President Donald Trump allegedly warned then Former Vice President Mike Pence that he would be remembered as a “wimp” after Pence refused to block Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, according to a new book.
The revelation comes from Retribution, written by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, which includes previously unseen notes from Pence’s day planner on Jan. 6, 2021. The notes provide a firsthand look into the tense final moments before the Capitol riot.
Shortly before Trump took the stage at the “Save America” rally that preceded the attack, he reportedly made one last phone call to pressure Pence to overturn the election results. Pence, however, made it clear he would allow the certification to proceed.
“You’ll go down as a wimp,” Trump told him, according to the notes. “If you do that, I made a big mistake five years ago.” Trump also accused his vice president of poor judgment, telling him, “You listen to the wrong people,” according to Retribution. A rough sketch of an angry emoji reportedly appears beside that comment in Pence’s notes.
“You’re not protecting our country, you’re supposed to support + defend our country,” Trump said, according to the notes. Pence responded, “I said we both [took] an oath to support + defend the Constitution. It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law.”
Special counsel Jack Smith intended to use these handwritten notes as evidence that Trump knowingly misled his supporters in an effort to overturn his election defeat. However, Smith’s case was dismissed after Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential race, leaving the notes unreleased until now.
Witnesses before the House Jan. 6 committee previously described the exchange as heated. Trump’s former assistant, Nicholas Luna, confirmed hearing the word “wimp.” “Either he called him a wimp, I don’t remember if he said, ‘You are a wimp, you’ll be a wimp.’ Wimp is the word I remember,” Luna said in a taped deposition.
About an hour after the call, Trump took the stage and urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, where lawmakers were meeting to certify Biden’s win. Now 79, Trump continues to deny his 2020 election loss and has launched a “retribution” campaign targeting those involved in the Jan. 6 investigation.
On Friday, he called for the prosecution of special counsel Jack Smith, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, and “other crooked lowlifes from the failed Biden Administration,” declaring, “They cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election.”
Concerns are growing about the 2028 election and a potential constitutional crisis. Despite the 22nd Amendment limiting presidents to two terms, Trump has hinted at pursuing a third. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said Thursday, “There’s a plan. Trump is gonna be president ’28 so people just ought to get accommodated with that.”