Former Vice President Mike Pence told an audience in New Hampshire on Wednesday that, if asked to appear before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, he would consider doing so.
“If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence said at a “Politics and Eggs” event held by the New England Council and St. Anselm’s College. However, he added that it would be “unprecedented in history” for a vice president “to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill.”
According to the Senate Historical Office and Senate Library, four sitting presidents or vice presidents have testified before congressional committees: Abraham Lincoln in 1862, Schuyler Colfax in 1873, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Gerald Ford in 1974. Several presidents and vice presidents have also testified before Congress after they left office.
During the New Hampshire event, Pence said Attorney General Merrick Garland must answer questions over the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago while also calling on Republicans to stop attacking FBI agents who conducted it.
“This unprecedented action does demand unprecedented transparency. That said … I also want to remind my fellow Republicans we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision that he made without attacking a rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” Pence said.
The search is connected to an investigation of the former president’s handling of classified and other materials that fall under the federal Presidential Records Act.
This post was produced and edited by Julia Griffin, Dan Cooney and Kenichi Serino.
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