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The House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021 may soon seek testimony from former Vice President Mike Pence, according to Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger.

Pence's potential testimony could shed light on issues surrounding the former vice president's interaction with the Secret Service during the Capitol riot and in particular suggestions that Pence believed there was a coup attempt.

Kinzinger, one of two Republicans sitting on the committee, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the select committee is considering asking Pence to appear before them for an interview.

As a major figure in former President Donald Trump's administration, Pence could provide key answers on a number of questions concerning January 6 and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Pence was present at the U.S. Capitol when the riot began and he may be able to answer lingering questions about the role his Secret Service detail played on the day.

During the riot, Pence refused to get into an armored limousine manned by Secret Service agents and he has so far offered no explanation about that decision.

In April, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who sits on the select committee, suggested that Pence had refused to get into the vehicle because he felt it was part of an attempted coup.

"He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do," Raskin said. "It was a coup directed by the president against the vice president and against the Congress."

Some have theorized that the intention of Pence's Secret Service detail was to drive the then vice president away from the Capitol in order to prevent him from carrying out his role in certifying the 2020 Electoral College votes.

This theory has not been proven but it is highly likely Pence will be asked about his interactions with the Secret Service if he appears before the committee.

Pence's former chief of staff, Marc Short, and chief legal counsel, Greg Jacob, have already appeared before the committee.

Trump had publicly pressured Pence to intervene on January 6 and prevent the certification of Electoral College votes in order to kick the election back to the states in the hope that then president's defeat could be reversed.

Pence refused to do so and following the riot, he fulfilled his largely ceremonial constitutional role by overseeing the certification of slates of electors.

While Pence has distanced himself from Trump and his false claims about the 2020 election, he has not spoken publicly about efforts to overturn the election or how he was treated by Trump in the closing days of the administration.

If Pence appears, the committee is likely to grill him on a wide variety of matters, including claims from a former White House aide that Trump approved of those chanting "Hang Mike Pence" on January 6.

Read this article:
Mike Pence Jan. 6 Testimony Could Finally Disclose Secret ... - Newsweek

Joe Bidens presidential hopes are finished. This is over.

Those are the words of CNBC political commentator Jake Novak. They were published on Feb. 12, 2020, after then-candidate Biden placed fifth with 8% of the vote in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. So much for foresight.

Biden, a former vice president at the time, foresaw a more favorable path ahead after getting clobbered in the opening presidential nominating contests. He never minded the naysayers and went on to win the 2020 presidential election, despite the delusions of former President Donald Trump and a disturbing number of his followers.

Which brings us to another former vice president with presidential aspirations, Columbus native Mike Pence.

Mike Pence is not going to be elected president of the United States.

Those are the words of Roll Call commentator Nathan Gonzales. They were published July 22, 2022, after a fresh Morning Consult survey found Pence had 7% support among Republicans expressing a view of who they favored as the partys nominee in 2024.

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are far out in front of third-place Pence in the poll. But anyone who puts stock in what polls say more than two years ahead of an election should refrain from wagering.

Meager as Pences numbers are in the most recent poll, theyre climbing from the low single digits where hed been in prior polls. Further, Pence is ensured of a bright, likely sympathetic national spotlight when his memoir, So Help Me God is published in November.

The title revealed last week is a not-too-subtle reference to the final words of the oath Pence swore as vice president, to which he was faithful on Jan. 6 as a mob incited by Trump attacked the Capitol, some chanting, Hang Mike Pence! after Trump tweeted a target on Pences back amid the mayhem.

Publisher Simon & Schuster paid Pence a reported $3 million to $4 million for a two-book deal. That publishing house is in the CBS media family, so expect a 60 Minutes appearance and even more marquee exposure for Pence just after the upcoming mid-term elections. Theyll want a return on their investment. Thats not cynicism, its just how publishing and mega-media works today.

Pence hasnt officially announced hes running yet, but he is. You dont go speak in the places hes going and speaking if youre not running.

Looking back is instructive, too. In 2006, two years before Barack Obama was elected president, someone named John Edwards was the early Democratic favorite. Weve forgotten him for good reason.

