Karen Pence believed rioters might ‘shoot through the window’ of room she was sheltering in with her husband on Jan. 6
Former second lady Karen Pence revealed on Monday that although she “never” feared for her life on Jan. 6, 2021, she did close the drapes in then Vice President Mike Pence’s Senate office out of concern that someone might spot them inside and start shooting.
In an interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis on “Good Morning America”, Karen Pence, 66, recalled the harrowing moments when she and her husband were hunkered down inside the former vice president’s Senate office as rioters stormed the Capitol Building.
Also with Karen was her daughter and her brother-in-law Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.)
The former second lady said “conditioning” by the Secret Service led her to shut the drapes in Mike Pence’s office minutes after being evacuated from the Senate floor.
“Every time we traveled, they would have traveling bulletproof glass in every hotel room. So it’s a conditioning thing that I just knew. Whenever you’re in a situation where someone might be able to shoot through the window, just close the drapes,” Karen Pence said. “That was my thinking at the time was like, ‘Wait a minute. Things are starting to happen out there. Let’s close the drapes.'”
She also recalled that during the presidential transition period, after the 2016 election, she and her husband rented a home in the DC area and got their first taste of that sort of Secret Service “conditioning.”
“Secret Service had put butcher block paper, you know, all over the windows and you couldn’t even see outside,” Karen Pence remembered.
Mike Pence, a Republican presidential primary candidate, has criticized former President Donald Trump over his actions leading up to the riot, accusing his 2024 rival of being “reckless” and endangering his family.
“The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” the 64-year-old former vice president told ABC’s David Muir in November.
“The president’s words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building,” he added.
Despite shutting the curtains, Karen Pence said she never felt afraid during the riot.
“I just was discussing this with someone here in Iowa a few minutes ago, I never felt afraid,” the former second lady said.
“I really felt like we just had such a peace and God’s presence,” she said. “And just a sense of purpose and determination that I don’t think any of us in the whole group – all the staff and everyone with us – I don’t think any of us felt fear. I think we felt like a sense of resolve.”
Earlier this month, Trump, 77, surrendered to law enforcement and pleaded not guilty to a four-count indictment from the Justice Department that accused him of disrupting the peaceful transfer of power by making “knowingly false” voter fraud claims that culminated in the storming of the US Capitol building by hundreds of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
