Pence: ‘History will hold Trump accountable’ for Capitol attack

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Former Vice President Mike Pence offered his sharpest criticism to date of Donald Trump, holding his former boss responsible for the Capitol insurrection in early 2021 as he teased his own White House ambitions for 2024.
“History will hold Donald Trump accountable” for what happened on January 6, 2021, Pence told an audience of several hundred policy makers and journalists in Washington.
Pence recounted before the hushed gathering how his own life was put at risk as Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol while he stood on the Senate floor to help oversee the certification of the 2020 election. He described how he had to hide, at the direction of security, from rioters rampaging through the building.
“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said, recalling that he wasn’t afraid, but “angry.” “His reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.”
The comments marked his biggest public break with Trump since leaving office in January 2021. Pence has been making similar remarks behind closed doors, including to donors, but his camp felt that tonight was the right venue for him to say it more broadly.
The former vice president chose a high-profile audience for his attack on Trump. The annual Gridiron Club Dinner — a institution that’s more than a century old — is regarded as a gathering of some of the most influential figures in Washington, from lawmakers to journalists and other public figures.
Trump has already declared a comeback bid for the White House in 2024, and during his speech Saturday, Pence hinted at his own interest in running as well.
“I will wholeheartedly, unreservedly support the Republican nominee for president in 2024… if it’s me,” Pence said, drawing laughter.
In his remarks, he expressed gratitude for the actions of law enforcement who defended the Capitol after Trump supporters invaded the building.
Biden scraps Trump’s Air Force One update The US president’s plane is getting a new paint job — and it looks a lot like the old one.
President Joe Biden has selected a white, light blue and yellow scheme for a modern update to the fleet of Air Force One planes, which are specially modified Boeing Co. 747s. The decision scraps plans by former President Donald Trump — who has declared a renewed presidential bid in 2024 — to adopt the colors of the American flag: red, white and dark blue.
Those paint designs, particularly the proposed dark blue color, might have required “additional Federal Aviation Administration qualification testing for several commercial components due to the added heat in certain environments,” Air Force said in a statement.
Other upgrades will include a medical facility, a self-defense system, a mission communication system and an executive interior, according to the release. The models will have “the equivalent level of communications capability and security available in the White House.”
The first aircraft with the updated look won’t be available until 2027, according to the Air Force, and the second until 2028. Biden, and whoever is elected president next year, will use the current models until then.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s $170 billion procurement request for the new fiscal year focuses on replacing munitions supplied to Ukraine as well as well as weapons like long-range missiles, which would be necessary in a conflict with China, according to an internal budget document.