Pence says he has ‘nothing to hide,’ but stays undecided on January 6 testimony

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday he has yet to decide whether to testify in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation.

Pence spent the day making a trio of stops in Iowa — the state that will hold the first presidential caucus — and was asked about Tuesday’s ruling by federal judge James E. Boasberg, who said he had to testify in the investigation .

He can appeal the ruling.

“I have nothing to hide,” Pence told reporters, answering questions at his first stop in Urbandale, near Des Moines. “I have written and spoken extensively about that day.”

“We will evaluate the best way forward and announce our intentions in the coming days,” the former vice president added.

At his second stop of the day, lunch at Cedar Rapids Country Club, Pence was asked by reporters if he had been in contact with former President Donald Trump when he was deciding what to do.

“I will speak to my counsel about the best way forward and I will speak only to my counsel,” Pence said.

He said he was happy with the ruling because Boasberg allowed Pence some protection as he served as Senate President while presiding over the joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election on Jan. 6.

“I can’t say much about it and cases before the grand jury today, but I can tell you that I am very pleased that the federal judge agreed with our position that the Constitution’s clause for speech and debate protects offers to the vice president if I am president of the senate,” Pence told reporters in Cedar Rapids.

“But how the court resolved that and the scope of that protection is what we’ll focus on this week as we decide on the next steps,” he added.

Wringing Pence’s hands comes after he went after Trump over the ex-president’s role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol earlier this month at D.C.’s elite Gridiron dinner.

President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable,” Pence said.

A reporter pointed to that quote and then asked why Pence wouldn’t reveal everything he knows then.

“If you read my book, if you listen to the speeches and interviews I’ve given over the past two years, you know that I think the American people deserve the whole story,” Pence said. “And I have shared that truth with the American people and will continue to do so.”

But Pence argued that “just as it was on January 6,” there were “important constitutional issues” at stake.

“But I agree, the American people deserve to know the story. We’ve told that story and I think as time goes on — people know we have nothing to hide, I’m proud of what I did that day, I believe we did good under the Constitution and in the service of the nation ,’ he added.

Speaking to a lunch crowd in Cedar Rapids, Pence also reiterated the point that he had no power to overturn what the states had sent him to affirm, pointing out to the GOP crowd that it is the Democrats who, erroneously, have tried to ‘nationalise’ elections.

While criticizing Trump’s role on Jan. 6, Pence was critical of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Stormy Daniels’ hush money scheme.

On Wednesday, Politico reported that that the grand jury involved in the investigation had a previously scheduled month-long hiatus, which will leave the threat of an indictment hanging over former President Donald Trump’s head, deeper into the presidential campaign cycle.

Pence had told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that the probe belonged to Bragg “politically charged” and “not what the American people want to see.”

The various Trump-related probes were not main fodder at the breakfast and lunch events Pence attended in Iowa.

In both, the ex-vice president tried to humanize himself by telling the small crowd how he had moved home to Indiana and bought a John Deere tractor.

John Deere’s headquarters is just across the Mississippi River from Davenport, Iowa, which is why there is a sense of pride in the state of Hawkeye.

Pence said he now had grandchildren and was nicknamed “Bop.”

Wife Karen is called “Kiki” by the grandchildren – and even has a license plate with the nickname written on it.

He even has old funny stories about his time as Trump’s Vice President.

“Obviously – it didn’t end well,” he remarked. “But all those four years, the president and I had a good working relationship. Often a different temperament to things, but we both understood each other, we both worked on the same agenda.’