Pelosi to Pence amid Jan. 6 attack: ‘Don’t let anybody know where you are’

Footage released on Friday of lawmakers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol shows Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) inquiring about former Vice President Mike Pence’s safety, urging him to keep his location a secret.

“I worry about you being in that Capitol,” says Pelosi in the video obtained by CNN. “Don’t let anybody know where you are.”

Pelosi called Pence to discuss the situation as thousands stormed the Capitol building, some of them chanting “Hang Mike Pence” because of the vice president’s choice not to reject the certification of the electors who voted President Biden into office. Pence had no constitutional power to do so.

Both politicians checked on each other’s safety and location, ensuring that the other was “safe.”

“We are still not safe enough for us to go back, we’ve been told it could take days to clear the Capitol and that we should be moving everyone here to get the job done,” Pelosi told Pence, saying that the House would need to reconvene at Fort McNair in an hour.

She added: “We’ve gotten a very bad report about the condition of the House floor with defecation and all that kind of thing.”

Pence was a key figure on Jan. 6 and in the hearings held by the House select committee investigating the events of the day.

His break from former President Trump on election certification made him the target of threats from the then-president’s supporters and insults from Trump himself.

The former vice president is now a potential presidential candidate for the 2024 election.