2021年1月6日，当时的第二夫人凯伦·彭斯拉上了国会山副总统礼仪办公室的窗帘，遮住了她的家人从展开的攻击中他们从参议院撤离后不久，她说她从来没有担心过自己的生命。

“永远不会，”她在一次新的采访中告诉ABC新闻直播的首席主播林西·戴维斯，这是她当天首次公开评论。“几分钟前，我刚刚在爱荷华州与某人讨论了这个问题，我从未感到害怕。”

“我真的觉得我们有这样的和平和上帝的存在，”她在采访中说。采访的第一部分将于美国东部时间周一晚上7点、9点和11点在ABC新闻直播频道播出。“只是一种目标感和决心，我不认为我们整个团队中的任何一个人——所有的工作人员和我们在一起的每个人——我不认为我们任何人感到害怕。我认为我们有一种决心。”

当戴维斯特别问及拉上窗帘这个被前副总统迈克·彭斯的摄影师载入史册的时刻时，这位前第二夫人将这一举动归因于多年的公共生活。

“我想一旦你成为，你知道，第二夫人，我们的生活就改变了很多。事实上，在过渡期间，我们在华盛顿附近租了一栋房子，我记得第一天走进那栋房子的时候，特勤局在窗户上贴满了屠夫纸，你知道，你甚至看不到外面，”她说。

“每次我们旅行，他们都会在每个酒店房间安装防弹玻璃。所以这是我刚刚知道的一个条件反射。她继续说道:“当你遇到有人可能会透过窗户开枪的情况时，只要拉上窗帘就行了。“我当时的想法是，‘等一下。外面的事情开始发生了。让我们拉上窗帘。"

“你说事情开始发生了，”戴维斯接着说。"但是你什么时候意识到:我的家人可能有危险?"

“嗯，特勤局是非凡的男女，”卡伦·彭斯回答说。“他们马上向我们明确表示，你知道，可能有一点我们需要搬到不同的地方。

“所以从一开始我们就很清楚这一点，因为他们来了，把我们带出参议院，带我们回到迈克的办公室和参议院。所以，很早就很清楚，我们可能需要腾出那个房间，去别的地方，”她补充道。

在他去年11月发布的回忆录《上帝保佑我》中，这位前副总统类似地描述了当他们带着女儿夏洛特从参议院会议厅撤离时，感受到了上帝的庇护。

“我们一起站在那间狭小的办公室里，通过一台小电视观看国会大厦内外发生的混乱。这些场景令人震惊，”迈克·彭斯写道。“我经常告诉我们的三个孩子，世界上最安全的地方是上帝意志的中心。我心里明白，我们在我们应该在的地方，做我们应该做的事情。我在印第安纳州的成长经历、我的信仰、我的家庭、我一生的服务和对宪法的热爱，让我感受到了决心和安宁。”

“随着远处一声低沉的吼声，我的妻子拉上了朝北的大窗户上的窗帘，我们的首席特勤局特工回来再次紧急请求我们离开，”他继续说道。“我用手指指着他的胸口说，‘你没听我说。我不会走的。"

照片拍摄后不久，彭斯夫妇被冲到国会大厦下面的一个装卸码头，副总统拒绝和特勤局的人一起上车。

“这不是我的第一次牛仔竞技，”迈克·彭斯在他的书中写道。“我只知道，如果我钻进车里，关上那扇200磅重的门，有人会告诉司机让我们离开大楼。”

凯伦和夏洛特·彭斯一直呆在国会大厦，直到2021年1月7日凌晨，小木槌终于落下，新任总统乔·拜登的胜利得到确认。注意到这一事实，迈克·彭斯称自己是“真正受祝福的”

卡伦·彭斯没有让关于她丈夫的贬低性评论影响她，她在ABC新闻直播节目中告诉戴维斯，“这是必然的，我们理解这一点。”

“当我们的孩子很小的时候，真的到了他们十几岁的时候，当我们在某个地方看到抗议者或人们对我们大喊大叫时，迈克的标准台词是，‘这就是自由的样子，在美国，你可以抗议。’她说:“你可以说，‘我不喜欢你这一天的所作所为，或者向我解释这件事。事实上没关系。"

当被问及当批评来自唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)等据信认识他的人时，是否会更令人沮丧时，卡伦·彭斯(Karen Pence)没有批评这位前总统，但暗示他对丈夫人格的攻击是毫无根据的。

“总统知道迈克是谁，”她说。“我的意思是，他们密切合作了四年，成了朋友，真的完成了许多伟大的事情。所以我认为总统知道迈克的真实身份。”

在这张档案照片中，副总统迈克·彭斯和他的妻子卡伦1月6日走在国会大厦，调查1月6日美国国会大厦袭击事件的众议院特别委员会显示，2022年6月16日，在华盛顿的国会山。

众议院特别委员会通过美联社，文件

当他在6月份开始竞选总统时，迈克·彭斯说，这是在祈祷和与家人深刻反思之后——两年半后，他说，特朗普“要求”他选择他而不是宪法，特朗普否认这样做。

“正如我多次说过的，在那个决定命运的日子，特朗普总统的话是不计后果的。他们危及我的家庭和国会大厦的每个人，”迈克·彭斯6月8日在爱荷华州说。“但美国人民应该知道，在那一天，特朗普总统还要求我在他和宪法之间做出选择。现在，选民将面临同样的选择:我选择了宪法，我将永远如此。”

自那以后，随着特朗普因涉嫌试图推翻2020年大选而面临刑事指控，迈克·彭斯开始批评他。彭斯的竞选团队表示，在特别顾问杰克·史密斯的最新起诉书公布后的第二天，他们收到了7400笔捐款，起诉书中提到了这位前副总统的角色超过100次。

当迈克·彭斯展示他与川普的分歧时，他说这种分歧会延续到1月6日以后，凯伦·彭斯永远不会走远。

他在竞选演说中深情地介绍她是“房间里级别最高的官员:海军陆战队的母亲、终身教师、多才多艺的艺术家、畅销书作家，以及美国有史以来最好的第二夫人。”

在印第安纳州的教堂相遇超过38年后，彭斯夫妇的信仰继续指导他们的婚姻，并在1月6日提供指导，就像其他任何一天一样。

Karen Pence 'never felt afraid' on Jan. 6: ABC News exclusive

On Jan. 6, 2021, when then-second lady Karen Pence drew the curtains of the vice president's ceremonial office on Capitol Hill, shielding her familyfrom the unfolding attackmoments after their evacuation from the Senate chamber, she says she never feared for her life.

