Greg Pence serves as the Congressman from the deep red and rural Indiana district that his brother, former Vice President Mike Pence, held for 12 years. Greg ran for the seat in 2018 and won again in 2020. He sat as a Congressman in the House on January 6th as Trump tweeted out that his brother had failed Trump’s movement and the hordes moved in.
From an invaluable report in the Indy Star, we learn that the Secret Service rushed Greg, the brother of the Vice President, out of the House Chamber and down to a secret location where they had moved Vice President Pence. And there Greg sat, with his brother, watching Pence make calls and do all he could do to get the people yelling “hang Mike Pence” out of the building.
Their dramatic escape, caught on security cameras, came minutes after Trump excoriated Mike Pence on Twitter for lacking the “courage†to use his ceremonial post presiding over the certification of the 2020 election to overturn its outcome.
From the description provided by the report, Greg Pence would have also been there when the Vice President refused to leave the Capitol. We know that the Secret Service wanted Mike Pence taken away (and would thus be unable to complete his duties). Mike Pence didn’t trust the Secret Service or its motives, fearing a plot. From the Washington Post excerpts of “I Alone Can Fix It” by Phillip Rucker and Carol Leonnig. Pence explained to his bodyguard:
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“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,” he said.
V.P. Pence’s very words directly imply that Pence did not trust the Secret Service generally. More from the earlier report in “I Alone Can Fix It.”
The Pences went to a secure underground area to wait out the riot. At the White House, senior official Keith Kellogg reportedly discussed Pence with Tony Ornato, who “oversaw Secret Service movements.”
Ornato told Kellogg that Pence’s security detail was planning to move him to Joint Base Andrews but Kellogg told Ornato to leave Pence where he was because Pence was determined to stay and finish the job.
As an aside, on Monday, the country learned that Keith Kellog has been cooperating with the Committee already.
If Greg was with his brother at the time V.P. Pence said he trusted “Tim” but not the people driving the car – the Indy Star report doesn’t make it clear, though it says he was with the VP while he Mike Pence made calls, etcetera – then Greg Pence might be one of the very few witnesses that the committee could call and ask about why his brother doubted his ability to order the Secret Service to bring him back to do his job. Did Vice President Pence say anything to his brother during such an intense period? Greg Pence might be able to testify as to whether his brother feared a plot to clear him from the building, a conspiracy, one in which the Secret Service would be taking orders from Trump, not Pence.
Of course, the Committee could subpoena Mike Pence, but it is having a hard enough time subpoenaing members of Congress.
In July, Greg said:
“My brother was being asked to do what we don’t do in this country,†Greg Pence recounted at a Republican fundraising dinner in his district last July, one of the rare instances he has spoken publicly about the attack. He later added, “I couldn’t be prouder.â€
Greg might be telling the truth, but he sure doesn’t talk about it much.
Pence has largely declined to discuss what transpired while he was with his brother that day, other than praising his brother as a hero for standing up to Trump.
We are in no position to know whether Pence has already testified to the Committee (It would seem unlikely, that would be an incredible secret to keep). And, as proud of his brother as Greg might be, there is no guarantee at all that he would agree to cooperate with the Committee, or not fight a subpoena. It would seem that family ties only go so far when it comes to MAGA politics:
Pence has repeatedly voted against attempts to shed light on the insurrection, or hold those who urged it on accountable. He voted twice against forming a committee to investigate the origins of the attack, calling it “bass-ackwards.†He also voted against impeaching Trump.
Amazing. Almost as amazing as the fact that on the night of the attack, after the Capitol was cleared and his brother was safe from the people that wanted to hang him for doing his job, Greg objected to the very Electoral College votes his brother was obligated to count and confirm, the entire reason the crowd rushed for him.
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact with any concerns.
