Update January 7, 2021: Including comments from MPD
Social media users are sharing posts claiming that Vice President Mike Pence has been arrested after hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol to protest the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. This claim is untrue: the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has confirmed to Reuters that they did not arrest Pence, and videos show Pence addressing the Senate after the protesters left.
The posts (here, here , here) shared between about 3pm and 7pm ET on January 6, says for example: “Multiple reports of Mike Pence being arrested.”; “Break: Mike Pence was arrested for betraying Donald Trump.”; or “Word on the street. Mike Pence was arrested. ”
Trump, who has repeatedly made unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the presidential election, has put pressure on Pence to unilaterally reject state election votes to block the election of President Joe Biden by Congress, but Pence has denied saying he does not have the power. not to do so (here).
Hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, with four people dying in the chaos, but a few hours later a shocked Congress confirmed the Democratic victory of Democrat Joe Biden on Thursday, January 7 (here).
The MPD told Reuters in an email that allegations that MPD had arrested Pence were false: “MPD did not arrest Mike Pence.”
It was seen that Pence was speaking in the Senate on January 6 just after 8pm ET (after the social media messages that were illegally reported about his arrest were shared), as shown in a Reuters video here and with ‘ a timestamp on CSPAN here
Pence was then in the House of Representatives early on January 7 when Congress resumed its work to ratify the votes of Biden’s Electoral College, as seen in a Reuters video here.
There is no evidence to suggest that Pence was arrested; Pence police officers in Capitol Hill can be seen resigning in his own tweet (here). Pence’s press secretary, Devin O’Malley, tweeted that while the Capitol was stormed, Pence was in the building and kept in touch with police to secure the Capitol (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. MPD confirmed to Reuters that they did not arrest Pence. Photos and videos of Pence after the Capitol were cleared show that he was not arrested.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work here.