The Department of Justice wants to question former Vice President Mike Pence for its criminal investigation of ex-President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in the White House after he lost the 2020 election, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Pence is considering cooperating with the probe, which last week saw Attorney General Merrick Garland appoint a special counsel to oversee the investigation, according to the Times.
Pence previously refused to cooperate with the select House committee that is investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Thomas Windom, one of the lead investigators examining the efforts to overturn the election, reached out to Mr. Pence’s team in the weeks before” Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith for that probe, the Times reported.
The Republican Trump, since losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, has falsely claimed he won the race, and that the Democrat’s victory was the result of widespread ballot fraud in several swing states.
A mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and disrupted for hours a joint session of Congress that was meeting to certify Biden’s Electoral College win.
Pence was presiding over that session when rioters swarmed through the Capitol. He was taken to a secure location within the complex as police battled the mob.