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As the hearing concluded it became clear that Pence, like most other of Trump's close aides, never believed that he as VP could overturn the election. Pence's general counsel, Greg
Jacob, in his testimony, claimed that Pence had told him that rejecting Trump's plans "may be the most important thing" that he (Pence) ever does. Additionally, in a bizarre
conversation between Trump and Pence that was brought to light during the hearing, revealed in the book _Peril_ by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, the former president had told the former
vice president, "I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this." And the Democrats showed their appreciation. Representative Pete Aguilar said at the end of
his opening statement,"Let me be clear: Vice President Pence did the right thing that day. He stayed true to his oath to protect and defend the Constitution." "We are
fortunate for Mr Pence's courage," said Representative Bennie Thompson, who is the chairperson of the committee. "On Jan 6, our democracy came dangerously close to
catastrophe. That courage put him in tremendous danger when Mike Pence made it clear that he wouldn’t give in to Donald Trump's scheme." What tremendous danger? Well, as the
investigations and the hearings revealed, anything could have happened to the former vice president on 6 January 2021.