Ex-VP Mike Pence's Team Reportedly Collaborating With 6 January House Committee

Last month, ex-POTUS Donald Trump suggested that former Vice President Mike Pence was "mortally wounded" after he refused to delay congressional certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory in early January 2021.

Team members from former Vice President Mike Pence's office "have been particularly cooperative" with the House Select Committee which is probing the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots, the news outlet Axios has cited unnamed sources as saying.

Those cooperating with the committee reportedly included Pence's former Chief of Staff Marc Short, and former press secretary Alyssa Farah, with some "Pence-world witnesses" testifying without a subpoena, according to the insiders.

Farah previously told Axios that those refusing to cooperate "likely are doing so out of complete fealty to [former US President] Donald Trump and not wanting to p*ss him off".

President Donald Trump joins Vice President Mike Pence on stage after Pence spoke on the third day of the Republican National Convention at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020

© AP Photo / Andrew Harnik

"But, secondarily, because they're realising the committee has quite a bit more information than they realised. And their involvement is known to a much greater degree than they realised", she asserted.

Axios recalled that Thursday marks the first anniversary of the Capitol siege, adding that the House panel continues to "piece together a definitive timeline of how Trump resisted pleas from his own advisers, allies, family members, and lawmakers to halt the violence down Pennsylvania Avenue".

According to the news outlet, the committee is "ramping up its closed-door work with the goal of holding public hearings as early as this spring".

This comes as former US President Donald Trump is trying to stop the Democratic-run probe from getting hold of his files kept in the US National Archives by arguing they are protected by executive privilege, the power of the US president and other officials in the executive branch to withhold certain forms of confidential communication from the courts during their time in office.

The 45th president has repeatedly dismissed the panel's probe into the events of 6 January as a political sideshow and continuation of a "witch hunt" against him by Democrats and so-called "RINO" (Republican in Name Only) lawmakers.

As far as Pence is concerned, Trump said at a closed event in Sunrise, Florida, in mid-December that he believes "Mike has been very badly hurt by what took place in respect to 6 January".

"I think he's been mortally wounded, frankly, because I see the reaction he's getting from people", the 45th president claimed.

Trump additionally commented on the events of 6 January, stressing that he was "disappointed" by Pence's decision to move forward with the certification of the election results, which the ex-POTUS argued was "stolen" from him via massive voter fraud organised by the Democrats. He has so far failed to prove these claims in court.

Capitol Riot

On 6 January 2021, scores of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to keep Congress from certifying the results of what the 45th president slammed as "the most corrupt election" in American history. Five people died during the riots, and dozens more were injured, including at least 138 police officers.

Trump held a rally on 6 January outside the White House, where he made a pledge to his supporters that he would not allow the election to be "stolen" from him.

Using his now permanently banned Twitter account, the 45th president later urged his supporters "to stay peaceful" and "go home", recording a video address on 7 January condemning the violence. Trump was impeached for a second time over accusations of "incitement of insurrection", but was then managed to evade conviction in the Senate.