Rioters may have been within one minute of finding Vice President Mike Pence when they stormed the Capitol on January 6.
Pence was not evacuated from the Senate chamber until 14 minutes after rioters first began to break through the doors and enter the building — and when they reached the second floor landing, he had been moved to another room just 100 feet away, according to a report from The Washington Post. (RELATED: REPORT: Republican Senator Says ‘I’ve Known Mike Pence Forever. I’ve Never Seen Pence As Angry As He Was Today’)
WATCH:
Jessica Schneider broke down the report during a Friday appearance on “CNN Newsroom” with Jim Sciutto.
“Vice President Pence wasn’t whisked away until those rioters were even inside of the Capitol, so it says that for 14 minutes after the Capitol Police reported that initial breach, that is still when Vice President Pence was at the Senate dais,” Schneider explained.
Schneider went on to note that Pence’s wife and daughter were present as well, to witness as he presided over the certification of the Electoral College vote, and that all three were then taken to a nearby office.
“But then they say one minute after Pence, and this is striking, one minute after he was hustled out of the chamber, a group charged the stairs to a second floor landing in the Senate,” Schneider continued. “That is some of the video we’ve seen the rioters rushing up the stairs at one point there was that one Capitol Police officer who was trying to hold them back. Trying to redirect them.”
The report concluded that if Pence had been moved even a few seconds later, the rioters might have made it to the landing before he and his family members could be safely hidden in the office with the door closed behind them.
“So it was very tight here. Of course the vice president was ushered away. But this minute-by-minute accounting giving us a look at how perilously close Vice President Pence came to danger, guys,” Schneider said.
Secret Service spokeswoman Catherine Milhoan issued a statement regarding the situation, saying, “While the Secret Service does not speak specifically about the means and methods of our protective operations, Vice President Pence was secure at all times on Jan. 6.”