‘Americans won’t tolerate’ another Jan. 6 says Mike Pence when defending Trump’s calls for protests

Mike Pence defended Donald Trump‘s calls for his supporters to protest a possible imminent indictment, claiming the demonstrations are unlikely to turn violent because the public won’t ‘tolerate’ another disaster like on January 6.

The former vice president is among the most vocal potential 2024 candidates speaking out against the prospect that Trump could be indicted this week in a case involving hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a memo over the weekend reassuring staff that they are taking precautions to address threats made toward the office.

The potential for an indictment has only bolstered support for Trump on the right.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that Americans won’t ‘tolerate’ another politically violent event like January 6 when defending Trump’s calls for protests over his potential indictment

Some have warned of a repeat of January 6 with Trump’s call to action

‘I’m taken aback at the idea of indicting a former President of the United States, at a time when there’s a crime wave in New York City,’ Pence told ABC This Week host Jonathan Karl on Sunday. ‘The fact that the Manhattan DA thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think, just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country.’

Pence, who reiterated during the interview that he is considering running for president in 2024, denounced the entire case against Trump as a ‘politically charged prosecution.’

‘I just feel like it’s just not what the American people want to see,’ the Republican said. ‘We got real challenges in this country today.’

‘People are facing record inflation, a crisis at our border. We have war in Eastern Europe, the American people are anxious about the future and here we go again, back into another politically charged prosecution directed at the former president of the United States,’ he continued.

‘I would just hope for better.’

Trump sent a tweet over the weekend calling for his supporters to take to the streets and protest his arrest or indictment.

Many felt this was a repeat of what happened on January 6 when Trump took to social media to encourage his supporters to demonstrate against their lawmakers certifying the 2020 presidential election results on January 6, 2021 – leading to the infamous Capitol attack that day.

‘The American people have a constitutional right to peaceably assemble,’ Pence said when asked about Trump’s call to action. 

Pence said in a sit-down on ABC This Week that the ‘politically charged prosecution’ of Trump shouldn’t be the Manhattan DA’s ‘priority’ amid a crime wave in the city

‘We know what happened the last time he said that,’ Karl pushed.

‘The frustration the American people feel about what they sense is a two tiered justice system in this country, I think, is well founded, but I believe that people understand that if they give voice to this, if this occurs on Tuesday, that they need to do so peacefully and in a lawful manner,’ the ex-vice president insisted.

‘That the violence that occurred on January 6, the violence that occurred in cities throughout this country in the summer of 2020 was a disgrace,’ he added. ‘The American people won’t tolerate it and those that engage in that kind of violence should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’

Karl played for Pence a discussion with Trump where the former president appeared to excuse the actions of those on January 6, 2021 who called for the then-VP to be hanged.

‘There was no excuse for the violence that took place at the Capitol on January 6th, and I’ll never diminish it as long as I live,’ Pence replied.

‘The President’s wrong’ he continued. ‘He was wrong that day and – I had actually hoped that he would come around in time, Jon, that he would see that the cadre of legal advisors that he surrounded himself with had led him astray.’

‘But he hasn’t done so and it’s, I think it’s one of the reasons why the country just wants a fresh start,’ he said, implying that there needs to be new leadership in the GOP as the 2024 presidential primary campaign heats up.