Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday released a statement praising former Vice President Mike Pence’s comments earlier this week that downplayed the importance of the January 6 Capitol riots.
Pence told Fox News’ “Hannity” that “I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January. They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020.”
Pence also spoke about his relationship with Trump, saying that “I can tell you that we parted amicably at the end of the administration, and we’ve talked a number of times since we both left office,” emphasizing that people should concentrate on the future.
Trump praised Pence in his statement, saying that his interview on Fox “very much destroys and discredits the Unselect Committees Witch Hunt on the events of January 6th. It will continue anyways, however, because the Fake News doesn’t want to focus on Afghanistan, Russia, Taiwan and China, the Border, inflation, and a failing economy.”
The former president added in another statement that “the Unselect Committee of partisan Democrats, and two very weak and pathetic RINOs, should come to the conclusion after spending many millions of dollars, that the real insurrection happened on November 3rd, the Presidential Election, not on January 6th—which was a day of protesting the Fake Election results.”
The Hill noted that Trump’s praise of Pence is significant, because it is in such contrast to the way he has harshly and repeatedly criticized his vice president  for refusing to reject the election results.
Both Trump and Pence are believed to be considering running for president in 2024.
Trump’s statements come as the January 6 select committee has bolstered its probe recently, havng last week released 11 new subpoenas targeting individuals who were involved in planning the rally where the former president spoke shortly before his supporters attacked the Capitol.