Last Updated on January 13, 2021
Vice President Mike Pence worked with Reince Priebus and the RNC to oust President Donald Trump from the Republican ticket, in what a Trump-Pence 2016 staffer called a “coup” in audio recorded in 2018. National File is exclusively releasing the 2018 audio today.
Earlier this month National File revealed the existence of the audio, obtained by National File but recorded in 2018, at a time when most Republicans had no reason to be upset with Pence, revealing Pence and Priebus’s plot to strip President Trump of the Republican Nomination.
In the audio, the Trump-Pence staffer reveals that Pence was approached by Priebus and Republican Party Chairs from a critical mass of states, and agreed to take President Trump’s position at the top of the ticket.
“Have you heard the story about Reince Priebus and the attempted coup,” the staffer began.
“They had contacted enough state chairmen, they were going to do something under the rules to change candidates,” said the Trump-Pence campaign staffer. “They were pressuring Pence to say, ‘Okay I’m good with it.’”
The staffer indicated that Karen Pence played a large role in pushing Pence to join the “coup.”
“Pence’s wife is begging, is telling him to do it,” the staffer explained. “Pence assured Reince that he’s okay with it, he’s on board. That’s on a Friday.”
“They were openly discussing this on Pence’s plane,” said the Trump-Pence staffer. “They had some staffers that came from the Trump campaign that actually took notes and funneled it back to Trump Tower.”
When President Trump learned of the attempt to rob him of his nomination, he spoke directly to Pence, who quickly aborted the plan.
“So over the weekend, Trump calls Pence in, basically calls him a liar, a hypocrite, and just rips him a new one, gives him all the information where he knows that Pence has been working behind his back. And says, ‘If you want to do this, then I’m going to call you out as being a liar.’”
“Pence walks it back, goes back Monday morning, and tells Reince and his wife to stand down,” said the Trump-Pence staffer. “His wife threw a big fit.”
“That afternoon, everybody who worked for the Trump campaign [and] was on that plane, they get pulled off. And the only people that were allowed to travel with Pence were his own team. ”
Today National File also released audio of the Trump-Pence staffer explaining that Pence refused to endorse President Trump in 2016 because of a $3 million campaign contribution controlled by Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 campaign manager, Jeff Roe.
