Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday urged fellow Republicans to stop lashing out at the FBI over the search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last week.


What You Need To Know

  • Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday urged fellow Republicans to stop lashing out at the FBI over the search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last week

  • Speaking in New Hampshire, Pence said he has been troubled by what he called the politicization of the FBI, adding he thinks the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland should be more transparent about what led authorities to conduct the search

  • But Trump's former vice president also had a message for the GOP: "We can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision he made without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI"

  • Pence also said Wednesday he’d consider testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the events leading up to it

Speaking in New Hampshire, Pence was asked what went through his mind when he heard about the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home as part of a federal investigation into Trump took classified records from the White House.

Pence, who, like Trump, is considering a 2024 presidential bid, said he has been troubled by what he called the politicization of the FBI. He also said the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland should be more transparent about what led authorities to conduct the search.

But Trump's former vice president also had a message for the GOP.

“I also want to remind my fellow Republicans, we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision he made without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” he said at the Politics & Eggs event at St. Anselm College.

“The Republican Party is the party of law and order,” Pence continued. “Our party stands with the men and women who stand on the thin blue line at the federal and state and local level, and these attacks on the FBI must stop. Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police.”

Law enforcement officials across the country have warned about an increase in threats and the potential for violent attacks on federal agents or buildings by Trump supporters who believe the FBI went too far in investigating the former president.

Pence also said Wednesday he’d consider testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the events leading up to it.

"If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it," the former vice president said.

But Pence expressed constitutional concerns, noting it would “be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill.”

“But as I said, I don't want to prejudge," Pence said. "If there were ever any formal invitation rendered to us, we'd give it due consideration, but my first obligation is to continue to uphold my oath, continue to uphold the framework of government enshrined in the Constitution."

The panel has been investigating the efforts by Trump and his allies to pressure Pence into rejecting the Electoral College results on Jan. 6 and replace state-certified electors with slates of pro-Trump electors in key states.

Witnesses also have testified that they believe a tweet by Trump on Jan. 6 that attacked Pence for planning to certify the results escalated the riot, where Trump supporters were chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”

In January, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the panel expected to ask Pence to voluntarily testify, although Pence's comments indicate the committee never issued a formal invitation. In May, committee member Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said he would "love" to see Pence voluntarily testify.