Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday appeared to confirm reports that associates of former Vice President Mike Pence have been cooperating with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill.
Cheney avoided a question about whether the committee would subpoena him but called him a “hero” and said she looked forward to his cooperation. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee, said Tuesday he wants Pence to speak with the panel.
TRUMP-CHENEY GRUDGE MATCH SET OFF BY JAN. 6 COMMITTEE DEAL WITH WHITE HOUSE OVER RECORDS
“Former Vice President Pence was a hero on Jan. 6. He refused the pressure of the former president. He did his duty, and the nation should be very grateful for the actions that he took that day,” Cheney said in an interview on the Today Show. “We look forward to continuing the cooperation that we’ve had with members of the former vice president’s team, and I look forward as well to his cooperation.”
Associates of Pence, including his former national security adviser, Keith Kellogg, former chief of staff Marc Short, and former press secretary Alyssa Farah, have cooperated with the Jan. 6 committee, Axios reported. Some did so voluntarily, without a subpoena. One source told the outlet that Short likely would not have cooperated unless Pence was OK with it.
Earlier in the week, Thompson told CNN that he wants Pence to voluntarily go before the committee and tell them about conversations he was aware of prior to the riot. He said the committee has not formally made that request. He also did not rule out making such a request in the future.
In her interview Thursday, Cheney said she agreed with a comment Thompson made two weeks ago that the United States came “critically close to the end of democracy as we know it” on Jan. 6.
“Too many in my own party are embracing that former president or are looking the other way or minimizing the danger,” she said. “That’s how democracies die. We simply cannot let that happen.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
While the committee has received cooperation from former Pence aides, it has notably been met with legal disputes from former aides to former President Donald Trump.
For example, the committee recommended Congress hold former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt for not cooperating with them. Congress subsequently voted to refer both individuals to the Justice Department for contempt charges. They are both set to challenge the charges in court.