Likewise, in 2014, two years before Trump was elected, another former Florida governor led the early Republican presidential primary polls. Anyone remember Jeb! Bush? Anyone?

History shows politics is a long game, and parties most often coalesce around candidates they know, who can make the case to a broad consensus of Americans that they are the right person at the right moment. Point is, Pence has not had his post-Trump moment yet, but hes about to.

We are making no predictions. However, based on history and the swirling vortex of Jan. 6 surrounding Trump, counting Pence out of the 2024 Republican presidential race at this early stage is foolhardy. Pence may never be president, but right now, history and time are on his side.

See more here:
Editorial: Its too early to count out Pence in 24 - The Republic

Under ordinary circumstances, I would never do this, but I feel I have no choice but to say a few words about Alex Jones, who is now Americas most thoroughly disgraced right-wing grifter and please excuse the language scumbag.

The InfoWars host is not nearly as important a fake conspiracy theorist as say, Donald Trump, the former Grifter in Chief, or Tucker Carlson, who (Im guessing) doesnt believe a single provocative word he says, or even Laura Ingraham or Steve Bannon.

But Jones is an avowed QAnon-level conspiracy theorist, whose Infowars broadcasts are all in, for instance, on the Democratic pedophile conspiracy hoax, and who has a long history of promoting lies hes a longtime COVID anti-vaxxer, of course for profit, money reportedly running into many tens of millions of dollars, even as Jones keeps claiming bankruptcy. But Jones seems to have specialized in suggesting the worst of the many mass shootings in America had been staged. You know, like the moon landing. Thats when he isnt ranting about gay frogs.

In Jones latest trial, he was forced to admit the Sandy Hook massacre was 100% real as every sane person had to know and that he should never have claimed that the school shooting was a false flag operation, with crisis actors pretending to be grieving parents of children who didnt really exist. The fakery was supposedly in the would-be cause of governmental gun grabbing and the trashing of the Second Amendment.

In the Austin trial, Jones was caught lying by the prosecutor, Mark Bankston, who asked Jones if he actually understood what perjury means, and by one of the parents who lost a child at Sandy Hook, who asked him directly, Do you think Im an actor? Jones admitted he didnt. It seems that even someone like Jones can be shamed by a real parent of a real child lost in another senseless shooting or maybe, and this is my guess, it was Jones regret that was faked.

In any case, Jones had to admit it was all a fraud, even though another host on Infowars was busily calling Jones trial rigged and blasting out a video of the judge in flames.

But Jones was hit with a $4 million verdict for compensatory damages to the parents of a Sandy Hook victim. And that was just the beginning. The jury came back the next day to award them $45.2 million in punitive damages. Given the living hell, as one parent put it, that Jones put the Sandy Hook parents through, $452 million would have been better but still not enough. The punitive awards are punishment and a warning. And while the $45.2 million, with more Sandy Hook trials to come, could bury Jones, it wont snuff out the conspiracy theorists. Thanks to the darker places on the internet, and to the millions who visit them, this is never going way.

Still, it was a great moment for Sandy Hook parents there are more trials coming and for the injured parties in other school shootings. And, at minimum, the jury awards and Jones testimony did shine a light on the worst of the hoaxes and the damage they cause.

When Jones has to admit under oath that hes a giant fraud, hes basically saying under oath that a long list of his conspiracy theorist pals are also fraudulent.

Most in the MAGA community, including Trump himself, had little to nothing to say about Jones, although Marjorie Taylor Greene she of Jewish space laser infamy did tweet support for him for his testimony trying to link the Clintons with Jeffrey Epstein. Of course she did.

And it was Trump, of course, who years after Jones lies about Sandy Hook, told the renowned fabulist, Your reputation is amazing.

Yes, he did. Just as he once told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by.

Want to get early access to Mikes columns? Click here to become a premium member of The Sun.

And guess what Jones said back to Trump in that infamous 2015 radio interview: What youre doing is epic. Its George Washington level.

