GOP rep: Pence's life 'wasn't really in peril' when Trump said 'So what?'
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said former Vice President Mike Pence’s life “wasn’t really in peril” when former President Trump allegedly said “So what?” on Jan. 6, 2021, in response to an aide alerting the former president that his vice president had been taken to a secure location.
CNN’s Manu Raju asked Mast about the alleged comment — revealed in a newly unsealed filing from special counsel Jack Smith — on “Inside Politics” Thursday.
"What is your response to the president's apparent reaction to his then vice president's life being in danger?" Raju asked.
“I don’t think … that should be categorized as anything other than hyperbole right there,” Mast said. “He had—”
“I think it’s based on the evidence that the prosecutors filed,” Raju responded.
“He has Secret Service protection. Now, at that time, we thought that Secret Service protection was the gold standard of protection, and they would be keeping him safe,” Mast said. “He was under protection, OK. He’s being brought to a secure facility, OK. That’s something that’s being done. It doesn’t really require a great deal of thought," Mast said.
"And he wasn’t really in peril, that's the truth of the situations," Mast added.
"They were saying, 'Hang Mike Pence' at the Capitol; you don't think his life was in peril?" Raju asked.
"His life wasn't really in peril, he was protected by Secret Service," Mast said.
Mast's subtle dig at the Secret Service comes after a gunman was able to fire multiple shots at the former president during a rally in Pennsylvania this summer, with one bullet grazing Trump's ear.
Trump has blasted the release of the newly unsealed court filing in his election interference case in Washington, D.C., arguing that it amounts to election interference. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, previously called Smith’s filing “falsehood-ridden” and “unconstitutional.”
Mast's assessment of the risks facing Pence clashes with that of a former Situation Room officer, who said in an interview earlier this year that Pence came “close” to being killed on Jan. 6, during the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s important to me that we don’t forget that it did come that close, and that we did have discussions, ‘If we lose the [vice president,] if the 25th [Amendment] is invoked,’” Mike Stiegler said in May during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “We started running through all of these game plans because it was getting close.”
Stiegler also agreed with Stephanopoulos when he referred to the Jan. 6. riot as involving "our own people” and “inspired” by Trump.
“But at the time, that’s not even in the forefront of our mind,” Stiegler continued. “It doesn’t matter how we got here. We’re here. How do we execute? How do we move forward?”
The Hill has reached out to the Secret Service for comment.