The political punditry in this country really needs to stop with the beatification of Mike Pence for having done the right thing the one and only time in his life for a few hours on January 6, 2021. Everything he did before, and everything he has done since demonstrates a conniving little coward of a man.
Mike Pence was surrounded by most serious plot to end American experiment in our history. Did he call FBI? Did he warn the public? No. He called Dan Quayle & waited to see if the coup would succeed. When saw it would fail, he threw in with other side. No hero is this little man.
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) August 17, 2022
Pence defended every criminal act of the Trump administration of which he was a pat, and still does to this day. He participated in the Coup Plot meetings Trump held after the 2020 election in which he and his outside team of corrupt lawyers tried to convince this little coward of a man to go along. Pence wanted to get to yes, but in the end he just couldn’t do it – probably because he saw that it would fail, as Stuart Stevens says.
Even after Donald Trump sent his violent mob of thugs to the Capitol to “hang Mike Pence” (and any other congressional leaders they could get their hands on in a coup d’état), Mike Pence has not volunteered to testify to the January 6 Committee and to tell them everything he knows about what was discussed in the Coup Plot meetings, despite his aides having all testified before the Committee. He should have been the first witness to volunteer his testimony if he were a true patriot.
On Wednesday, Pence says he’d “consider” testifying before House Jan. 6 committee if asked. All the political punditry immediately decided that this was Mike Pence offering to testify, if only invited.
The pundits all ignored the qualifications Pence offered after he said this, which indicates that he actually intends to assert executive privilege (remember, he participated im the Coup Plot meetings, so he has legal exposure to a conspiracy charge, despite opting out of carrying out the crime at the last minute):
“If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence said during the Politics & Eggs event held at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
But the former vice president noted if he were invited to testify before House investigators, he would have to “reflect on the unique role that I was serving in as vice president.”
“It’d be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill, but as I said, I don’t want to pre-judge,” he continued. “If there were ever any formal invitation rendered to us, we’d give it due consideration, but my first obligation is to continue to uphold my oath, continue to uphold the framework of government enshrined in the Constitution.”
Pence’s dodge is full o’ shit:
There have, however, been both sitting presidents and vice presidents to testify before Congress, including Presidents Abraham Lincoln in 1862, Woodrow Wilson in 1919, and Gerald Ford in 1974. Vice President Schuyler Colfax also appeared voluntarily before a House select committee in 1873 about his stock ownership in the company involved in building the federally subsidized Union Pacific Railroad.
The citation is to a U.S. Senate page which highlights the Sitting Presidents & Vice Presidents Who Have Testified Before Congressional Committees.
President George Washington testified before the entire Senate on the subject of Indian treaties on August 22, 1789. Other Presidents who testified before Congress include Abraham Lincoln, former president Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, former president William Howard Taft, fomer president Hary Truman, and Gerald Ford, who voluntarily appeared before the Subcommittee at the Capitol to explain the reasons behind his pardon of former president Richard M. Nixon.
One Vice President,Vice President Schuyler Colfax who voluntarily appeared before the House Select Committee concerning his ownership of stock in Credit Mobilier, a company involved in the construction of federally subsidized transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad, in 1873.
Mike Pence is not offering to voluntarily testify, if only the Committee would invite him. What he is doing is opening negotiations for his testimony. He “may” testify if he is offered witness immunity for his exposure to conspiracy charges for the Coup Plot meetings, and even then he “may” assert executive privilege over his conversations with Donald Trump to not fully answer the questions to which the Committee wants answers.
In several of the Coup Plot meetings there were third parties who did not work for the administration who in no way can assert executive privilege, and there were White House Counsel present, who have testifed to what those third parties said in the Coup Plot meetings, but asserted executive privilege or attorney-client privilege over what Donald Trump said. They have now been subpoenaed by a criminal grand jury where White House Counsel will not be able to assert executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.
So here’s the deal, Mikey. You can voluntarily testify to the January 6 Committee and tell them everything you know, or that criminal grand jury is surely going to subpoena you because you are a necessary fact witness to critical conversations, and you will have to tell the criminal grand jury everything you know.
And you may face criminal liability for your participation in those Coup Plot meetings and your failure to notify any law enforcement, oversight committees of Congress, or even to alert the media. You could have called the cabinet into session and invoked the 25th Amendment. You could have called a press conference and exposed the Coup Plot, blowing the whistle on the Coup Plotters before they could execute their evil plot. You did none of these things. You are complict and have legal culpability.
Mike Pence is no hero, he is a self-serving coward who is looking for a way out to be the only one who walks away from this Coup Plot without being charged with any crimes.
