Documentary footage shot during the January 6 Capitol attack shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi advising then-Vice President Mike Pence to keep his location a closely held secret.
After Mr Pence was evacuated from the Senate chamber by his Secret Service detail, he was taken to a restricted loading dock area that is part of the Capitol Visitors Centre complex. He remained there during the riot and refused his bodyguards’ request that they take him to a different location.
In film shot by her daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, the House speaker is shown having a phone conversation with Mr Pence.
She tells him that she and other congressional leaders are safe, but voiced worries that it could be “days” before the Capitol was made safe.
Still, she told Mr Pence her preference was to return to the House chamber to complete certification of the 2020 election rather than use the emergency facility where she and other leaders had been taken.
“We’d rather go to the Capitol and do it there, but it doesn’t seem to be safe. We’ve gotten a very bad report about the conditions of the House floor with defecation and all that kind of thing,” she said.
She then told Mr Pence to call her back and advised him further: “I worry about you being in that Capitol though. Don’t let anybody know where you are”.
