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- Vice President Mike Pence became uncharacteristically angry on Wednesday during the siege on the Capitol, according to Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.
- “I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” Inhofe told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday night. “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”
- “I had a long conversation with him. He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for [Trump],” Inhofe added.
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In another sign of Vice President Mike Pence’s fraying relationship with President Donald Trump, a Republican senator told reporters the VP was the most angry he’s ever seen him.
“I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday night. “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”
“He was very upset,” Inhofe said of Pence at another point, according to a pool report compiled by Congressional reporters.
Inhofe indicated Pence’s frustration was aimed at his boss, particularly given the VP’s notoriously unflinching loyalty to Trump.
“I had a long conversation with him,” Inhofe said. “He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for [Trump].'”
Pence is not known for his displays of emotion.
Since taking office, Pence has demonstrated consistent loyalty no matter what controversies Trump has gotten himself into. Until Inhofe spoke on the record about Pence's feelings toward Trump on the day of the siege, the only other widely reported instance of Pence breaking from Trump in a substantive way was in the aftermath of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.
Trump went after Pence during his speech preceding the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday. The president's main contention was that Pence could refuse to certify the results of the Electoral College while presiding over the joint session of Congress, even though such a move would not be legally binding or have any impact on President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
"And Mike Pence is gonna have to come through for us," Trump said as the crowd jeered. "And if it doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country."
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 6, 2021
Even while the siege was happening, Trump was focused on going after Pence once again on Twitter instead of urging his supporters to stop attacking Capitol Police officers and back away from storming the building.
—ABC News (@ABC) January 6, 2021