Pence stays silent despite footage of his riot evacuation a focus of Trump’s impeachment trial

Footage of the former vice president being rushed to safety is part of prosecution’s case

Former vice president Mike Pence has stayed quiet on Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial, despite becoming a focal point of prosecutors’ arguments for conviction.

Mr Trump’s Senate trial began on 9 February, weeks after the House voted to impeach him for inciting the Capitol riots with a speech on 6 January, as Congress attempted to certify the election results.

Five people died including a Capitol police officer, and several more were injured as a mob of pro-Trump supporters breached the Capitol building. A week before leaving office, Mr Trump was impeached by the House.

During his 6 January speech to supporters, Mr Trump called on Mr Pence to overturn November’s election results, which the former president falsely claimed were subject to widespread fraud.

Read more:Follow live updates from Trump’s impeachment trial

Mr Pence refused to overturn the results during the session to certify Joe Biden’s election victory, and Mr Trump described his vice president as lacking “courage” on Twitter just 11 minutes after he was evacuated when rioters breached the chamber.

One of the prosecution’s main arguments focused on never-before-seen footage of Mr Pence evacuating the Senate floor moments before rioters entered the Capitol.

The footage was used by the prosecutors to highlight how close Mr Pence came to danger on 6 January, as some of the mob shouted for him to be hanged and makeshift nooses were erected on Capitol grounds.

Despite being a focus of the trial, Mr Pence has not made any public statements or tweeted since 6 February, three days before the proceedings began.

He has also not liked any tweets or publicly interacted with any of his 6 million Twitter followers.

Mr Trump, who was banned from Twitter and other social media platforms following the riots, has also been quiet since he left the White House and moved to his resort in Florida.

The pair, who worked together in the White House for four years, have still not healed the rift that was caused by the events of 6 January, according to a former aide who spoke anonymously to CNN.

The pair “discussed everything” concerning the events of 6 January during their final two weeks in office, the source said.

“He got his point across at the meeting afterward,” the aide said of Mr Pence, suggesting there were still hard feelings lingering between the two men, with Mr Trump refusing to say sorry. However, the aide predicted that “time will heal things.”

Mr Pence stood in for Mr Trump at President Biden’s inauguration before leaving office on 20 January. He then visited the Virgin Islands before returning to the US to look for a permanent home in Indiana.

The former vice president is rumoured to be planning a run for president in 2024, but sources told NBC News earlier this month that he has still not made a decision on whether he will campaign for the Republican nomination.