‘Not accurate’: Liz Cheney and Jan. 6 committee fire back at Mike Pence after attack
Ryan King
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The Jan. 6 committee countered former Vice President Mike Pence‘s disparagement of the panel as “partisan,” insisting that it “respectfully” engaged with him.
While ripping his description as “not accurate,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) also commended his actions on the day of the Jan. 6 riot. Pence made his remarks during an interview tour promoting his new book and ruled out testifying before the panel due to the separation of powers concerns.
MIKE PENCE SAYS HE WILL NOT TESTIFY TO JAN. 6 COMMITTEE
“The Select Committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book,” Thompson and Cheney countered in a joint statement.
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1593055611536936960
Pence had long been apprehensive about delivering testimony for the panel but mostly left the door open. With weeks left before the panel’s likely dissolution ahead of the new Congress, the former vice president was adamant that the committee “has no right” to his testimony.
“I must say again: The partisan nature of the Jan. 6 committee has been a disappointment to me,” he told CBS Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. “It seemed to me, in the beginning, there was an opportunity to examine every aspect of what happened on Jan. 6, and to do so more in the spirit of the 9/11 Commission — nonpartisan, nonpolitical, and that was an opportunity lost.”
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1592999953315627010
The Jan. 6 committee reiterated its praise of Pence.
“The Select Committee has consistently praised the former Vice President’s refusal to bow to former President Trump’s pressure to illegally refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th. But his recent statements about the Select Committee are not accurate,” the panel added in a tweet.
Pence later stood by his remarks in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, underscoring that “it’s not the first sharp elbow I’ve gotten on Capitol Hill.”
“The principle itself was offensive to me,” Pence said to CNN. “I thought the missed opportunity with Jan. 6 was we could have proceeded in a way that was above politics.”
Pence has been promoting his new book, So Help Me God, which hit bookstores earlier this week. During his media tour, he recounted the pain of the Capitol riot and contended that the GOP probably has better options than his old boss, former President Donald Trump, who unveiled his 2024 campaign on Tuesday.
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Notably, House Republicans had sacked a 9/11 Commission-style inquiry into the Jan. 6 riot, which prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to form the select committee. After she rejected Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) withdrew his Republican picks, ushering in the appointment of Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).
Last month, the Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Trump for testimony and documents, drawing defiance from the former president and a legal petition to quash it.