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While former President Trump was agitating tooverturn his election defeat, Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., the olderbrother of then-Vice President Mike Pence, was spendingmoney at Trump's Washingtonhotel, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission. Weeks later, on the day Mike Pence publicly rejected a lawsuit that members of Congress filed against him, the Trump campaign returned a $4,000 donation that hisbrother had made seven months earlier.

According to ayear-end FECreportfiled last weekend, Greg Pence's campaign, which had previously drawn scrutiny forthousands of dollars in apparent personal expenses at Trump's hotel, reported spending $1,551on Dec. 3 for a cateredevent at BLT Prime, theTrump International Hotel's restaurant and a popular hub for conservative allies of the former president. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the GOP House whip, reported a $1,000 expense at BLT Prime the same evening, for catering and facility rental.

Earlier that day, members of the House Freedom Caucusheld a press conference to call on then-Attorney General Bill Barr to release the results of a Justice Departmentinvestigation into possible election fraud. Thatconference featured Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who later filed a statement insupport of thedoomedSupreme Court election challenge brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which bothPence and Scalisejoined. (Thatsuit was almost immediately rejected.)

A few weeks later, while Greg Pence mulled the decision of whether to object to the electoral votes, his campaign reported that the Trump campaign hadnever cashed a $4,000 contribution thatPence made in May, seven months earlier, according toFEC filings. The donation does not appear on the Trump campaign's receipts.

Pence ultimately joined three other Indiana Republicans to sidewith the former president andchallenge Pennsylvania's votes hours after rioters had huntedhis younger brother through the Capitol. Pence had also objected to Arizona's votes earlier that day.

Pence later issued a statement saying thathis choices"reflect both my support of the Constitution and the disenfranchised voters of the Sixth District," while declaring that "violence and anarchy is never the answer."

"I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution on behalf of Hoosiers in the Sixth District. The United States is a country of law and order," Pence said in the statement. "There are millions of American voters in our nation who currently feel disenfranchised, but violence and anarchy is never the answer. The way forward for our nation is to follow the U.S. Constitution."

That positiondiverged fromIndiana's two Republican senators,Todd Young and MikeBraun.The latter had originally planned to challenge the electoral count but reversed that decisionafter the insurrection, sayingin a statement on Twitter that the day's violencehad "changed things drastically."

"Though I will continue to push for a thorough investigation into the election irregularities many Hoosiers are concerned with as my objection was intended, I have withdrawn that objection and will vote to get this ugly day behind us," Braun wrote.

It is unclear why Pence did not reverse his original decisionamid widespread reports that the Capitol riotershad specifically targeted his brother for execution, afterTrump's dissatisfactionwith his vice president became widely known.

The Pence family as a whole haschanneled a significantamount of money to the Trumps over the last four years. Between November 2017and early 2019, Greg Pence, who won his brother's formerseat in 2018, made headlines for substantial and frequent expendituresat Trump's Washingtonhotel. Thosepayments, totaling $45,000,includedthousands of dollars in donor funds for personal lodging, an unlawful expense which his campaign later reclassifiedasfundraising events after USA Today exposed the apparent violations.

A Pence spokesperson saidat the timethat the campaign had only made the changes "in order to avoid confusion here from hostile reporters."

Greg Pence did not reply to Salon's request for comment. Mike Pence could not be immediately reached for comment.

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While Trump pressured Mike Pence, his brother Greg was spending money at Trump's hotel again - Salon