What makes this Jones humiliation especially satisfying is that the trial was happening at the same time that Big Lie conspiracist or maybe shes a Big Lie dupe Tina Peters was paying $255,000 for a recount of her decisive loss in the GOP primary race to be the partys secretary of state nominee.

In the recount of a race the Mesa County clerk lost by 88,000 votes, she picked up 13 votes. Thats it. And the 13 votes were coincidentally the exact number picked up by Pam Anderson, the actual winner. Peters is still claiming fraud what else? but youd have to hope that at least some believers might now have doubts. I mean, do you really think the Chinese had any interest in Tina Peters or even know who she is?

Youd also think that at least some of the suckers who contributed as much as $500,000 to Peters after her loss were, at minimum, embarrassed by their navet. Maybe not, but the rest of the country had to notice what was happening in Austin and in Colorado.

Read more of Mike Littwins columns.

Ive got a feeling that Peters coming days in court on 10 election-related charges, seven of them felonies, might not turn out any better for her than this latest day in court did for Jones.

Im not suggesting that this is a new day. In the recent Arizona primary election, Republican Big Lie proponents swept the major offices. People are keeping score in how Trump-backed candidates do in the primaries, and hes definitely holding his own.

Political grifters have a long history in America, dating back at least to Mark Twains famous line in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in which he has the fraudulent King telling the fraudulent Duke, Haint we got all the fools in town on our side? And aint that a big enough majority in any town?

Well, it wasnt a big enough majority for Peters or for Jones. Thats progress. And now were left to wonder where that leaves the House January 6 select committee, which has laid out, in one hearing after another, compelling evidence that Trumps Big Lie was an even bigger lie than we knew.

It now looks as if the hearings, which are scheduled to resume in September, have put enough heat on Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to do a genuine inquiry into Trumps more-than-obvious attempt to steal the 2020 election, not to mention to incite a riot at the nations Capitol, putting Mike Pence and others in real danger and, well, I could go on. And on.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, it seems that theres an excellent chance a grand jury will indict Trump for various crimes - it seems they havent forgotten Trumps coercive phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to find 11,000 votes against democracy.

Trump is, of course, a serial liar. The Washington Post, which kept score, put the number of lies during his four years as president as 30,573. His path to the presidency began with his full commitment to the Obama birther conspiracy. That was also a Big Lie but not as big as the one weve been dealing with since Trump began scheming to overturn his 2020 defeat.

The cynical view which, sadly, may prove to be true is that Trump will never have to pay for his misdeeds. But lets hope, at least, that there comes a day when a prosecutor gets to ask Trump if he knows what perjury is.

Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom.Read our ethics policy for more on The Suns opinion policyand submit columns, suggest writers or give feedback at opinion@coloradosun.com.

We believe vital information needs to be seen by the people impacted, whether its a public health crisis, investigative reporting or keeping lawmakers accountable. This reporting depends on support from readers like you.

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Littwin: It's been a tough week for conspiracy theorists. Is Trump next? - The Colorado Sun

Sheriff'intent on exertingtotal control'

I see that the Czar of Brevard is at it again, this time on thin legal and ethical ice. Not one candidate, not two, but three no less!

Who will go after him? Attorney GeneralMoody? State AttorneyArcher? Let's see ... but don't hold your breath.

I've already voted for Kimberly Musselman. I donated to her campaign. I know her deep background in the broad area of criminal justice.

His political philosophy of all county elected officials being on the same page is interesting, but it should be confined to table talk. This retired lawyer doesn't want a lock-step county government. That may be consistency in his myopic view, but it also smacks of authoritarianism, his real political philosophy. Intelligent citizens favor differences of opinion.

I'm sure that FLORIDA TODAYis not shocked at not receiving a response from his office for comment. It would be truly patriotic if our Sheriff of Nottingham recognized the First Amendment as much as he does the Second. He can dish it out, but he can't take it.

Should we infer from FLORIDA TODAY's report that Attorney Tropy will do his bidding on the county court bench? That court only has authority to sentence up to one year in the county lockup. That's small potatoes in the criminal justice system.

