Critics pounded former Vice President Mike Pence’s claim on Monday that continued media reporting on the Jan. 6 insurrection was aimed at demeaning supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.
Pence, appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, suggested news outlets’ ongoing focus on the deadly U.S. Capitol riot by a mob of Trump fans was solely an attempt to “distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda.”
“They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again, and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020,” Pence charged.
Pence was reminded on Twitter of the danger he himself faced during the violence, when Trump supporters chanted for him to be hanged as the then-president slammed him publicly for failing to overturn the 2020 election result.
“No, Mike Pence. We don’t focus on January 6th to ‘demean’ Trump supporters,” responded former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), a former far-right tea party favorite who is now a vocal critic of the ex-president.
“Mike Pence, your life was in danger. We focus on January 6th to make sure it never ever happens again,” Walsh continued, echoing a point made by many others.
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