A previously unpublished video has shown how then-Vice President Mike Pence reacted to a reported proposal from the US House to invoke the 25th Amendment and unseat President Donald Trump over the events of 6 January on Capitol Hill.
The video was shot on 12 January 2021 by documentary maker Alex Holder and recently rolled by CNN.
In it, VP Pence is seen reading a document on a phone given to him by his aide. He then clears his throat and asks "7:48?", which was the time on the clock when the video was shot. His aide responds, "That’s when I received it [the content on the phone]" and then adds that House lawmakers received "it" a while back, without specifying what "it" was. Pence proceeds to say "yeah, excellent" and asks his aide to print him a hard copy.
The video was shot while the vice president was giving an interview for Holder's documentary. The documentary maker insists that the phone’s content which Pence agreed with was a letter from Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting that Pence sack Trump using the power given to him by the 25th Amendment.
This account, however, has been disputed by Pence's spokesman, who has insisted that Pence was reviewing the wording of his negative response to the same request.
"In the documentary, Vice President Pence was reacting to a confirmation that his letter was sent to Speaker Pelosi rejecting her ploy to invoke the 25th amendment," the spokesman said.
The timestamp on the Pence's letter to Congress, in which he refused to invoke the 25th, backs up his spokesman's claims, coinciding with the time that the then-vice president mentions out loud in the footage.
In effect, Pence's response to the Congress was prompt rejection of the plan to unseat Trump based on the allegation that he orchestrated the unrest at Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021. Pence publically scolded the Democrats for trying to unsettle the US by such actions in uneasy times.
"Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election. I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation," the 2021 letter said.
Pursuant to their previous threat, the Democrats proceeded to impeach Trump on charges of "inciting insurrection". However, the charges did not stick in the Senate trial.
After failing to remove Trump from office, the Democrats assembled the 6 January Select House Committee, entrusting it with a mission to prove that Trump and his allies were complicit of the crime. The footage from Holder's documentary was one of many items the committee — harshly criticized by Trump as another "witch hunt" against him — subpoenaed to prove the former POTUS guilty.