"Never," she told ABC News Live Prime Anchor Linsey Davis in a new interview, marking some of her first public comments on the day. "I just was discussing this with someone here in Iowa a few minutes ago, I never felt afraid."

"I really felt like we just had such a peace and God's presence," she said during the interview -- part one of which airs Monday night on ABC News Live Prime at 7 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. "And just a sense of purpose and determination that I don't think any of us in the whole group – all the staff and everyone with us -- I don't think any of us felt fear. I think we felt like a sense of resolve."

Asked specifically by Davis about closing the curtains, a moment cemented in history by former Vice President Mike Pence's photographer, the former second lady pinned the move on "conditioning" from years in public life.

"I think once you become, you know, second lady, life changed a lot for us. In fact, during the transition, we rented a home near D.C. And I remember walking in that home the first day -- and Secret Service had put a butcher block paper, you know, all over the windows -- and you couldn't even see outside," she said.

"And every time we traveled, they would have bulletproof glass in every hotel room. So it's a conditioning thing that I just knew. Whenever you're in a situation where someone might be able to shoot through the window, just close the drapes," she continued. "That was my thinking at the time was like, 'Wait a minute. Things are starting to happen out there. Let's close the drapes.'"

"You say things were starting to happen," Davis followed up. "But at what point did you realize: My family could be in danger?"

"Well, the Secret Service are phenomenal men and women," Karen Pence replied. "And they made it clear to us right away that, you know, there might be a point where we would need to move to a different location.

“And so that was pretty clear to us from the very beginning because they had come and gotten us out of the Senate chambers and taken us back to Mike's office and in the Senate. So, it was clear pretty early on that we might need to vacate that room and go somewhere else,” she added.

In his memoir released last November, "So Help Me God," the former vice president similarly described feeling grounded by God when they were evacuated from the Senate chamber with their daughter Charlotte.

"We stood together in that cramped office and watched the mayhem unfolding inside and around the Capitol on a small television set. The scenes were alarming," Mike Pence wrote. "I have often told our three children that the safest place in the world is to be in the center of God's will. I knew in my heart that we were where we were supposed to be, doing what we were supposed to be doing. I felt resolve and at peace informed by my upbringing in Indiana, my faith, my family, a lifetime of service and lifelong love of the Constitution."

"Responding to a muffled roar in the distance, my wife closed the drapes over the large windows facing outside to the north, as our lead Secret Service agent returned to make one more urgent plea for us to leave," he continued. "I pointed my finger at his chest and said, 'You're not hearing me. I'm not leaving.'"

Not long after the photo was snapped, the Pences were rushed below the Capitol complex to a loading dock -- where the vice president then refused to get in the car with the Secret Service.

"It wasn't my first rodeo," Mike Pence wrote in his book. "I just knew that if I got into the car and that 200-pound door shut, somebody was going to tell the driver to get us out of the building."

Karen and Charlotte Pence stayed at the Capitol until the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2021, when the gavel finally fell and incoming President Joe Biden's victory was affirmed. Noting this fact, Mike Pence has called himself "truly blessed."

Karen Pence doesn't let the disparaging comments about her husband phase her, telling Davis on ABC News Live Prime, "It comes with the territory, and we understand that."

"When our kids were small, and really through their teen years, when we would be somewhere and we would see protesters or people would yell things at us, Mike's standard line is, 'That's what freedom looks like, and in America, you are allowed to protest.' You are allowed to say, 'I don't like what you did on this day or explain to me this,'" she said. "And it's OKactually."

Asked if it's more frustrating when that criticism comes from someone who supposedly knew him, like Donald Trump, Karen Pence did not criticize the former president but suggested his attacks on her husband's character were unfounded.

"The president knows who Mike is," she said. "And I mean, they were -- worked very closely for four years, became friends and really accomplished so many great things. So I think the president knows who Mike really is."

When he launched his campaign for president in June, Mike Pence said it came after prayer and deep reflection with his family -- and two and half years after, he said, Trump "demanded" he choose him over the Constitution, which Trump denies doing.

"As I've said many times, on that fateful day, President Trump's words were reckless. They endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol," Mike Pence said on June 8 in Iowa. "But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now, voters will be faced with the same choice: I chose the Constitution, and I always will."

Mike Pence has since leaned into his criticism as Trump faces criminal charges around alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Pence's campaign says it received 7,400 donations the day after special counsel Jack Smith's latest indictment, which mentioned the former vice president's role more than 100 times, came down.

As Mike Pence lays out his differences with Trump, which he says extend beyond Jan. 6, Karen Pence is never far.

He fondly introduces her on the stump as "the highest-ranking official in the room: a Marine Corps mom, a lifelong schoolteacher, accomplished artist, bestselling author and the best second lady in the United States of America has ever had."

More than 38 years after meeting at church in Indiana, the Pence couple’s faith continues to guide their marriage and offered guidance on Jan. 6, like any other day.