Mike Pence says former President Donald Trump’s tweet in the throes of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection blaming his vice president for not blocking certification of Joe Biden’s election victory was “reckless” and “endangered” members of Pence’s family who were at the U.S. Capitol.

In a sit-down interview, ABC News’ David Muir asked Pence about the tweet, in which Trump said the VP “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”

After a long pause, Pence said: “It angered me. But I turned to my daughter, who was standing nearby, and I said, ‘It doesn't take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law.” I mean, the president's words were reckless. It was clear he decided to be part of the problem.”

The exchange was included in a preview clip of the interview that aired on ABC on Sunday evening and Monday morning. The full interview will be broadcast Monday night.

Trump pressured Pence to try to overturn his 2020 election defeat by rejecting results from certain states in which Trump and his allies claimed there was widespread election fraud despite more than 60 losses in court cases challenging the results and assertions from election and law-enforcement officials that there was no evidence to support the claims.

Pence, whose role in overseeing the certification of Electoral College votes was largely ceremonial, refused to go along with the plan, telling Congress in a letter that he did not have the authority to unilaterally determine which votes should and should not be counted. 

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has said the unrest both inside and outside the Capitol escalated after the tweet despite that White House aides were calling for Trump to try to calm the mob, which began chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!”

After Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Pence was rushed to a loading dock under the Capitol for safety. In an effort to quell the riot, Pence placed calls to the acting defense secretary, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acting attorney general and U.S. Capitol Police chief. 

Asked by Muir where Trump was at that time, Pence answered: “I was at the Capitol. I wasn't at the White House. I can't account for what the president was doing that day. I was at a loading dock in the Capitol where a riot was taking place.”

“But why wasn't he making these calls?” Muir asked Pence.

“That'd be a good question for him,” the former vice president responded.

The interview came as Pence, who might take on Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is promoting his new book, “So Help Me God,” which will be released Tuesday.