Maher Presses Pence on Death Threats From Jan. 6

Maher Presses – On Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show, Mike Pence faced direct questions about the death threats he received from Jan. 6 rioters—while also responding to Maher’s discussion of Donald Trump’s third-term ambitions and the House committee findings tied to the insurrec

Bill Maher didn’t ease into it. He went straight at the moment Mike Pence has described as both terrifying and defining—Jan. 6, 2021, when a Capitol insurrection put Pence within striking distance of a mob that, witnesses said, wanted him dead.

Maher asked Pence about President Donald Trump’s ambitions for a third term. but the conversation quickly turned to the threat that hung over the vice president that day: the death threats Pence received from rioters during the Capitol insurrection. Maher was referring to findings from a House committee investigating the riots. including testimony from witnesses who said Trump expressed approval of supporters chanting “hang Mike Pence.” The committee’s record also included the detail that a makeshift gallows was brought to the Capitol.

Pence agreed that a third term would be unconstitutional, and Maher moved on—but only for a moment. Then he tested Pence with a question that forced the distinction between intent and intent-to-kill.

“Could we say that, yes, some people were there just for reasons of, who knows, they weren’t exactly tourists, but they weren’t having horrible intent?” Maher asked. “Other people, can we say some bad people were there, like the ones who wanted to hang you? Can we say those were bad people?”

The exchange was sharpened by a sworn account from Jan. 6. A former White House national security official testified that the mob was 40 feet away from Pence at one point, and that Secret Service agents called their loved ones “to say goodbye.”

Pence didn’t meet Maher’s questions with anger. He answered them with a line drawn in law and consequence.

“I had no problem with the president pardoning people who got caught up in that day,” Pence said. “But for anyone who assaulted a police officer. anybody that violated and vandalized the seat of our government and sought to disrupt the counting of electoral college votes. those people never should have been pardoned and they should never get a dime.”.

Maher pressed again—“So, no ill feelings about the hanging thing?”—but Pence’s response never fully landed before Maher shifted the focus back to fear itself.

“Do you have fear for your life that day?” Maher asked.

Pence’s answer carried the weight of someone who believes he was being watched, threatened, and tested all at once. “Well. to be honest with you. I never felt a greater sense of resolve any day in my life than on Jan. 6,” Pence said. “You know. I’ve often told my kids the safest place in the world is to be in the center of God’s will. And I really knew I was where I was supposed to be.”.

The interview excerpt is available through an embedded video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9FgaCuRgOA.

The confrontation with Maher came against a backdrop that still refuses to settle in American politics. After Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, he refused to concede. He told his supporters at the time to march to the Capitol building “peacefully and patriotically. ” yet at least 140 law enforcement officers were injured by the incoming mob. One Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department officer was nearly crushed to death.

For Pence, the argument has long been about what he believed he was allowed—or required—to do. Under the Constitution. Pence told Maher. the vice president’s role is only to preside over a session of Congress where the electoral college votes are opened and counted. “That’s it,” he said. “And no vice president in history had ever asserted any authority to decide what votes to count or send back to the states … so I knew my duty was clear and I’ll always believe, by God’s grace, I did my duty.”.

Put together. the exchange left little room for abstraction: a committee’s testimony about chants of “hang Mike Pence. ” a makeshift gallows brought to the Capitol. a mob reportedly within 40 feet. and Secret Service agents calling loved ones “to say goodbye.” In Maher’s questions and Pence’s replies. the stakes of Jan. 6 weren’t treated as political talking points. They were treated as a boundary—between what was tolerated. what was pardoned. and what. in Pence’s view. could never be excused.

Mike Pence Bill Maher Real Time Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection death threats House committee Secret Service Donald Trump third term electoral college votes pardons