FIFTY-ONE
Over at the White House, Keith Kellogg went to see Ivanka Trump in her office. The retired lieutenant general wanted to offer an after-action report.
He also sought some closure. Unlike others in Pence’s circle, he remained convinced Trump was a decent man, a president who had let a situation spin out of control. He did not want his years at Trump’s side to now be scarred.
“I believe in the president of the United States. I’m a deep believer. I always have been,” Kellogg told her. “When I support Donald J. Trump as a loyalist, I take him for the good and bad. I have made that decision.
“I just wish the calmer heads had prevailed,” he said. “There were some voices that I wish weren’t in the room.”
“You know he’s a very stubborn person,” Ivanka replied.
“It runs in the family,” Kellogg said, appreciating her willingness to confront her father on January 6.
She was calm, controlled and business-like. She kept her responses short.
Kellogg would later suggest to Ivanka and Jared Kushner that Pence should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom as a way of smoothing out the relationship.
Their response: Nice idea, but we need to let some time go by. Let’s see what happens.
Former vice president Dan Quayle called Pence in the days after the riot.
“Congratulations,” Quayle said. “You absolutely did the right thing.”
Pence was thankful but muted.
“How’s your relationship with Trump?” Quayle asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” he said.
Trump and Pence met in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday, January 11, their first conversation since January 6.
Trump had been bitter all morning, lashing out at the Professional Golfers’ Association of America for canceling its plans to hold a future major tournament at his New Jersey golf club. Trump seemed to take the news harder than the various cabinet resignations over January 6, venting about how hard he had worked for years to secure a major golf tournament.
Another blow came when New England Patriots football coach Bill Belichick decided against traveling to Washington to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump. “The tragic events of last week occurred, and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award,” Belichick said in a statement.
Trump hated all of it. His favorite coach, the PGA, the companies—they were all deserting him because of January 6. He said it was a disgrace.
In the Oval Office, Trump did not apologize to Pence. They kept their discussion limited, with curt and vague statements about how they would serve out their term together. Pence mostly listened. It lasted for about an hour.
“I just want you to know, I’m still praying for you, Mr. President,” Pence said.
“We’ve all been through a lot, it’s been a trying time for all of us, but I haven’t stopped.”
“Thanks, Mike,” Trump said.
The next day, the House formally called on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Pence, in an unusually emotional letter, rejected the request.
“Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and 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,” Pence wrote.
“The Bible says that ‘for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven… a time to heal… and a time to build up.’ That time is now.”
The second move against Trump was filed on January 11 as “H. Res. 24,” “Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.” The charge: “incitement of insurrection.”
“He must go,” Speaker Pelosi said on January 13 ahead of the House’s impeachment vote. “He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”
House Democratic leaders expected impeachment to gain traction after their overtures to Pence failed.
“There was a general view that if we can force a resignation or compel the cabinet secretaries and Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, that’s the faster course of action,” Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the leadership, said privately. He was close with Pelosi and seen as her possible successor.
“But in order to be able to do it, we had to be prepared to move forward with impeachment.” Create an environment for action, either within the Trump administration, or at least within Congress.
GOP fissures appeared during the House impeachment vote. Ten House Republicans joined with Democrats, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 leader in the chamber and the daughter of Bush Vice President Dick Cheney.
Trump was impeached by a 232 to 197 vote, becoming the first president ever to be impeached twice. All 222 Democrats were joined by the 10 Republicans.
McConnell would not say whether he would vote to convict Trump in the Senate. “I have not made a final decision on how I will vote, and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” he said in a letter to Republican senators.
Pence met with Short, Obst and other former aides, including former chiefs of staff Nick Ayers and Josh Pitcock, in Pence’s West Wing office on January 13.
Emotions were still frayed. They found it off-putting that Meadows and Kushner seemed to be ignoring the gravity of what had happened, and of how poorly Trump had treated Pence.
Ayers, who had nearly accepted an offer to be Trump’s White House chief of staff in December 2018, had flown to Washington from his home in Georgia for the meeting. He was angry and unhappy with Pence’s response, which he felt was too soft and too ready to move on. He told Pence he was not interested in going over to see Trump.
Jared Kushner soon popped his head into Pence’s office and said he would like to chat with Pence about encouraging the president to issue a statement affirming his commitment to governing in the final days of the administration, and to an orderly transition.
“Can you help me convince the president to do this?” Kushner asked.
Sure, Pence said, smiling and nodding. He said he would stop by Kushner’s office.
Once Kushner left, Pence turned to his inner circle and said it was nice of Jared to bring him into that process. His aides’ faces were blank.
“Is this a joke?” Ayers asked Pence. “Is that what you called us here for?
“Sir,” Ayers said, “these are transactional people. They made it very clear what they think of you. How many calls did they make when you were at the Capitol?”
Obst then dismissed Kushner’s efforts as “propaganda” and an attempt for Kushner to spiff up his own image following January 6 by seeming to be a broker of a peace with Pence.
“This is about their personal financial situation, this isn’t about the country,” Obst told his colleagues. He said Kushner was probably worried about being linked to the riot once he rejoined the private sector.
Pence nevertheless later walked down to Kushner’s office and offered some thoughts. That evening, the White House released a video of Trump sitting at the Resolute Desk, his hands clasped. Several aides who worked with Trump on the video recalled he seemed nervous as he talked about the impeachment proceedings. He said he could not trust the Senate Republicans. They could convict him.
That is why it’s important for you to tape this video, the aides told him. You need to give the Republicans something useful, a talking point.
“My fellow Americans,” Trump said in the January 13 video, “I want to be very clear. I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement.”
He added, “Like all of you, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the calamity at the Capitol last week. I want to thank the hundreds of millions of incredible American citizens who have responded to this moment with calm, moderation, and grace. We will get through this challenge, just like we always do.”
Before ending, Trump took a shot at “the efforts to censor, cancel, and blacklist our fellow citizens.”
It seemed to be a wink to his supporters that even though he was reading this stiff presidential statement, he was with them in spirit.