Former Vice President Mike Pence said that the House select committee investigating the Capitol riots that took place on January 6, 2021 “has no right” to his testimony. He argued that agreeing to appear before the panel would create a terrible precedent.
“Congress doesn’t report to the White House. The White House doesn’t report to the Congress. And I truly do believe in defense of the separation of powers and to avoid what would be a terrible precedent — the very notion of a committee on Congress, in Congress, summoning a vice president to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House, I think, would violate that separation of powers. And I think it would erode the dynamic of the office of president and vice president for many years to come,” Pence told CNN’s Jake Tapper during a Town Hall held on Wednesday.
He added that despite being troubled by the partisan nature of the committee, he never stood in the way of his senior staff cooperating and testifying before the panel.
He reiterated a similar stance when he appeared for an ABC News interview, adding that he was “closing the door” on testifying before the committee. Pence’s book So Help Me God was released on Tuesday, which recounts what exactly went down on the ill-fated day of the riots and how the aftermath of it played out between him and his ex-boss, Donald Trump.
January 6th Committee has also reacted to Pence’s statement through a series of tweets on their official Twitter page.
“The Select Committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book,” it said. “Our investigation has presented the testimony of more than 50 Republican witnesses, including senior members of the Trump White House, the Campaign, & Justice Department. This testimony, subject to criminal penalties for lying to Congress, was not ‘partisan.’ It was truthful.”
They further added: ” The Select Committee has consistently praised the former Vice President’s refusal to bow to former President Trump’s pressure to illegally refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th. But his recent statements about the Select Committee are not accurate.”
His refusal to testify before Congress sparked a number of trolling posts on Twitter. “So, Mike Pence is just gonna turn the events of January 6th into an opportunity to sell a damn book instead of testifying in front of Congress about what happened!?! How utterly pathetic is that?” one user wrote.
Another quipped, “Mike Pence refuses to speak to the 1/6 Committee, saying, ‘Congress has no right to my testimony.’ I’m just so tired of these Republicans who’ve deemed themselves untouchable and above the law, aren’t you? If only we had a Justice Department.”
One more noted, “Really? Justice doesn’t matter to you, Mike Pence? And you still think you should be a leading official in our democracy?” Another user stated, “Shorter Mike Pence: He’s unwilling to say under oath what he wrote in his book.”
Yet another tweeted, “Mike Pence was a Vice President who was a first hand, on-the-ground, key eye witness and I dare say, accomplice to an attack on the US Capitol. Every member of Congress and American in the United States of America as a right to his testimony.”
His present statement is a diversion from what he said back in August. At that time, Pence said that he would consider testifying before the January 6 committee.
