- Mike Pence said he was "closing the door" on testifying before the House January 6 committee.
- On the CBS News show "Face the Nation," Pence argued that Congress had "no right" to his testimony.
Former Vice President Mike Pence during an interview that aired on Sunday stood by his decision not to testify before the House January 6 committee, arguing that speaking before the panel about deliberations that occurred at the White House while he was vice president would set a "terrible precedent."
During an interview on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Pence told host Margaret Brennan that he had concerns about the makeup of the January 6 panel — pointing out that every member had been appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — while also remarking that Congress had "no right" to his testimony.
"I served for 12 years in the Congress. It's inconceivable to me that one party would appoint every member of a committee in Congress that's antithetical to the whole idea of the committee system. That being said, I never stood in the way of senior members of my team cooperating with the committee and testifying," he said, after being asked about the testimonies of former staffers Marc Short and Greg Jacob.
"But Congress has no right to my testimony," Pence continued to say. "We have a separation of powers under the Constitution of the United States. And I believe it would establish a terrible precedent for the Congress to summon a Vice President of the United States to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House."
The former vice president then reaffirmed that he was "closing the door" on appearing before the panel.
"I am closing the door on that, but I must say again, the partisan nature of the January 6 committee has been a disappointment to me," he said. "It seemed to me in the beginning, there was an opportunity to examine every aspect of what happened on January 6, and to do so more in the spirit of the 9/11 Commission, nonpartisan, non-political, and that was an opportunity lost."
While the House passed a bill establishing an independent, bipartisan commission last year, Senate Republicans blocked the legislation, leading Pelosi to create a congressional committee. After Pelosi rejected GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana from serving on the panel, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California yanked the two members, along with other Republicans set to serve on the panel, from the committee.
Pence was also asked whether the GOP would be open to "self-reflection" about January 6, and he responded by stating that his feelings were rooted in the separation of powers.
"I'd leave that to others about the fate of the committee structure and decisions that would be made," he said. "But for my part, I think it's important as I did on January 6, that we uphold that separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, two co-equal branches of government and that's where we'll stand."
Pence last week released his new memoir, "So Help Me God," where he writes in detail about his family and faith, as well as his stint as vice president under former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021 and his thoughts about January 6.
Last Tuesday, Trump officially launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Pence has floated a presidential run of his own but has not yet made a formal decision on his plans.