Citing three sources close to the outgoing US vice president, Politico reported Thursday afternoon that Pence will attend the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, despite continued fallout regarding the Wednesday riots on Capitol Hill.
“It was a much more difficult decision days ago, but less difficult now,” an unnamed source told the outlet, speaking of the unrest in Washington, DC, that resulted in at least 60 arrests and four deaths on January 6.
Devin O’Malley, Pence's press secretary, took to Twitter soon after the report was published to address the reported RSVP to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies' event.
"You can’t attend something you haven’t received an invitation to...." O'Malley quipped.
You can’t attend something you haven’t received an invitation to....
— Devin O’Malley (@VPPressSec) January 7, 2021
O'Malley's sassy statement was quickly confirmed as fact by inaugural committee spokesperson Paige Waltz. However, Pence's lack of an invitation was not due to or the product of committee oversight.
“The president and vice president are never formally invited,” Waltz explained. “We have not been told by the president or vice president whether they will be there.”
The outgoing US president and vice president have historically been casually invited to the inauguration via staff discussion, according to Waltz.
While US President Donald Trump did urge his Twitter followers to "stay peaceful" and refrain from "violence" on Wednesday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf pressed the president to take his rebuke a step further.
"I implore the president and all elected officials to strongly condemn the violence that took place yesterday," Wolf said in a statement Thursday. "After a challenging and saddening 2020, it’s time for every American to respect each other and the rule of law in 2021."
Within the days and hours leading up to the joint congressional session, Trump repeatedly slammed Pence via social media, erroneously claiming that the vice president possesses the authority to overturn US election results.
"Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country [sic] and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!" Trump said in a Wednesday post that was removed by Twitter.
Meanwhile, social media giants Twitter, Facebook and YouTube took an unprecedented approach toward election-related content believed to incite violence.
While the platforms, including Facebook-owned Instagram, have traditionally taken a more laissez-faire approach to the US president's social media posts, posts authored by Trump on January 6 were promptly flagged for inciting violence, removed and/or logged by administrators. After removing three separate tweets from the platform, Twitter Support announced that it would be indefinitely banning the US president's personal account until he completely removes the inciteful tweets in question.
This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021
Facebook and Instagram followed suit on Thursday and indefinitely banned 45.
“Given the exceptional circumstances, and the fact that the President has decided to condone rather than condemn yesterday’s violence at the Capital, we are extending the block we have placed on his accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks," Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a tweeted statement.
According to a recent CNN report, pro-Trump rioters were overheard shouting "where's Mike Pence" while storming the US Capitol. The vice president, wife Karen Pence, daughter Charlotte and brother Rep. Greg Pence (R-IN) were reportedly frightened by the chants, as all four were in attendance for the certification session.
Despite the Pence family's proximity to the chaos, Trump and his top aides appeared as if they could not be bothered to check in on Pence and his family's safety, according to an unnamed source.
"Was he concerned at all that an angry mob that he commanded to march on the Capitol might injure the vice president or his family?" the individual posed to CNN.
“We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms … To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: you did not win. Violence never wins,” Pence proclaimed Wednesday night, hours before Congress moved to certify Biden's Electoral College victory.
