Trump justified his supporters calling to hang Mike Pence at the Capitol riot, saying it's 'common sense' in new audio

• Trump justified his supporters' calls to hang then-VP Mike Pence during the Capitol riot.
• In audio obtained by Axios, ABC News' Jonathan Karl said to Trump: "They were saying 'hang Mike Pence.'"

Former President Donald Trump justified his supporters calling to hang his vice president, Mike Pence, during the Capitol riot, according to audio obtained by Axios.

The audio is from an interview that ABC News' Jonathan Karl conducted with Trump in March. In it, Karl pressed Trump about some of his supporters' chants as they stormed the Capitol on January 6.

"They were saying 'hang Mike Pence,'" Karl told Trump.

Trump responded: "Because it's common sense, Jon. It's common sense that you're supposed to protect."

Trump then repeated his baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, was fraudulent.

He said: "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."

The interview took place for Karl's upcoming book, "Betrayal."

As vice president, Pence was presiding over the 2020 election certification process on January 6.

Trump tried to pressure Pence to not certify them, overturning Biden's win, but Pence refused. Pence did not have the power to do this, and the vice president's role in certifying the results in largely ceremonial.

The pair reportedly did not talk in the days after the riot.

Pence has since defended his decision not to try and block Biden's certification.

In June he noted that the pair do not agree about what happened on January 6, but still praised Trump.