A growing number of lawmakers questioned the actions of the Secret Service as the January 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol unfolded.
Pelosi talked about the phone conversation she had with Vice President Mike Pence in an interview with MSNBC. A portion of the conversation was played.
Pelosi said that they were taken to a location. ence was at the capitol I was worried because the president was not doing anything to stop the horror of it all. I was worried because he said that if I left it would cause more attention for my caravan. I wondered if the Secret Service would take him to a safe place. I'm not sure.
The mob of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol after they heard that the Electoral College votes showed that Joe Biden had won the election.
As the violence raged, the Secret Service tried to convince him to allow them to drive him away from the Capitol, but he refused.
According to testimony delivered to the select committee, Pence told them that he wasn't leaving the Capitol because he was afraid of being seen by the rioters.
The Secret Service tried to get him to leave the capitol.
"Tim, I trust you, but you're not driving the car," said the vice president. You guys are going to take off if I get in that car. I am not in the car.
"The six most chilling words of this entire thing I've seen so far: 'I'm not getting in that car,'" said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md, who sits on the select committee.
The Secret Service has been involved in the hearings. The agency was given a single text message after it was subpoenaed.
The inspector general for the Secret Service told Congress in July that text messages had been erased. The heads of the select committee called for the appointment of a new inspector general. The intelligence gathered by the Secret Service about the potential for Trump's supporters to turn violent in January is under scrutiny.
According to Carol Leonnig, author of "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service" and co-author of "I Alone Can Fix It," some Secret Service agents had expressed a "problematic" level of loyalty.
Leonnig said there was a large contingent of Donald Trump's detail who were personally cheering for Biden to fail, and some of them even took to their personal media accounts to cheer on the insurrection. It's problematic.
In August, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington obtained Secret Service emails detailing threats on social media against Pelosi, Pence and Biden in the days leading up to the Capitol riot. Capitol Police were not told about these messages until after the attack.
The committee was looking for more testimony from Secret Service agents, according to Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the two Republicans on the committee.
"There is something going on at the Secret Service, either pure incompetence, all the way up to potentially very criminal activity, or just having a preference for one side or the other."
Text messages were deleted after requests to preserve the documents came forward. There are a lot of unanswered questions. Through anonymous sources, they have been clear that they are willing to testify. We would like to hear them again. It will be under oath when we talk to them.
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