Pence's comments are encouraging, says Democratic lawmaker on Jan. 6 probe panel

[August 22, 2022]  By Kanishka Singh
 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A member of the U.S. congressional panel probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol said on Sunday he was encouraged by Mike Pence's recent comments that the former vice president was willing to consider testifying before the committee.  

Committee member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks during the fourth of eight planned public hearings of the U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 21, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

"I was encouraged to hear it and I hope it meant what it sounded like it meant. We have been in discussion with the (former) vice president's counsel for some time," U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.

Pence has said he thinks Trump was wrong to believe the former vice president had the power to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election, whose results were being certified by Pence and lawmakers when the Capitol was attacked by supporters of Trump, a Republican. The attack occurred weeks after false claims by the former president that he had won the election.

Schiff said on Sunday: "He (Pence) knows of our interest in having him come before us, and I am confident that if he is truly willing, that there is a way to work out any executive privilege or separation of powers issues."

Pence said on Wednesday he would consider testifying before the committee if asked but added later that he also considered the Jan. 6 committee to have "a partisan taint."

The panel held eight hearings over six weeks, which wrapped up in July and featured hours of testimony from close Trump allies and former White House staff.

The hearings were intended to lay out a case that Trump violated the law as he tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next. The panel has said it plans to push its investigation further in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in WashingtonEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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