The violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 came perilously close to Vice President Pence, who was not evacuated from the Senate chamber for about 14 minutes after the Capitol Police reported an initial attempted breach of the complex — enough time for the marauders to rush inside the building and approach his location, according to law enforcement officials and video footage from that day. Secret Service officers eventually spirited Pence to a room off the Senate floor with his wife and daughter after rioters began to pour into the Capitol, many loudly denouncing the vice president as a traitor as they marched through the first floor below the Senate chamber. About one minute after Pence was hustled out of the chamber, a group charged up the stairs to a second-floor landing, chasing a Capitol Police officer who drew them away from the Senate.Pence and his family had just ducked into a hideaway less than 100 feet from that landing, according to three people familiar with his whereabouts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. If the pro-Trump mob had arrived seconds earlier, the attackers would have been in eyesight of the vice president as he was rushed across a reception hall into the office. The proximity of the Jan. 6 mob to the vice president and the delay in evacuating him from the chamber — which have not been previously reported — raise questions about why the Secret Service did not move him earlier and underscore the jeopardy that top government leaders faced during the siege. As an increasingly hostile and violent crowd surrounded the Capitol, Pence remained at center stage, presiding over a joint session of Congress for more than an hour after the Capitol Police chief said he alerted his superiors that his force was being overrun and needed emergency reinforcements.The potential exposure of the vice president underscores how law enforcement agencies struggled to manage the rapidly expanding crisis in real time. The Secret Service declined to comment on any element of Pence’s movements in the Capitol or his evacuation, other than to say that he was “secure” during the siege. “While the Secret Service does not speak specifically about the means and methods of our protective operations, Vice President Pence was secure at all times on Jan. 6,” Secret Service spokeswoman Catherine Milhoan said in a statement. A spokesman for Pence declined to comment.Pence was ultimately evacuated from his office off the Senate floor to a more secure location elsewhere in the Capitol complex. It is unclear exactly how long that took. But as the vice president made his way through the building, a growing number of rioters were joining their cohorts and coursing through the Capitol’s labyrinthine halls.Nick Note: If the coup was successful Trumps agents under the cover of the rioters would have killed Pence stooping the certification of the election. AND giving Trump the excuse he needed too declare martial law. But his operatives failed in capturing Pence…. Better luck next time. A democracy is a thing that is hard to get, even harder to keep and easy to lose. It appears to me America has entered the losing stage.