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Jennifer Rubin is absolutely right, “If Pence won’t testify, he has no business running for president”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/18/pence-testify-trump-jan-6-committee/
Former vice president Mike Pence disingenuously said on Wednesday that he’d “consider” testifying before the House Jan. 6 select committee if asked to participate. Who’s he kidding?
The committee’s members have made it abundantly clear they want to talk to anyone with knowledge of the coup attempt. Pence — a target of the mob that President Donald Trump stirred up on Jan. 6, 2021 — would certainly qualify.
But it’s not up to Pence to “consider” whether he will testify. It’s up to the committee to decide whether his testimony would be useful. If so, it should promptly send Pence an invitation — or better yet, a subpoena.
Far too many Trump cronies (e.g., former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former communications staffer Dan Scavino) think that a congressional subpoena is a suggestion, not a legal mandate, or that they can pick and choose what questions to answer, a la former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Enough already. Pence, who apparently wants to present himself as a viable 2024 presidential contender who could faithfully uphold his oath, should be eager to share what he knows. That is what responsible and patriotic Americans with knowledge of the events surrounding Jan. 6 have done. If former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson or Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) can do their part to assist the committee’s investigation, surely Pence can as well.
And certainly no one running for president should be willing to thwart a criminal investigation. [You mean other than Donad Trump?] If Pence cannot cooperate with law enforcement in their separate investigations, he fails the fundamental test of the presidency: putting public interest and defense of the Constitution ahead of personal or political concerns.
Pence seems to think that by virtue of his past service as vice president, his testimony is optional. “I would have to reflect on the unique role I was serving in as vice president,” he declared. “It would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill.”
That might be because no other president has refused to peacefully transfer power or endangered the life of his vice president. Moreover, Pence is no longer vice president. (Does he think, as Trump seems to believe, that the benefits and privileges of office adhere to him indefinitely?)
Neither does the hobbyhorse of “executive privilege” excuse him from testifying. As Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, tells me, “Executive privilege could cover conversations between Pence and other executive branch officials, including Trump, but would not cover Pence’s own observations, views or beliefs. Also, there is a strong argument that any privilege here would be overcome by the need for Pence’s testimony or that the privilege has been waived by [President] Biden.”
Pence is in a unique situation because of the uniquely reprehensible conduct of his former boss. Norman Eisen, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, tells me it is “imperative” that Pence testifies, given his “unique proximity to and knowledge of the attempted coup.” He adds, “As we have seen with other White House officials who have complied with requests to testify or subpoenas, privilege concerns if any can be addressed on a question-by-question basis.” There is no “blanket constitutional or legal exemption” to a congressional subpoena for a vice president, Eisen says, so “it is time for Pence to step forward and share what he knows.”
Regardless of whether the committee asks for Pence’s testimony, the Justice Department must summon the former vice president before a grand jury if there is to be a complete investigation of Trump’s misconduct.
[T]he Jan. 6 committee and the Justice Department should not let Pence slide by without getting his account under oath. His testimony is not only critical to the investigation but also to confirm that the judicial system should operate without fear or favor, even when a former high-level official is involved.
ABC News reports, “Liz Cheney to ABC News on Pence testifying: ‘I would hope that he will do that'”, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/liz-cheney-abc-news-pence-testifying-hope/story?id=88456475&cid=social_twitter_abcnp
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview set to air Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” told Karl she still hopes former Vice President Mike Pence testifies in the near future and that conversations with his legal team are ongoing.
Pence had indicated this week that he would consider testifying if he were asked to do so.
“We’ve been in discussions with his counsel,” Cheney said, speaking with Karl in the Jan. 6 committee hearing room where millions of Americans have watched her during this summer’s series of hearings.
“Look, he played a critical role on January 6. If he had succumbed to the pressure that Donald Trump was putting on him, we would have had a much worse constitutional crisis. And I think that he has clearly, as he’s expressed, concerns about executive privilege, which, you know, I have tremendous respect. I think it’s, you know, hugely important constitutional issue in terms of separation of powers,” Cheney said.
“I believe in executive privilege. I think it matters. But I also think that when the country has been through something, as grave as this was, everyone who has information has an obligation to step forward. So, I would hope that that he will do that,” Cheney said.
“So, you think we’ll see him here in September in this room before the committee?” Karl asked.
“I would hope that he will understand how important it is for the American people to know every aspect of the truth about what happened that day,” Cheney said.
Note: If Mike Pence were to testify fully and truthfully without asserting any privileges, as John Dean did in Watergate, the DOJ will have no choice but to indict all of the Coup Plotters (co-conspirators) including and especially the ringleader, Donald Trump.