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Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, said Sunday that he'd like to see former Vice President Mike Pence voluntarily speak with the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot that occurred on January 6, 2021.
Kinzinger, who is a member of the committee, was asked about Pence during an interview on CBS' Face the Nation.
"Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing in terms of certifying the election. He is a central player in this story. As a Republican, do you want to see him come forward and actually speak to you?" host Margaret Brennan asked the congressman.
"Yes, I would love to see that and I hope he would do so voluntarily. These are decisions, I think, we're going to end up making from a tactical perspective in the next week or two as we basically pin down what this hearing schedule is going to look like, the content, and as we go into the full narrative of this thing," he responded.
"I would hope and think that the vice president would want to come in and tell his story because he did do the right thing on that day. If he doesn't, then we'll look at the options we have available to us if there's information we don't already have," he added.
Last month, another member of the committee, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland said at an event at Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice that Pence's refusal to get into a Secret Service vehicle during the riot was "chilling."
According to the book I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year, which was written by Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, Secret Service agents asked Pence to enter a limousine during the riot.
The intent, some have theorized, was to drive the former vice president away from the building, preventing him from certifying the election results, after he had signaled his unwillingness to go against his duties and keep Trump in power.
"[Pence] uttered what I think are the six most chilling words of this entire thing I've seen so far: 'I'm not getting in that car,'" Raskin said. "He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do."
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the January 6 committee, also said last week that "in all probability," the panel would once again invite House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to testify.
The development came after The New York Times reported last month that McCarthy expressed concerns that some GOP lawmakers could incite violence in the wake of the riot in leaked audio.
Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Pence for comment.
About the writer
Xander Landen is a Newsweek weekend reporter. His focus is often U.S. politics, but he frequently covers other issues including ... Read more