Thanks to FLORIDA TODAY for exposing this brash and brazen behavior of this inflated ego operating way outside his official duties and intent on exerting total control over our county government behind his badge.

Francis J. Clifford, Suntree

I was pleased to see the endorsement of Misty Belford by the FLORIDA TODAY editorial board.

When a candidate refuses to participate in a forum or debate, it makes me wonder what he or she may be hiding.To quote the endorsement, If a candidate cant make time to participate in a forum, how responsive will they be once in office?

As a former teacher, I pay attention to what is happening in our local education system. When possible I also tune into the meetings of the Brevard County School Board.Ms. Belford did indeed maintain a calm demeanor during some very heated meetings. Some who appeared before the board were loud and obnoxious, rather than addressing the board in a civilized manner.Belford always spoke to them civilly and appropriately.

We need members of the school board to be reasonable, to listen, and especially, to be available to the public.

Linda Lopardo, Titusville

I want to thank FLORIDA TODAY's staff for assisting me with my election choices.

As an independently minded voter, I always choose the best candidate regardless of their political persuasion or party registration. Your recent articles that include background information on the candidates running for various offices have been very helpful.

The other articles regarding our sheriff's efforts to influence some candidates to reconsider their decision to run and/or drop out of their race have been heartbreaking. Since I do not know how deep our sheriff's influence runs, I decided to not votefor any candidate this sheriff has endorsed. The other reason for this decision is that I want elected officials with different thoughts and opinions, which is very unlikely when our sheriff's preferred choices are probably groupthink individuals whothinkand believelike him.

George Papp, Titusville

"I am a big, big term limit guy." Really?

The hypocrisy in Commissioner Curt Smiths statement is a trend running rampant in todays political climate.His justification is ridiculous. Two terms in a row is enough.Take a break and educate yourself like the rest of your constituents from the outside. Then run again with all the new knowledge and wisdom you have gained from the time you have taken off.

As far as the cost of living increase for their salaries, my question to you, sir,is How many other public servants have that in their contracts? I agree with Nick Tomboulides that the majority of the American people want to restrict term limits not expand them.

Shari Deane, Melbourne

Thank you, Bob Reid, for your very informative recent column titled"Why it is time to address gun control."

It inspired me to write this letter to my representatives.

I am writing this letter to all my representatives regarding the mass murders we have had over the past years.We have been burying men, women and sadly, children, because our representativesrefuse to ban automatic weapons. They are war weapons and do not belong in civilian hands so they can gun down innocent people.

Imagine going to a Fourth of July parade with your family and watching your family or friends being gunned down, or your son or daughter left crippled for life.

This should not be a political issue but just a matter of what is right.The right to bear doesn't mean the right to have a war weapon. Do the right thing and ban these weapons.

Kathleen Durtschi, West Melbourne

I grew up in little Mankato, Kansas,and attended Kansas State.My dad was a cattle farmer; he taught me to value life.I have lived on Merritt Island the past 30 years but I still consider myself a Kansan, because that is where I grew up.

After Tuesdays election, I must say, I am ashamed of Kansans.I cannot understand why all those women want the right to kill babies before they are born.As I watched the TV, I saw women carrying signs like, Dont mess with my body. The baby you are carrying is notyour body. If a baby was part of your body, he/she would have the same DNA; the baby has a different DNA and often even has a different blood type. According to recent research, a significant number of babies who were born just over five months survived after being cared for in a hospital.How can women be so passionate about wanting to kill a baby, even up to the babys birth?

I understand how inconvenient an unplanned pregnancy can be.If that is the case, let a family adopt your babydont kill your baby.There are so many couples who are unable to get pregnant who would love to adopt the baby; they are flying all over the world to adopt a baby, at great expense.

People today seem to be more concerned about saving baby seals than about human babies.How can this be?What does this say about our culture?

Cheryl Warren, Merritt Island

Kansas voters resoundingly protect abortion access

Kansas voters on Tuesday sent a resounding message about their desire to protect abortion rights, rejecting a ballot measure that would have let the Republican-controlled Legislature tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure outright. (Aug. 3)

AP

I just read a recent FLORIDA TODAY article about a Moms for Liberty conference in Tampa. I found it commendable that they are trying to get more moms (parents) involved in whats going on in their local schools.

