Politics

Pence says he won’t testify before Jan.6 committee

Washington, Nov 17 (EFE).- Former vice president Mike Pence has said he would not testify before the House select committee investigating the Jan.6, 2021, Capitol assault.

Pence expressed his intention to close the door on the panel in several appearances on CBS and CNN television channels to promote his new book.

The stand is a sharp departure from his earlier stance that he would cooperate with the House committee.

Pence said the investigation by the committee was “partisan,” claiming Congress “has no right to my testimony.”

Pence told CBS News that if he were to testify, it would establish a “terrible precedent for Congress to summon a vice president of the United States to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House.”

In August, Pence said he was open to testifying before the congressional panel if they asked him to.

The panel is probing the Jan.6, 2021, assault when some 10,000 people, most of them Donald Trump supporters, demonstrated in front of the Capitol.

About 800 stormed the building as the electoral victory of Joe Biden was being ratified.

It resulted in five deaths and some 140 officers injured.

Pence described it as “the most difficult day” of his life in the public sphere.

During the assault, Pence posted a Twitter message asking to “stop” the “violence and destruction” on Capitol Hill and demanded that protesters “leave the building.”

The incident created a rift between Pence and Trump, who turned from close allies in the White House to opponents hurling public criticism at each other.

The former vice president also sounded like one of the possible Republican candidates to run for the 2024 presidential race.

Trump has already thrown his hat in the ring, becoming the first candidate to announce his bid. EFE

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