Despite being branded as ‘disloyal’ former Vice President Mike Pence plans to attend President-elect Donald Trump‘s second inauguration, according to a report.
Four years after Trump’s ‘major falling out’ with his once VP, Pence, 65, accepted an invitation to his former running mate’s inauguration on Monday, two people with knowledge of the planning told the New York Times.
The 48th Vice President of the United States was invited by the congressional committee overseeing the event, as per the custom for all former Presidents and Vice Presidents, according to the New York Times.
The two men had hastily parted ways following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Trump had wanted Pence to throw out Electoral College votes from swing states that President Joe Biden won as he presided over the joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election.
Pence refused and Trump’s supporters went after him – chanting ‘hang Mike Pence’ and erecting makeshift gallows outside the Capitol Building amid the riot.
The January 6 House select committee found that a Proud Boys informant had told the FBI that if members of the group had found Pence that day, they would have killed him.
Still Pence refused to leave the Capitol, hiding out in a garage-like structure deemed a secure location within the complex.
‘The Vice President did not want to take any chance that the world would see the Vice President of the United States fleeing the United States Capitol,’ counselor to the VP Greg Jacob testified to committee members in 2022.
Since leaving office, Pence has been in the political wilderness.
He tried running against Trump for the 2024 nomination but only stayed in the race from June through October 2023.
Trump – the far-and-away frontrunner – wouldn’t even participate in the GOP primary debates – so the two men never met onstage.
However, Pence was seen shaking the hands of the President-elect during Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9 – their first public interaction since 2021.
Pence, however, refused to endorse Trump in his 2024 Presidential campaign, but he also wouldn’t endorse the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Instead, his political action committee financed advertisements ahead of the 2024 election pushing Americans to vote for Republicans on issues.
Pence has since sent sent well-wishes to Trump as his election victory was officially certified.
‘I welcome the return of order and civility to these historic proceedings and offer my most sincere congratulations and prayers to President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance on their election to lead this great Nation,’ he said.
Trump, re-elected in November to serve a second term as the country’s leader, selected Ohio senator, JD Vance, rather than Pence, for his running mate in July 2024.
The president-elect will officially return to the White House on Monday, with the Senate process of confirming several of his nominees already underway.
Trump congratulated his new administration employees in a Truth Social post Wednesday night, before ripping several of those who either worked for him during his first term or stopped supporting him.
He wrote: ‘As of today, the incoming Trump Administration has hired over 1,000 people for The United States Government. They are outstanding in every way, and you will see the fruits of their labor over the coming years. We will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and it will happen very quickly!’
Trump then advised any hiring managers that ‘it would be helpful if you would not send, or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by’ a list of anti-Trump Republicans ‘in order to save time, money, and effort.’
He specifically named 11 different Republicans and first-term Trump employees, many of whom he addressed by nicknames.
Trump referred to ex-UN Ambassador and primary opponent Nikki Haley as ‘Birdbrain’ and singled out ‘disloyal warmongers Dick Cheney and his psycho daughter, Liz,’ referring to the former vice president and Wyoming Congresswoman who endorsed Harris.
Trump also said he had no use for those backed by Pence, who said he did not vote for Trump in November.
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