REUTERS/Carlos Barria
- Vice President Mike Pence addressed the January 6 insurrection in a speech Thursday night.
- Pence told New Hampshire Republicans that he and Trump man never "see eye to eye on that day."
- "But I will always be proud of what we accomplished," Pence added.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire – Former Vice President Mike Pence addressed the January 6 insurrection in the most detail he's offered publicly since leaving office.
Pence was speaking at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner for the Hillsborough County Republican Committee at the Double Tree hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire.
"As I said that night, January 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States of America," Pence told the crowd. "But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled, the Capitol was secured, and that same day, we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and laws of the United States."
The crowd had just given Pence several standing ovations, but went silent when he brought up the siege where rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence."
"You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since he left office, and I don't know if we'll ever see eye to eye on that day," Pence said. "But I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people of the last four years."
In the days following the breach - when Pence was taken to an undisclosed location by Secret Service agents after coming within seconds of being confronted by rioters - Trump had reportedly never checked in with his vice president to see how he and his family were doing after coming so close to being attacked.
The day of the insurrection that left five people dead, Trump called out Pence during his speech and complained that the VP would not intervene to prevent the results of the election from being certified in Congress. Although Pence's role on that day was purely ceremonial and in more of a notary capacity, Trump tweeted his frustration at Pence as the riot was unfolding.
Trump tweeted that Pence did not have "the courage to do what should have been done" at 2:24 p.m., right as the pro-Trump mob was breaching the building.
The New York Times also reported that as Pence was heading to the Capitol to certify the results that morning, Trump called him to say "You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a p----."
Pence's acknowledgment of conversations with Trump since then was not publicly known, and he has spoken little of that day before his speech in New Hampshire.
The former vice president was speaking at what the Hillsborough County GOP billed as their "biggest fundraiser ever," with attendees able to take a picture with him for an extra donation.
According to a Pence aide who spoke with Insider, the former VP met with Republican Gov. Chris Sununu as well as former Sen. Kelly Ayotte earlier in the day, in addition to the Granite State's GOP conference in the State Senate.
Pence was speaking there to rally support ahead of the 2022 midterms, and not for a potential 2024 campaign, the aide told Insider.