'Mike Pence deserves it': Trump's response to aides telling him the January 6 mob wanted to hang his VP

• Ex-President Trump said Vice President Pence may 'deserve' to be hanged, Rep. Liz Cheney said.
• Her remarks came during the first public January 6 House Committee Hearing.

As a riot unfolded at the US Capitol, former President Donald Trump told aides that his own vice president might deserve to be hung, Rep. Liz Cheney said at the first public hearing held by the January 6 Committee.

Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who co-chairs the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection, made the claim in her opening remarks Thursday.

"Aware of the rioters' chants to 'hang Mike Pence,' the president responded with this sentiment: 'Maybe our supporters have the right idea.' Mike Pence 'deserves it,'" Cheney said.

The GOP congresswoman's comments confirmed a story published last month in The New York Times. In that report, two former White House staffers testified before the January 6 committee that the president's chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, told them that he heard Trump make the comment about hanging his vice president.

Cheney added that Trump declined to listen to Capitol Hill leaders urging him to put an end to the attack. It took the former president 187 minutes to release a video telling the mob to stop the attack. He would refer to them in the video as "very special people."

Five more public hearings detailing new knowledge from the insurrection are set for the month of June and can be viewed online or on major television networks. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 13 at 10 a.m. ET.

"Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power," Cheney argued. "In our hearings, you will see evidence of each element of this plan."

More than 860 people have been charged in the riot. Only 306 individuals pleaded guilty.