Pence Says He Would ‘Consider’ Testifying Before Jan. 6 Panel If Asked

Mike Pence would give “due consideration” to testify before the House Jan. 6 committee if he were invited, the former vice president said at a Wednesday event.

“If there [were] an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence said at an event at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire on Aug. 17. “But you’ve heard me mention the Constitution a few times this morning. Under the Constitution, we have three co-equal branches of government. Any invitation to be directed to me, I would have to reflect on the unique role I was serving in as vice president.”

Members of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol breach said in June they were considering whether to compel Pence to testify. However, the committee, which sees former President Donald Trump’s election fraud claim as a root cause of the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, has not publicly extended an invitation to Pence.

Although it would be “unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill,” Pence told the crowd he didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

“My first obligation is to continue to hold my oath, continue to uphold the framework of government enshrined in the Constitution,” he added.

Aides to Pence told the Jan. 6 panel in a June hearing that Trump pressured the then-vice president to overturn his 2020 election defeat, before and during the Capitol breach. One of Pence’s senior aides testified to the Jan. 6 committee, and his top staffer at the time, Marc Short, testified before a federal grand jury investigating the attack.

Trump’s allies disputed that the then-vice president was legally granted the power, under the text of the 12th Amendment, to hold off the certification of electoral votes—a claim Pence rejected.

Pence ultimately sided last January against Trump and his

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