Mike Pence's daughter Charlotte, 27, congratulates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and reveals she was at the Capitol during MAGA riots as she defends police response
Mike Pence's daughter Charlotte Pence Bond extended her congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris just after her father certified the Democrats' Electoral College victory early Thursday morning.
Charlotte, 27, is the outgoing vice president's middle child, between his son Michael and second daughter Audrey.
'Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris,' she tweeted with an American flag after Congress officially confirmed that her dad's time as vice president was up.
Pence oversaw the certification proceedings, provoking fury from Trump as he refused to align with the president's false claims that he had the power to single-handedly overturn the election results.
The proceedings were cast into chaos as a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol grounds on Wednesday afternoon, with dozens of them breaking into the building itself to loot and riot.
Charlotte revealed that she was a witness to the anarchy in a second tweet on Thursday, in which she condemned the actions of the mob and defended Capitol police who failed to block it.
Charlotte, 27, showed their is no bad blood between the incoming administration and outgoing Second Family in her tweet on Thursday morning
In a second tweet Charlotte revealed that she was a witness to the anarchy that erupted on Capitol Hill on Wednesday when her father oversaw the election certification proceedings
Charlotte (second right) is the eldest daughter of the vice president and his wife Karen (pictured with their youngest daughter Audrey on Air Force Two in 2017)
'Anyone who is blaming the Capitol Hill Police for the domestic terrorism that occurred yesterday should seriously reconsider their position. I was there. The people who held the line are our heroes,' she wrote.
Capitol Police have faced growing criticism over their handling of the situation, which led to the deaths of four people, including a woman who was shot by an officer.
Chief of the Capitol Police Steve Sund submitted his resignation on Thursday night after Nancy Pelosi and the union representing his officers called for him to step aside.
Defense and police officials cited by The Wall Street Journal said it was a deliberate move not to put heavily armed cops or troops on the streets because they didn't want to inflame tensions between protesters and counter-protesters.
The sources said that police were trying to avoid the tensions that were seen during the summer - when BLM protesters clashed with police in cities all over the country.
The pro-Trump insurgents stormed the Capitol, breaching the Senate chamber where Pence had been presiding moments before
Protesters used flag poles to break windows around the Capitol building on Wednesday
Shortly before 2pm, the rioters descended on Capitol Hill while lawmakers were inside certifying the vote. Over the next two hours, the violence escalated. Some broke into politicians' offices, tauntingly sat at their desks and left threatening notes. One of the protesters was shot dead by cops (bottom right)
But the strategy backfired gravely on Wednesday.
Videos have emerged showing some officers assisting some of the rioters down the steps of the Capitol building, standing aside as crowds rush past them and even running away in fear from them up flights of stairs.
Those images stand in stark contrast to the stealthy response shown from the police during the BLM protests of the summer. Only 80 people have been arrested and the police are asking for public help to identify dozens of others. In June, 289 were arrested during a single night of BLM protests.
Pence and other lawmakers were whisked to safety as protesters stormed the Rotunda at around 3pm, some of them chanting: 'Where's Pence?'
The vice president was quick to denounce the mob and posted photos on Twitter of himself thanking police officers who had been on duty.
Pence was quick to denounce the mob as he was whisked to safety
Pence spent all of Wednesday on Capitol Hill and tweeted his thanks to officers
On Thursday Charlotte retweeted a post wherein former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised her father's response to the turmoil.
'Vice President Pence was a profile in courage yesterday,' Gingrich wrote.
'He understood that his oath was to the Constitution not to a party, policy, or person.He did what he believed was right and he did so under enormous pressure.
'Whether you agreed with his actions his courage deserves credit.'
Charlotte (left) joined her father on stage at the Republican National Convention in 2016
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