As hundreds of his supporters breached the U.S. Capitol and chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” Donald Trump was not concerned about the safety of his vice president, according to an interview excerpt released Friday morning.

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked Trump, “Were you worried about him during that siege? Were you worried about his safety?”

“No, I thought he was well-protected” the former president responded “and I had heard that he was in good shape. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape.”

Karl followed up, “Because you heard those chants — that was terrible.”

“He could have — well, the people were very angry,” Trump explained.

“They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence.'” 

That prompted a length response from Trump:

Because it’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that? And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to — almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me — because he’s passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent? Now, when I spoke to him, I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election. I didn’t talk about the main point, which is the legislatures did not approve — five states. The legislatures did not approve all of those changes that made the difference between a very easy win for me in the states, or a loss that was very close, because the losses were all very close.

The interview was conducted at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in March and shared with Axios Friday morning. Additional audio from the interview will air Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Karl, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent, has a book coming out Tuesday about the waning days of the Trump presidency, titled Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.

Earlier this week, Karl told comedian Stephen Colbert that Pence had a photographer with him on the day of the Capitol riot. Poynter summarizes:

“I got ahold of the photographer,” Karl said. “I actually saw all of the photographs. … (Pence) was in a loading dock in an underground parking garage beneath the Capitol complex. No place to sit. No desk, no chairs, no nothing. He was in this concrete parking garage. … This is the vice president of the United States and he’s, like, holed up in a basement.”

Karl said he asked Pence if he could publish those photographs — one of which was Pence looking at Donald Trump’s tweet that said Pence didn’t “have the courage” to stop the certification of the election. But Pence refused to give Karl permission.

“I have a suspicion that the January 6th committee is going to want to see those photos,” Karl said.

An excerpt from Karl’s book was published in The Atlantic on Tuesday. The piece details the strange rise of John McEntee, a 29-year old MAGA die-hard who was initially hired to carry Trump’s bags. Eventually, McEntee was elevated to head of the Presidential Personnel Office, where he oversaw the hiring of a number of woman with scant experience:

In fact, one McEntee hire was literally a Rockette; she had performed with Radio City Music Hall’s finest in the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The only work experience listed on her résumé besides a White House internship was a stint as a dance instructor. McEntee also hired Instagram influencers. Camryn Kinsey, for example, was 20 and still in college when McEntee gave her the title of external-relations director. In an interview with the online publication The Conservateur, she said, “Only in Trump’s America could I go from working in a gym to working in the White House, because that’s the American dream.” (Kinsey went on to work at the pro-Trump One American News Network.)

McEntee, who a senior Trump administration official called “a f***ing idiot,” was tasked with rooting out “Never Trumpers” from the White House. He pushed for the removal of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a move Trump ultimately made.

The Atlantic excerpt ends:

People close to Trump say there is no doubt he is going to run for president again in 2024. I am not convinced he will run, but if he does, he will be the clear favorite to win the Republican nomination. The idea of him getting elected again, although highly unlikely, no longer seems impossible. If that happens, McEntee will probably play a key role right from the start. As one of Trump’s more levelheaded senior aides told me, “I shudder to think what the Cabinet would look like in a second term.” Johnny McEntee, I expect, is already working on his list of names.