Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence's role in the congressional meeting that certified President-elect Joe Biden received intense scrutiny from both President Donald Trump's supporters and Democrats. This also prompted people to spread misinformation about Pence. One such piece of false information was that he changed his Twitter banner to a photo of Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
A Facebook user posted a screenshot of a tweet that claimed Pence "unfollowed" Trump on Twitter and changed the banner photo to Biden and Harris. "Things get even more bananas as VP Mike Pence unfollows Trump and changes his Twitter banner photo to Biden and Harris," the tweet claimed.
In the photo taken from behind, a man with white hair is holding hands with a woman with brown hair as both of them wave at the crowd. However, the man and the woman seen in the photo were Pence and his wife Karen Pence. Fact-checking website PolitiFact reported that the Vice President set this image as the Twitter banner on Nov. 3. Prior to this, the banner had an image of Pence standing at a podium surrounded by Trump and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Pence was among those who were rescued and escorted from the Capitol Hill siege on Jan. 6. The siege saw thousands of protesters forcefully entering the government building to stop the Congress from certifying Biden as the next president of the country. In December, Trump encouraged his supporters to gather in Washington D.C. protest Biden's certification over baseless allegations of voter fraud.
The violence left five people dead — including a police officer, who was attacked and beaten by the rioters. While Trump denied responsibility for the violence, the calls for his impeachment strengthened among both Republicans and Democrats.
According to the New York Times, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — who was among the first ones to acknowledge Biden's presidential win — was pleased that Democrats were moving to impeach Trump. Even Fox News reported that McConnell was "furious" and "done" with the outgoing President over his role in last week's violence.
Furthermore, at least four Republicans, including Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wy., said they will vote to impeach Trump.
"The president of the US summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the US of his office and his oath to the Constitution," Cheney said.
