GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer said Trump's treatment of Pence ahead of January 6 was 'the most damaging thing the president has done yet': book

• GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer said Trump's treatment of Pence before the Capitol riot was "damaging."
• "Sometimes I'm not even certain what his end goal is," Cramer said of Trump on January 6.

When rioters started to breach the Capitol on January 6, 2021, one of President Donald Trump's Republican backers recalled Trump's insistence that Vice President Mike Pence help him overturn the 2020 election results — and criticized him over it.

"The most damaging thing the president has done yet was the way he talked about Pence and his responsibilities," said North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, a steadfast ally of the president.

Cramer's comments were reported by New York Times journalists Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin in their forthcoming book, "This Will Not Pass," which Insider obtained an advance copy of. The book comes out on Tuesday.

These remarks underscore the outrage and concern that a slew of congressional Republicans expressed at the time over Trump's behavior, though many of them have since stood by and supported the former president.

Cramer made the comments as he and several other senators, staffers, and police officers had been hurrying to a secure location after a mob stormed the Capitol and forced Congress to delay its certification of the 2020 election.

The North Dakota Republican appeared shocked when he learned rioters had made it into the building. "How the heck did they get in?" he asked, according to the book.

But Cramer remained focused on Trump's role that day, saying: "Sometimes I'm not even certain what his end goal is."

"As you know, I'm one of his top loyal people in the Senate," Cramer added, per the book. "He's never called me, none of his attorneys have ever called me. Sometimes I wonder if he even really—what the real motive is."

After losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, Trump and his team of lawyers, aides, and allies searched for ways to undermine or reverse the election results. Congress was due to formally certify the results on January 6, 2021, with Pence overseeing the count, prompting Trump to exert massive pressure on his vice president to subvert the results even though Pence had no authority to do so.

Trump claimed, falsely, that Pence had the power to throw out the Electoral College votes or interfere with Congress' formal count. Pence did not capitulate to Trump, saying instead that he did not have any constitutional authority to do so, even as the president continued to make 11th hour appeals.

It's been more than a year since Trump left office, but the former president continues to baselessly insist that the election was stolen and rigged against him.

Unlike some of his GOP colleagues, Cramer did not object to the 2020 election results, but shared their concerns about voting and the elections process. In the aftermath of the riot, the senator sharply condemned the violence, calling it "disgusting."

"It should never have happened, and we all need to make sure it never happens again. What we saw today does not reflect the feelings or actions of the patriotic Americans I know and serve," he said in a statement.

Cramer later called Trump's behavior "reckless," but voted to acquit the president in his impeachment trial on a charge of "incitement of insurrection."

Cramer's office declined to comment.