The possibility of his deposition came into focus last week when he appeared to leave the door open for him to appear. The former vice president, however, expressed reservations about executive privilege and separation of powers that could be the rationale behind his refusal to appear. A source with knowledge of Pence’s thinking told CNN last week that for those reasons it would be a mistake to overstate the possibility of him testifying, adding that the former vice president also believes that much of the information related to his experience at the time day have already been delivered to the committee by two of his former top aides. Pence was hailed as a hero by some committee witnesses for refusing to play into the former president’s demands to block the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. But his increasingly obvious presidential hopes in 2024 suggest that an appearance before the committee in person or on video could represent too great a political risk. Ultimately, the great lesson of this year’s midterm primary season is that candidates challenging Trump for post-Electoral mayhem in 2020 usually lose, though a prominent exception was Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp, the who had Pence’s backing, prevailed in his primary against a Trump-backed challenger. But committee member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., used the first part of Pence’s comments in his testimony to put the onus back on the former vice president. “I was encouraged to hear it. And I hope it meant what it seemed to mean,” Schiff told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday. “We have been in discussions with the vice president’s counsel for some time.” Schiff added: “I’m sure if he’s really willing, there’s a way to resolve any executive privilege or separation of powers issues.” The committee’s Republican vice chairwoman, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, fresh off her defeat of a Trump-backed primary challenger last week, also talked about the possibility of Pence appearing on the panel. “When the country has gone through something as serious as this, everybody who has information has an obligation to step forward. So I hope he does,” Cheney told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday. “I hope he understands how important it is for the American people to know every aspect of the truth about what happened that day.” There is no public indication that an official invitation has been sent to Pence. But like Schiff, Cheney said the committee had contacted his lawyers. The Wyoming Republican appears to have had some success in getting a key witness to testify. He publicly subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to appear, and unlike some other senior Trump aides, did not refuse a subpoena, ultimately testifying behind closed doors. But Cipollone’s future seems to lie in law, not politics. Pence, by contrast, is in an increasingly bleak political position — and there’s no sign he’s willing to follow Cheney in risking his immediate political prospects to give a full account of the rebellion on Capitol Hill.
Pence is dancing on a political pin
Pence has spent the past few days in the early voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa, seeking to open a 2024 lane that could narrow significantly if he disavows Trump in televised testimony before the committee, as the former president’s dominance appears to be. his party. sclerotic. For nearly the entirety of Trump’s presidency, Pence has been a loyal, admiring partner, regardless of the constitutional rule or behavioral barrier his boss has broken. But his political journey in recent days has highlighted his balancing act as he tries to save his political future. The former vice president has sought to take credit for what conservatives see as the achievements of what he calls the Trump/Pence presidency, while distancing himself from the failed authoritarian power grab that ended it. He has distanced himself from Trump by saying the party should look forward, not backward — a jab at the former president’s obsession with the 2020 election. And in recent days, Pence’s subtle political positioning has led him to be concerned about the unprecedented search and removal of classified documents from the former President’s Mar-a-Lago home, but also to criticize the subsequent GOP threats against the FBI. The House select committee is showing every sign of having a busy August as it prepares to resume hearings in September to deepen its damning picture of Trump’s conduct. In its recent moves, the committee appears to be focusing on any discussions of whether Trump’s cabinet discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the then-President — a step Pence ruled out. The committee also appears eager to flesh out secondhand testimony about Trump’s behavior inside a presidential SUV after he allegedly requested a ride to Capitol Hill as his supporters marched on the bastion of US democracy on Jan. 6, 2021. But securing Pence’s testimony would arguably be the most important victory for the committee so far, given his knowledge of internal efforts by Trump and those around him to sign off on an unconstitutional plan to keep Biden out of office. Several of Pence’s closest aides have testified by video to the committee Jan. 6, and two of them — his former chief of staff Mark Short and his former adviser Greg Jacob — also appeared before a grand jury in connection with the Department of Justice case. separate investigation focusing on the insurgency. Pence was asked about his willingness to appear before the House committee in some form during a “Politics & Eggs” breakfast last week in New Hampshire, a storied campaign stop for potential presidential candidates in the nation’s first primary. . condition. “If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence said in a remark that drew most of the attention. But he went on to outline a possible way out for himself if he wanted to avoid the politically risky step of testifying to the committee about Trump’s wrongdoing after the 2020 election. “According to the Constitution, we have three co-equal branches of government, and any invitation to me, I would have to consider the unique role in which I served as vice president. It would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be called upon to testify on Capitol Hill.” . It would not be unprecedented for a vice president to testify before Congress. But Pence could try to argue to the committee that by disposing of his former aides he has ensured that his perspective, experiences and duty to history have been fulfilled without a personal appearance.
How Pence could help the investigation
Schiff told CNN’s Tapper that the former vice president could offer a unique perspective on the events of one of the most violent days in modern American history. “He was clearly able to share a lot of first-hand information about what it was like to be the subject of these efforts to get him to violate his constitutional duty and get himself the power to decide who won or lost the American presidential race. election,” said the California Democrat. Pence’s testimony would help the committee delve into pressure from Trump and conservative lawyers to block the certification of the election. The former President’s own legal team and Pence concluded that he had no authority to do so. Short has already testified that the vice president repeatedly told Trump that was happening, bolstering one of the panel’s key arguments — that Trump knew what he was asking Pence to do was illegal, but was pushing for it anyway. “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what needed to be done to protect our country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted as rioters breached the Capitol. There would be nothing as politically or legally explosive as hearing Pence’s side of the story from his own lips, but that’s one reason it seems unlikely to happen.
