Jan 6th House Select Committee Still Deciding If They’ll Call Trump and Pence to Appear
As the January 6th House Select Committee’s investigation winds down and they prepare for a series of televised hearings in June, members of the Committee are still debating whether to call the two most important men whose conflict over whether to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 Presidential election win was at the center of the attack.
Donald Trump pressured Mike Pence for days, if not weeks, to use his ceremonial role presiding over the January 6th count to try to block or delay Joe Biden’s certification. Once Pence refused to do so, Trump made a thinly veiled threat against Pence in front of the crowd at the rally preceding the attack on the Capitol. After breaking into the building that day, Trump’s supporters called for his hanging, with a full gallows already built on the grass behind the building.
The House Select Committee has interviewed nearly 1,000 people, including Trump’s closest allies and his adult children who were with him that day in the White House. Much of the evidence the committee has released so far has come from White House aides and staff. The panel also has thousands of texts from Trump’s final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, with other members of Trump’s inner circle and family, plus anchors from Fox News.
As we work to provide answers to the American people about that day, we consider it a patriotic duty for all witnesses to cooperate.
We urge our colleagues to join the hundreds of individuals who have shared information with the Select Committee.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) May 2, 2022
Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said in early April that the Committee has been able to validate a lot of the statements attributed to Trump and Pence without their testimony. He said at that time there was “no effort on the part of the committee” to call Pence, though there have been discussions since then about potentially doing so.