Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House select Jan. 6 committee, told NPR that he thinks Pence will be asked for a voluntary interview in the coming weeks. "I think you could expect that before the month's out," Thompson said.
Pence presided over a joint session of Congress to confirm President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election on Jan. 6. Despite much pressure from former President Donald Trump and the chaos that day due to hundreds of rioters storming the building, Pence did not send the results back to certain states that Trump had questioned the integrity of.
"The vice president was put in a tough spot. The president was putting a lot of pressure on him to break the law, and he stood fast," Thompson said. "And because of his respect for the law, there were people who came to the Capitol a year ago wanting to hang him. And so, if for no other reason, our committee really needs to hear his opinions about what happened on Jan. 6."
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Thompson said the committee will meet sometime in the coming days behind closed doors and expects members to finalize all plans regarding a request to Pence to ask him to voluntarily appear before the committee.
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Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee, confirmed on Thursday reports that associates of Pence have been cooperating fully with the panel. She avoided a question about whether the committee would subpoena former Vice President Pence himself but called him a "hero" and said she looked forward to his cooperation.
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In December 2021, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the committee, said the panel may issue subpoenas for specific members of Congress and Trump. He said reaching the truth of what happened on Jan. 6 would force the committee to look beyond what happened on that date alone, adding, "Nobody in America is above the law."
The new effort comes as the committee moves into a new stage of its investigation, with a closer probe into Donald Trump's inner circle and new public requests for voluntary testimony. In the last several weeks, the committee has asked Fox News personality Sean Hannity and Republican Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim Jordan of Ohio come before the panel for interviews.
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