On Monday, former Vice President Mike Pence confronted Stewart Rhodes, the far-right Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government for plotting a violent subversion of the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021. “Nice to meet you,” he said.
The 2024 presidential candidate spoke to Rhodes through the glass at the Washington, D.C. jail, which Pence was visiting as part of an effort to appeal to those in the Republican electorate who insist that Jan. 6 rioters are being treated “very, very unfairly” while behind bars.
“Many Americans of late have taken an interest in the plight of the imprisoned. Like them, I’m calling for justice,” Pence told Rhodes in a recorded phone call. “Three square meals a day, time outdoors, uninterrupted showers — these are not privileges to be taken away at the whim of an unelected bureaucrat with a giant ring of keys. These are God-given rights.”
Pence, who will later in the day attend a charity auction of hot dog paintings in Des Moines, did not once raise his voice to Rhodes, who eyed him as suspiciously as a one-eyed man can.
“If we have a conservative in the White House again, rest assured that we will monitor your condition closely, even though you made a grave error in judgment on that fateful January day,” Pence said. “Because the truth is that that was borne out of the passions you have for this great land of liberty, and I am passionate about it too — even places like here where there isn’t much liberty to be had.”
Rhodes, seeing an opportunity, asked Pence for a pardon should he indeed win the presidency. The former vice president took a moment to think it over, his trademark Easter Island expression looking especially plain under the fluorescent light. He then told the felon, “If I can have your vote.”