Pence tells crowd he would ‘consider’ testifying in front of Jan. 6 Committee if asked

Former vice president Mike Pence told a crowd this week that if asked, he would consider appearing in front of the House Committee investigating January 6 to give his testimony.

During an appearance at the Politics and Eggs breakfast at Harvard University in Manchester, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Pence was asked if he would appear in front of the committee. “If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” the former VP answered. He pointed out that if he were to testify in front of the panel, he would “reflect on the unique role that I was serving in as vice president” when answering their questions.

“It would be unprecedented in history for the vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill,” he said. “But as I said, I don’t want to pre-judge. So if any formal invitation was rendered to us, we’d give it due consideration.” He added, “My first obligation is to continue to uphold my oath, continue to uphold the framework of government enshrined in the Constitution.”

Pence has been outspoken about his belief that the 2020 election was a free and fair election, and that former president Trump was wrong in his claims that widespread voter fraud occurred, and that Pence had any authority as vice president to change the election results on January 6, 2021. Pence told a Florida audience in February, “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.” 

Former president Trump has railed against his vice president since January 6, after Pence failed to comply with requests to change the results of the 2020 election and prevent Congress from formalizing the vote and officially making Joe Biden the president-elect.

“Mike Pence had a chance to be great. He had a chance to be, frankly, historic,” Trump said at an event in Nashville in June. “Mike, and I say it sadly because I like him, but Mike did not have the courage to act,” Trump added.