President Trump’s impeachment defense lawyers said on Friday that Trump was unaware Vice President Mike Pence had been evacuated from the Capitol on Jan. 6 when he sent a tweet attacking Pence. In response to a question submitted by Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), Trump’s lawyer said “at no point” was he aware “that the vice president was in any danger.”
But, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said on Wednesday that he phoned Trump, at around 2:15 p.m., and informed him, in real time, that the VP was being whisked away by Secret Service. “They just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go,” Tuberville says he told Trump. Footage of violent Trump supporters storming the Capitol, where Pence was presiding over a joint session of Congress, was also being widely aired by that time. Nevertheless, at 2:24 p.m., Trump tweeted that Pence didn’t have “the courage” to overturn a legitimate election result.
