Mike Pence’s office moved to distance itself from Jennifer Williams, a career foreign service officer detailed to the vice president’s staff, ahead of her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.
Her Tuesday morning appearance will put Pence back into the spotlight amid questions about how much he knew about the events that sparked the impeachment investigation into President Trump.
In a memo sent to reporters, Katie Waldman, a spokeswoman for Pence, said, “Jennifer Williams is on a current detail from the State Department that began April 1. No, she doesn’t directly report to the Vice President.”
The investigation focuses on whether Trump abused his position for political gain by withholding aid from Ukraine to pressure Kyiv to investigate alleged interference in the 2016 election and the business dealings of Joe Biden’s son.
Williams was one of the administration officials in the White House Situation Room listening to a call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that sparked a whistleblower complaint.
She also compiled briefing notes for the vice president on Ukraine and was present when Pence met Zelensky two months later.
Pence’s team is engaged in a delicate balancing act, saying that the vice president was not told about Trump’s alternative Ukraine policy, while encouraging Trump to release the military aid and urging Zelensky to tackle corruption.
In closed-door testimony to impeachment investigators earlier this month, Williams said that Pence did not discuss investigations into the 2016 elections or Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter Biden. Nor did they come up in briefing materials she prepared.
Rep. Mark Meadows asked, “And so, as someone who’s advising the vice president of the United States, would it be fair to say that investigations into any 2016, Burisma, Biden was not a consideration that was a top priority for the vice president of the United States as you prepped him for his meeting with President Zelensky?”
“That’s correct,” she answered.
