Mike Pence’s one-time press secretary said Saturday that the former vice president will likely need a subpoena before he’ll cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
While Pence wants to do his part, the issue is a political landmine for him, Alyssa Farah Griffin explained on CNN. Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), said Friday he’ll ask Pence to voluntarily testify sometime this month.
“I anticipate that he’ll cooperate with the committee in some capacity,” Griffin said, though noted that she hasn’t discussed the matter with him.
She characterized Pence as a “by-the book … institutionalist,” adding: I think that if he were to receive a subpoena, he would absolutely comply. He believes in the oversight role that Congress has on the executive branch. I’m a little more skeptical that he would [cooperate] in a volunteer capacity,” she added.
“Were he to go in in a voluntary capacity, I think it could be perceived as he was trying to help the committee,” she said. “I think he wants to do what he’s obligated to under the Constitution … but I think they’re more likely to get information from him with a subpoena,” she added.
Griffin said she believes the most explosive information from Pence’s day at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and before have likely already been provided to investigators by his then chief of staff Marc Short, who was by Pence’s side at the White House and the entire day Jan. 6, and has already talked to House investigators.
Griffin said she has already voluntarily talked to Republican members of the committee, and offered to testify before the full panel.
After she was hit with hate mail following reports of her cooperation, she slammed the moral “disrepair” of the Republican Party for its failure to face the alarming threat of the siege of the Capitol.
Check out Griffin’s full CNN interview in the video clip up top.
