Former Vice President Mike Pence is trying to block the release of official photos of him taken on Jan. 6 as supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl told Stephen Colbert that he saw the images while working on his new book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” and said they are “wild.”
“He was in a loading dock in an underground parking garage beneath the Capitol Complex,” Karl said. “No place to sit. No desk, no chairs, no nothing. He was in this concrete parking garage.”
One photo shows Pence reacting to a tweet from Donald Trump attacking him in the middle of the siege.
“You can see, it kind of looks like Pence is grimacing,” Karl said. “But you can never really tell.”
Karl asked Pence if he could publish the pictures ― which were taken by the official White House photographer as part of his taxpayer-funded job ― but Pence blocked their release.
“I have a suspicion that the Jan. 6 committee is going to want to see the photos,” Karl said.
“Those aren’t his photos,” Colbert added.
“No, they’re your photos. They’re everybody’s photos here,” Karl replied, gesturing to Colbert and the audience.
“We paid for those photos,” Colbert added.
See more of their conversation below:
Trump and his allies, including then-Chapman University law professor John Eastman, tried to pressure Pence to block the pro forma certification of the Electoral College votes, a power the vice president does not have.
Both continued to harass Pence even as the violence unfolded. Trump slammed him via Twitter as Eastman messaged Pence’s chief counsel at the time, Greg Jacob, while they were hiding.
“The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened,” Eastman reportedly wrote to Jacob, referring to Trump’s debunked voter fraud claims.
Pence remained at the Capitol through the siege. Once the building was cleared of rioters, Pence and Congress concluded the certification of the electoral votes, affirming President Joe Biden’s victory.