Then I read they believe theres a secret Marxist and cynical conspiracies infiltrating American public schools.That schools are brainwashing students into thinking theyre transgender or queer, and teaching racial and gender equity thats sowing division and hatred. That school districts are actively trying to harm children. The speakers made all these claims with little or no evidence to support them.

Conference participants came from across the country, some spending five days. The question I have for them is, How many days have you spent observing your children in the class? How many PTA meetings have you attended? I would be surprised if they spent more than five days doing any of those activities.

I would suggest before you try totear down the system, visit your kids' schools. Get involved in school activities; participate in the PTA. At least try to determine on your own if some or any of these recent Republican talking points have any validity.

Schools are having a hard enough time to find qualified teachers.

Why would these Moms of Liberty drive teachers from their profession with false conspiracy allegations? Florida is so short of teachers that DeSantis is allowing military veterans without four-year degrees to teach school. A small patch on a big wound Republicans have inflicted!

Bradley J. Skarpness, Rockledge

In response to your letter writer who suggested every political candidate be asked one question as to whether they believe Joe Biden was elected president, I would suggest one additional question for voters in regard to Joe Biden; do you believe he is competent, coherent, constructive, or even conscious?

William Alford, Melbourne Beach

Wouldnt you think political commercials would contain a majority of truthfulness?

One heard recently wants you to send a cop on the beat to the Senate. It must be over 30 years since that individual walked/rode a beat.

Another ad says the same candidate worked for 27 years never knowing if Id come home to my family. During the time an officer walks/drives a beat, that would be a truthful statement. Once promoted to sergeant and above, each step decreases that likelihood, until, at chief, it seems very highly unlikely.

Garey Hartman, Melbourne

As I listened to Trumps speech on Jan.6, 2021, I messaged a friend that he should turn it on because its a real barn burner,"a real fire starter."

His words were an intended, serious, and directly motivated invitation to march on the Capitol to overturnthe election outcome. It kept me glued to the television. But as Trump has often done, he disowns accountability for the consequences of his actions, saying he isnt responsible for the uprising that resulted in damages, injuries, and deaths. Of course, before his speech Trump called on his loyalists to come to Washington, and during the speech he called on them to march on the Capitol.

The precise words he used were of his own making;his rhetoric was of his own creation. That included allegedly sayingthat Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it,"for not overturning the election. He tried to get the governors to do it, and they wouldnt. He tried to get the courts to do it, and they wouldnt, in 60 separate decisions. So now all that remained was Mike Pence and of course Trumps rebellious followers occupying the Capitol and chanting, Hang Mike Pence."

People need to recognize Trump is a menace to our democracy and to the American people. His loyal followers need to stop pandering to him I guess who the voters choose doesnt matter to Trump.

Robert Soltau, Cape Canaveral

Excerpt from:
Sheriff 'on thin legal and ethical ice': Letters, Aug. 7, 2022 - Florida Today

Poor Mike Pence. The former Republican vice president apparently thinks he has a chance to win the GOP nomination for president even after an angry mob of Republicans stormed the U.S. Capitol with the intention of hanging him for betraying their dear leader, Donald Trump. So Pence is running around the country making speeches in front of small audiences as if he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning a national election again when the sad fact is that he is a man without a constituency.

Republicans who loved Pence when he was Trump's most ardent disciple consider him a traitor. Those who respect him for doing the job every vice president who came before him had done on January 6 still loathe him for all of the years he spent ostentatiously licking Trump's boots. There might be a handful of GOP officials and operatives who look at Pence and see a sort of ghostly George W. Bush (whose vocal delivery he shamelessly apes), and the press, of course, wants to cast him as a viable Trump rival. But the truth is that Mike Pence is a walking piece of Wonderbread toast.

