Donald Trump defended rioters at the Capitol on 6 January who threatened to “hang Mike Pence”, his vice-president, according to recorded remarks released on Friday.

Trump said it was “common sense” when asked about the chants.

Trump was speaking to the ABC chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl, for his book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, which will be published on Tuesday. The recording was released by Axios.

Karl asked Trump if he was worried about Pence during the attack on the Capitol by rioters who aimed to stop the certification of electoral college results and thereby overturn Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden.

“No,” Trump said. “I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape. But, but, no, I think – ”

Karl interjected: “Because you heard those chants – that was terrible. I mean – ”

Trump said: “He could have – well, the people were very angry.”

Karl said: “They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence’.”

“Because it’s common sense, Jon,” Trump said, repeating baseless claims about election fraud. “It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you – if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? – how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?”

The 2020 election was not subject to widespread electoral fraud, an opinion which was relayed to Trump by his own attorney general, William Barr.

Trump continued: “And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to – almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me – because he’s passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent?”

“Top constitutional scholars” do not agree the 2020 election was subject to electoral fraud.

One scholar, John Eastman, provided Pence with a memo outlining how he said the vice-president might reject slates of electors from key states and thus throw the election back to the House of Representatives, where a Republican majority in state delegations would hand victory to Trump.

Pence considered the memo and then, on the advice of others, including the former vice-president Dan Quayle, rejected it.

Five people died in or following the attack on the Capitol. Pence and his family were hidden in an underground loading bay during the insurrection, and then duly presided over the certification of Biden’s win.

In a Republican party dominated by Trump, however, anyone with ambitions of running for president in 2024 has a stark choice to make. In trips to early voting states, Pence has sought to downplay the Capitol attack.

Unlike Trump, Pence is not in legal jeopardy over attempts to overturn the election. But Eastman is, as one of many subjects of subpoenas from the House select committee investigating 6 January.

Trump and other aides are contesting such summonses on grounds of presidential privilege, which Biden has largely declined to invoke. This week, a judge denied Trump’s claim, writing: “Presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.” Another judge issued a temporary stay.

In Betrayal, his second Trump book, Karl also reports that the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, decided Trump should not attend Biden’s inauguration on 20 January.

It was a grave step, given it would make Trump the first president to miss the inauguration of his successor since Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached, skipped ceremonies for Ulysses S Grant in 1869. Trump is the only US president to have been impeached twice.

The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, reportedly opposed the idea and told Trump what was afoot. Trump, Karl reports, quickly said he would not attend. On 20 January, Pence took his place on the inauguration stand.