Mike Pence would consider testifying to January 6 Capitol attack panel

Former US vice president says he would give invitation 'due consideration'

Former US vice president Mike Pence on Wednesday said he would consider testifying before the House of Representatives committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, if he were invited to do so.

Aides to Mr Pence told the panel in June that former president Donald Trump pressured him to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

Mr Pence has said he believes Mr Trump was wrong to believe the vice president had the power to reverse the outcome of the election, the results of which were being certified by Mr Pence and legislators when the Capitol came under attack.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

One of Mr Pence's senior aides has testified to the committee, and his chief of staff at the time, Marc Short, testified before a federal grand jury investigating the attack. The committee, however, has not publicly extended an invitation to Mr Pence.

Speaking at an event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Mr Pence said he would give any invitation to testify "due consideration".

"Any invitation that would be directed to me, I would have to reflect on the unique role I was serving in as vice president," Mr Pence told people gathered for a 'Politics & Eggs' breakfast at Saint Anselm College.

A January 6 committee representative did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment but members of the committee in June said they were considering whether to compel Mr Pence to testify.

Mr Pence on Wednesday said it "would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill".

The US Senate website shows that Schuyler Colfax voluntarily appeared before a House select committee in January 1873 while vice president to Ulysses S Grant from 1869 to 1873.

At least six current and former presidents have also testified before congressional committees, the website shows.