Notably, Pence and Trump have been holding competing public appearances for the last couple of weeks. Down in Arizona,Trump held a rallyfor a couple of wildly extreme GOP candidates for governor and senate, Kari Lake and Blake Masters, as well as a few kooky down ballot endorsees. He gave his usual meandering performance, delighting the large crowd with many of his greatest hits. At the microphone, Lake praised the former president for his inspiration:

"President Trump taught us how to fight and I took a few notes. That's why I go after the fake news because he showed us how to do it. He gave us the game plan and he showed us exactly how to stand up and fight. Republicans need to fight back"

Trump made it very clear that he was going to keep fighting, telling the crowd, "I ran twice and I won twice and I did much better than the second time than the first, getting millions more votes in 2020 than in 2016 and now, we may have to do it again."

Mike Pence is a walking piece of Wonderbread toast.

Across town, Mike Pence wasspeaking at a rallyof about 300 people on behalf of Kari Lake's opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson, whom he described as the true conservative in the race as if anyone cares about that anymore. Pence's big zinger of the night was a swipe at Lake "Arizona Republicans don't need a governor that supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton" which he delivered like a blast of foghorn. Nobody mentioned Jan. 6 or the 2020 election.

As it happens, the two former allies also held opposing speeches just a few days later in Washington D.C. Trump returned to the scene of the crime to ostensibly give a policy address at theAmerica First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied "think tank" and slush fund devoted to the former president and culture war propaganda, while Pence spoke at theYoung America's Foundation. The media portrayed these two speeches as a clash of visions for the Republican Party, with Trump offering his patented hellscape view of "American Carnage," complete with his laundry list of grievances about the allegedly stolen 2020 election, while Pence supposedly offered a fresh look to a brighter future which was interpreted as a jab at his former boss. That jab was most apparently expressed as, "I don't know that the president and I differ on issues, but we may differ on focus." (That's telling him...)

Politico wondered what it all meant:

That difference in focus is at the center of several big questions for Republicansin 2022 and 2024: Which vision do they want the party to follow? Which do they think is more appealing to the voters they need in order to win a majority? And even if they agree with Trump on the issues, is his focus with its dark tone and feedback-loop quality helpful in that pursuit?

But this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Trump's appeal and Pence's lack of it.

"Issues" as we previously understood them no longer exist in the Republican Party. Trump's "dark tone and feedback-loop quality"arethe issues. It's all about grievance, anger and resentment served up with the juvenile derision and mockery that only a true demagogue can deliver. A bowl of lukewarm water like Mike Pence simply can't serve that no matter how many dramatic pauses he takes in his speeches.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

But the fact that he cannot deliver a crude joke or stick the knife in and twist it with Trumpian glee doesn't mean that Pence isn't running on Trumpism.

Pence's "policy agenda" is full of culture war grievances. He releaseda pamphletlast spring in which he promoted "patriotic" education (meaning shallow jingoism, banning books and refusing to teach the truth about American history and the indigenous, Black and immigrant experiences.) He backs the cruel assault on transgender kids, draconian laws against abortion and all of the other far-right talking points that Trump and every other Republican on the campaign trail are running on. Pence just hasn't weighed in on the Great Replacement Theory, yet, so perhaps that's what defines a sunny moderate these days.

Most importantly, while he doesn't talk about the 2020 election, Pence also hasn't said a word against the attack on democracy that GOP state legislators and other officials are enacting all over the country. If anything, he's enabling them by endorsing the fatuous insistence that "in-person voting" must be enforced and mail-in voting should be (safe, legal and) "rare." There is no reason for any of that except to continue to encourage the false belief that the electoral system has been compromised on behalf of the Democrats. It is, in fact, the Big Lie and Pence is now perpetuating it just as the man who sat idly by while his rabid mob chanted "hang Mike Pence" has done.

Nonetheless, Pence is as obsequious and submissive as ever, refusing to stand up for himself even in face of what Trump did to him that awful day and never saying a harsh word about his former mentor. He's forlornly trying to salvage a political career based entirely on his fervent devotion to the man whom the only people who would vote for him believe he betrayed. Sad isn't the right word to describe it. It's pathetic.

Original post:
Mike Pence can't be president. His devotion to Donald Trump will be his downfall - Salon