(PresidentialHill.com)- The House January 6 investigating committee has received increasing cooperation from high-profile members of the Trump administration in recent months.
But, there’s one more even higher-ranking official who may soon cooperate with their investigation: Former Vice President Mike Pence.
On Wednesday, Pence said that if he were to be invited to testify before the House committee, he would consider doing so. If anything, that sounds like an invitation from Pence for the House to an extend him an invitation to testify.
Back in June, some of Pence’s former aides told the House committee that their boss was pressured by former President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election so that Trump could remain in office.
In the past, Pence has said that Trump was incorrect in saying that the vice president held power to change the outcome of a presidential election. Pence, as president of the Senate, oversaw the certification of the Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021 — the day of the insurrection at the Capitol building.
A top aide to Pence during his time in the Trump administration testified before the House committee. Another one of his top staffers, Marc Short, also testified for a federal grand jury that is investigating the insurrection separately.
A formal invitation to Pence has not been extended at this time.
Earlier this week, Pence was speaking in New Hampshire, when he said that if he were to receive an invitation to testify, he would give it “due consideration.” He explained:
“Any invitation that would be directed to me, I would have to reflect on the unique role I was serving in as vice president.”
A few months ago, members of the House investigating committee said they were considering whether to compel Pence to give his testimony to them. However, now that Pence has indicated a willingness to at least consider appearing voluntarily, they may start to negotiate with him in advance before trying to approach it with a strong-armed move.
Members of the House committee didn’t comment on Pence’s remarks after they were questioned about them this week. It’s possible they are likely keeping their thoughts close to the vest, so as to avoid a media firestorm about the possibility of Pence appearing before the committee.
During his own remarks Wednesday, Pence admitted that it “would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill.”
The website for the U.S. Senate shows that in January 1873, Schuyler Colfax appeared before a select committee in the House while he was service as the vice president for Ulysses S. Grant, a role he held from 1869 through 1873.
The website also shows that six current and former U.S. presidents have at some point testified before a congressional committee.
Pence’s hypothetical appearance before the January 6 investigating committee in the House, though, would be one of the most noteworthy ever.
