Jan 6 riots: Trump berated his vice-president as ‘wimp’ over election certification

US President Donald Trump called former Vice President Mike Pence a “wimp” and berated him during their final phone conversation on January 6, 2021, just hours before Congress certified Joe Biden’s election win, according to newly surfaced notes by Pence.

The handwritten entries, hastily scribbled in the former vice president’s day planner, are included in ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book, Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America.

According to the notes, Trump told Pence, “You’ll go down as a wimp,” after the vice president said he would not attempt to block Biden’s certification. Pence recorded Trump adding, “If you do that, I made a big mistake 5 years ago.” The notes also show a small sketch resembling an angry emoji beside Trump’s accusation that Pence was “listening to the wrong people.”

Court filings reveal that special counsel Jack Smith had intended to use these notes as evidence in his case against Trump, arguing they illustrated the moments before the former president allegedly incited the mob to storm the Capitol, reported ABC News. Smith’s investigation also collected terabytes of evidence, including a forensic copy of Trump’s phone and early drafts of his Ellipse rally speech, which was reportedly altered to target Pence directly.

Smith wrote in his final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland that the evidence would have shown Trump “used lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process.” However, the materials were never released publicly after Trump’s reelection led to the dismissal of the case. Karl reports that the Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling on presidential immunity may have further limited the government’s ability to use such evidence had the prosecution continued.

Before his resignation in January, Smith argued he had enough proof to convict Trump were it not for his return to office. “The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical,” Smith wrote, asserting that the evidence was “sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”

Pence’s defiance and Trump’s digital trail

Smith’s original indictment highlighted Pence’s “contemporaneous notes”, which documented how Trump was repeatedly told his voter fraud claims were baseless yet continued to push them. In the days leading up to the certification, Trump and his allies increased pressure on Pence to intervene, though Pence consistently refused, maintaining that he had no constitutional power to alter the results.

In his memoir So Help Me God, Pence recalled that Trump phoned him around 11 a.m. on January 6 — the time Trump was initially set to begin his Ellipse speech — in a final attempt to persuade him. When Pence said he planned to issue a statement clarifying his limited authority, Trump called him a “wimp”.

Pence noted Trump’s words: “You’re not protecting our country; you’re supposed to support + defend our country.” Pence responded, “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.”

Witnesses later described the exchange as heated. Ivanka Trump said her father used a “different tone” than usual, while former aide Nicholas Luna recalled hearing Trump use the word “wimp”. Retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg also testified that Trump told Pence he was not “tough enough”. Roughly an hour later, Trump took the stage at the Ellipse and urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, where Pence would certify the election results.

Investigators supported their timeline using data from Trump’s iPhone. A forensic copy revealed when the device was locked and unlocked throughout Jan. 6, along with a screenshot of Trump’s lock screen showing him in a red MAGA hat giving a thumbs-up. According to Karl, the phone data also showed that Trump viewed multiple images depicting violence at the Capitol, including clashes between officers and rioters and photos of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot while trying to breach the House floor.

At 7 p.m. that evening, the phone accessed a Twitter help page on locked accounts, just one day after Trump’s suspension from the platform. Karl writes that Smith’s team intended to use this digital evidence to demonstrate Trump’s awareness of both his election loss and the violence unfolding in real time. In his final report, Smith concluded, “The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit.”