He also used his strongest language yet to criticizeDonald Trumps conduct on that day.
Watch on Deadline
He added, Tourists dont injure 140 police officers by sightseeing.
Tourists dont break down doors to get to the Speaker of the House.
Former Vice President Mike PencePaul Morigi/Getty Images for Save the Storks
Or voice threats against public officials.
The American people have a right to know what took place at the Capitol on January 6.
I expect members of Fourth Estate to continue to do their job.
But I was determined to stay.
You could hear it echoing outside, and soon thereafter in the hallways.
I knew where we were supposed to be, doing what we were supposed to be doing.
Pence then said that Trumps conduct put his family in danger.
I was not afraid but I was angry.
President Trump was wrong.
I had no right to overturn the election.
And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day.
And I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable for what happened.
But I felt resolved.
The more he insisted the more I did.
I finally put my finger in his chest and I said, Youre not hearing.
Im not giving those people the sight of a 16-car motorcade speeding away from the Capitol.
The American people know what happened that day because you never stopped reporting.
Phil Murphy and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Some of the best zingers were self-deprecating.
Pence opened his remarks with a word of prayer.
The room grew silent for a few seconds before he said, Just kidding.
Theres this idea that I am some kind of religious nut, Pence said.
I mean, just ask my sons: Jedediah, Obadiah and Zacariah.
I am a man of deep faith.
In fact, my preferred pronouns are thou and thine.
Then he got in a few jokes about his former boss.
I do give a shot to share my faith.
I once invited President Trump to a Bible study.Thatwas an experience.
He really liked the passages about smiting and perishing of thine enemies.
I read that some of those classified documents they found in Mar-a-Lago were actually stuck in the presidents Bible.
Which proves he had absolutely no idea.
Honestly, I learned a lot working beside Donald Trump like subpoenas, for instance.
Youre everything I would like to be.
After his remarks at the dinner, Pence was asked what it was like coming up with the jokes.
It was brutal, he quipped.
Pence said, He took two months maternity leave, whereupon thousands of travelers were stranded in airports.
The air traffic system shut down.
And airplanes nearly collided on our runways.
Pete is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression.
Buttigiegsadopted twins were born prematurely.
Chasten Buttigieg, Pete Buttigiegs husband, wrote to Pence, after your attempted joke this weekend.
Blinken got in some quips about media.
Now, according to the guest list, there are 600 attendees here tonight.
CNN would kill for an audience like that.
He also got in a zinger about Pence.
The vice president and I have one thing in common: Neither of us will ever be president.
After some ooohs, Blinken said, OK, thats a little unfair.
I still got some gas left in the tank.
As is tradition, at the end of the evening all attendees lock arms and singAuld Lang Syne.
The skits included a production number spoofing Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis as Captain Hook facing a cast of Disney characters, singingIts DeLovely.
