The niece of former US President Donald Trump made some comments that were dissonant with some.
- She suggested that the death of a hand-picked member of the Trump administration
- former Vice President Mike Pence
- could serve as a pretext for Trump to do something "absolutely radical" in order to stay in power.
Mary Trump publicly expressed her belief Friday that her uncle had "sentenced Mike Pence to death" in January 2021 when a crowd of supporters of the former president stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the results of the presidential election, which saw Trump lose to incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden.
While law enforcement officers tried to disperse crowds and calm the chaos of many, the Capitol itself was breached, leaving many lawmakers in potential danger.
On that day, cheers broke out among Trump supporters, calling for Pence's execution for refusing to keep up with Trump's insistence that the 2020 election had been stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.
Mary Trump made her remarks during an interview with MSNBC News after shining a strong light on the former president's alleged pressure on Pence to stop election certification by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riots.
"I think nothing less than criminal indictments would be satisfactory enough," Trump's niece said. "We need to make sure that everyone involved is held accountable and that people like Donald are certainly never allowed to run for a new office in this country."
"He needed an excuse to do something quite radical, maybe like calling for martial law and his deputy's death would have fulfilled that for him," she said.
"I think one of the things that was shocking about yesterday's hearing in particular is how people who have been around Donald for years still don't understand the depths that he's going to sink into, or the lengths that he's going to reach, to get a way."
In an interview just last month, the former president doubled down on his position and stressed that he remains "very disappointed" in his vice president for the fact that Pence chose not to overturn the 2020 election results.
"I was very, very disappointed," Trump said. "He had a great opportunity and all he had to do was send it back to the legislatures, and let them decide. I am therefore very disappointed with the position he has taken. "