Jan. 6 Committee May Subpoena Pence for Testimony After Trump’s Rant Against VP, Panel
© AP Photo / Jeff Dean
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The House select committee probing the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol is slated to present evidence this week in support of the assertion that former US President Donald Trump was involved in an elector scheme to overthrow the 2020 election results. Trump has accused the 9-member panel of “knowingly spinning a fake a phony narrative.”
The January 6 committee may subpoena former US Vice President Mike Pence and other “key individuals” for testimony as it continues to hold public hearings on US President Donald Trump’s alleged pressure campaign against his former vice president, and state and local election officials, according to Sunday remarks from a panelist.
“We’re not taking anything off the table in terms of witnesses who have not yet testified,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Tuesday’s hearing will also provide details regarding “how a similar pressure campaign directed against state and local election officials put their lives in danger,” according to the panelist.
“And, similarly, [Trump] was told this scheme is essentially something that his own lawyers could not justify, but yet he pressed on, uprooted people’s lives, put their lives and our democracy very much at risk,” Schiff said.
Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee @RepAdamSchiff previews what the public will hear during the next January 6 hearing. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/NaSSQSFcCE
— CNN (@CNN) June 19, 2022
Last week, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) claimed Trump had knowledge of the violence occurring at the US Capitol building when he tweeted that Pence, who was overseeing the certification of Electoral College votes in the Senate, “didn’t have the courage to do what was necessary” and overturn the official results.
Rather than call off his rioting supporters, Trump sought to “accelerate the violence” against his vice president, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) claimed during a Sunday appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“All of us elected officials but also just Americans and their neighbors need to stand up for the rule of law and against political violence,” said Lofgren, a panelist on the House select committee. “It’s not what America is about.”
“I don’t want to go into the threats I’ve received,” Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren tells @margbrennan in relation to the committee’s work investigating the Capitol attack.
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) June 19, 2022
“We’re in a very rough time in America right now,” Lofgren says. pic.twitter.com/x5neDDvxXo
Pence was ultimately evacuated from the chamber as rioters were overheard shouting variations of the chant: “Hang Mike Pence!”
Panelist: Trump’s Response to Committee, Pence is Tantamount to a Confession
The panelists’ comments came two days after Trump publicly decried allegations from aides who claimed he berated Pence in a “heated” phone call.
Speaking to a group of Christian conservatives in Nashville, Tennessee, the former US president specifically denied that he called Pence a “wimp,” as one Trump White House assistant testified last week.
“I say it sadly because I like him, but Mike did not have the courage to act," Trump said on Friday.
He also accused the nine-member panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans of "knowingly spinning a fake and phony narrative."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) fired back at Trump on Sunday, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the former commander-in-chief is proving “what we have been contending all along” with his public outbursts and apparent disdain for the former vice president.
“Yeah, he's essentially saying, 'Yeah I did it and I’ll do it again,’” Raskin asserted.
“[I]f you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizures of power—which is what a coup is—then you're inviting it again in the future," the panelist added.
Raskin on Meet the Press on Trump continuing to attack Pence: "He's essentially saying, yeah I did it and I'll do it again ... if you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizures of power, which is what a coup is, then you're inviting it again in the future." pic.twitter.com/PvcZTOgVRN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 19, 2022
While the House select committee can only recommend charges against Trump, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced last week that he, as well as “the Jan. 6 prosecutors,” are tuning in to the public hearings and plan to watch all of the televised proceedings.
Garland noted the Justice Department will not limit prosecutors’ ability to pursue charges against former or current US government officials. “This investigation is proceeding according to the facts and the law,” Garland told reporters. “We are not obstructed from continuing our investigation in any way.”
