Mike Pence Says Jan. 6 Rioters Who Assaulted Police “Never Should Have Been Pardoned” on ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’

Former Vice President Mike Pence revisited one of the most defining moments of his political career during Friday night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, where a conversation about President Donald Trump‘s sweeping Jan. 6 pardons quickly turned to the Capitol riot itself — and the mob that famously called for Pence to be hanged.

Maher raised the subject while arguing that Americans should be able to separate the actions of different groups of people who were at the Capitol that day.

“I mean, it seems like we could so many of these things we could come to some agreement with the middle,” Maher said. Referring to Trump’s decision to pardon participants in the riot, he suggested that some people may have been there without the same intentions as those who turned violent.

But Maher also drew a distinction between those attendees and, as he put it, “the ones who wanted to hang you.”

“Can we say those were bad people?” he asked Pence.

The former vice president didn’t leave much room for interpretation.

“Well, Bill, you know, I made it clear. I had no problem with the president pardoning people who got caught up in that day,” Pence responded. “But for anyone who assaulted a police officer, anybody that violated and vandalized the seat of our government, and sought to disrupt the counting of electoral college votes, those people never should have been pardoned, and they should never get a dime.”

Maher then shifted the conversation to a more personal question, asking whether Pence ever genuinely believed the threats against him could become reality.

“So, no ill feelings about the hanging thing?” Maher asked. “Did you ever fear for your life? Did you actually fear that they would, that that could happen?”

Pence said his mindset that day was shaped less by fear than by a sense of responsibility.

“To be honest with you, I never felt a greater sense of resolve any day of my life than on January 6,” he said, before reflecting on both his faith and the constitutional duties of the vice president.

Pence went on to argue that his role during the certification of the 2020 election was limited and clearly defined.

“Under the Constitution, the vice president’s role is only to preside over a session of Congress where the electoral college votes are opened and counted. That’s it,” he said. “No vice president in history has asserted any authority to decide what votes to count or send back to the states. So I knew my duty was clear and I’ll always believe by God’s grace I did my duty.”

The exchange ended up being one of the evening’s most memorable segments, with Maher repeatedly returning to Jan. 6 and the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the certification of the election.

For his part, Pence stuck to the position he has maintained since leaving office: that his constitutional obligation was to oversee the count, regardless of the pressure being applied from outside the Capitol — or inside the White House.