- The Washington Times - Monday, January 11, 2021

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met on Monday night for the first time since the riot at the U.S. Capitol last week and pledged to stay in office until the end of their term on Jan. 20.

The two had “a good conversation” in the Oval Office, a senior administration official said, “discussing the week ahead and reflecting on the last four years of the administration’s work and accomplishments.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence “reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America first movement backed by 75 million Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term,” the official said on condition of anonymity. The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg.

Congressional Democrats have been calling on Mr. Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office. If not, they plan to vote on an article of impeachment on Wednesday accusing Mr. Trump of inciting the deadly riot.

The president and vice president had not spoken since Wednesday. Mr. Pence was furious at the president for urging thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College results for President-elect Joseph R. Biden. 

Just as the mob was storming the Capitol, Mr. Trump had tweeted that Mr. Pence lacked the “courage” to stop the vote-counting. Some in the crowd chanted to “Hang Mike Pence.”

Mr. Pence did not have the legal authority to halt the vote-counting unilaterally.

• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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