Gripping new evidence to the Jan. 6 Committee details how the mob that stormed the Capitol came within 40 feet of where Vice President Mike Pence and his team were sheltering. Video / AP
US Vice President Mike Pence's wife was forced to draw the curtains to conceal their whereabouts after a violent mob came within 12 metres of him during the Capitol riot last year, it emerged on Thursday (US time).
The vice president, the second lady Karen Pence, and the couple's daughter were hastily evacuated from the US Senate floor as rioters flooded the building chanting "hang Mike Pence".
Images of them sheltering in the vice president's ceremonial office in the Capitol building have illustrated for the first time the immediate danger Pence faced during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
The vice president had been in the Capitol to oversee the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election, but the proceedings were halted when a mob of Donald Trump's supporters stormed the seat of America's government.
Pence became a target for the rioters after he publicly resisted Trump's demand to use his ceremonial role on January 6 to block the results certification and deliver them a second term.
The newly released images, taken by the vice president's photographer Myles Cullen, were released as the Congressional committee investigating the attack detailed the "great danger" to Pence's life.
The panel, made up of seven Democratic and two Republican congressmen, attempted to connect Trump's pressure campaign on Pence to the violent threats unleashed on him during a televised hearing on Thursday.
It played a video clip of one rioter saying: "I'm telling you, if Pence caved, we're gonna drag motherf-----s through the streets."
A committee exhibit shows former US Vice President Mike Pence talking on the phone from his secure location during the riot. Photo / AP
Bennie Thompson, the Democratic congressman and chair of the panel, said: "The former president wanted Pence to reject the votes and either declare Trump the winner... Mike Pence said no. He resisted the pressure. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong.
"We are fortunate for Mr Pence's courage on January 6. Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe. That courage put him in tremendous danger."
The vice president's aides testified that Pence had expressed "frustration" that Trump had failed to get in touch after the "great danger" he was put in during the siege on the Capitol.
Other footage played by the committee showed huge throngs of Trump's supporters - many chanting "Hang Mike Pence" - marching on the Capitol. Some erected makeshift gallows they said were intended for Pence.
Pence was rushed off the Senate floor but was at one point just 12 metres from a group of protesters, the committee said.
He spent the next hours in hiding with his staff and family, first in his office in the Capitol and then in an underground loading dock in the building's complex.
A committee exhibit shows former US Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen. Photo / AP
At least twice Pence rejected pleas from security staff to leave the building, insisting it was crucial that he remain in place, his aides told the committee.
Accompanying him were the Second Lady and their daughter, his brother Greg Pence, a Republican congressman for Indiana and some of the vice president's aides.
According to one person in the vice president's ceremonial office at the time, Pence rushed to close the curtains when she spotted rioters outside the building, worried that the attackers would see her and her family.
Thursday's hearing also featured testimony from Michael Luttig, a former federal judge and informal adviser to Pence, who told the committee that Trump's accountability for the January 6 riot is "incidental to his responsibility and accountability for his attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election from the American people".
