There would have been a “massacre” had Jan. 6 rioters gotten closer to the then-vice president, claimed Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence.
Short pushed back on the claim from the House’s Jan. 6 committee that Pence came under mortal danger on the day of the riot, saying it was the rioters who would have taken fire from the vice president’s armed security detail, according to Mediaite.
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“I think that the bigger risk, and despite the way perhaps it was characterized in the hearings last week, candidly, is that if the mob had gotten closer to the vice president, I do think there would have been a massacre in the Capitol that day. I’m not so sure the Secret Service lives were those in danger, though. I think that likely there would have been a lot of other lives lost that day,” Short said in an interview with ABC’s Linsey Davis on Monday night.
Short, who was with Pence during the riot, said he never felt as though his life was in jeopardy.
“I really felt that being surrounded by very large Secret Service agents with weapons was a very comforting position to be in. And I think that they had us in control, and they told us where to go,” he said.
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The former chief of staff confirmed he provided testimony for Attorney General Merrick Garland’s grand jury investigating the riot.
The House’s select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 held several prime-time hearings throughout June and July that featured testimony from Pence staffers.
