop ‘Hang Mike Pence’ trending in the wake of the MAGA mob riot where Donald Trump supporters called for the Vice President’s execution and strung up a noose outside the Capitol
The phrase was no longer trending later in the day and it does not appear on the Twitter Trending USA site, which tracks trending topics.
On Twitter’s Help Center, it has a rule to prevent violent threats against individuals as well as the glorification of violence.
The threatening phrase surfaced online in the wake of Wednesday’s riot where Trump supporters – among them white supremacists, QAnon fanatics and Proud Boys – violently broke into the Capitol building in an attack that left five people dead.
Horrifying footage from the scene of the siege shows a mob chanting ‘Hang Mike Pence’ as they stormed the building.
A Reuters’ photographer covering the riot also claimed he heard at least three Trump supporters speak about hanging the Vice President from a tree as a ‘traitor’.
Jim Bourg, the Reuters News Pictures Editor in DC, tweeted Friday that he heard ‘many more’ speak about executing Pence as they stormed the Capitol and tried to hunt him down.
‘I heard at least 3 different rioters at the Capitol say that they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor,’ Bourg said.