Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, does not believe his role on one of the committees in charge of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald J. Trump constitutes a conflict of interest due to his relationship to the vice president and will not recuse himself from the investigation, said Kyle Robertson, Pence’s chief of staff.
Pence, who is the older brother of Columbus native and Vice President Mike Pence, is one of 21 Republican and 26 Democratic House members who sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, one of three committees leading the impeachment inquiry.
The other two committees include the House Intelligence Committee and the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
If Trump is impeached and removed from office, Pence’s brother would be sworn in as president.
As part of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Pence has had access to closed-door depositions from U.S. officials speaking about Trump’s and other officials’ actions in Ukraine and the phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump said he would like the Ukraine president to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son.
Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump stemming from a whistleblower’s complaint that Trump asked for help from the Ukrainian government in digging up dirt on Biden and his son, according to The Associated Press.
The inquiry largely revolves around whether Trump withheld U.S. military aid until Ukraine’s government agreed to investigate Biden and his son, The Associated Press reported.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. As part of the inquiry, members of the House have interviewed a series of U.S. officials, including diplomats stationed in Ukraine and elsewhere.
On Tuesday, former U.S. Ambassador William Taylor provided lawmakers with a vivid, detailed and what some lawmakers called “disturbing” account that included establishing a “direct line” to the quid pro quo at the center of the impeachment probe, the The Associated Press reported.
Trump has denied a quid pro quo with Ukraine, but his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, in a news conference on Oct. 17, acknowledged a quid pro quo with Ukraine that Trump has long denied, saying U.S. aid was withheld from Kyiv to push for an investigation of the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 election, the The Associated Press reported. He later clarified his remarks.
On Wednesday, around two dozen GOP House members briefly brought the House Democrats’ impeachment investigation to a halt after they interrupted a close-door deposition with a Defense Department official, the The Associated Press reported.
Rep. Pence was one of 20 Republican members of the House who signed a letter on Tuesday addressed to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, who is chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, calling for all House members who have been sitting in on depositions that are part of the impeachment inquiry receive copies of transcripts of the depositions.
Currently, House members can access the depositions, but only in the House Intelligence Committee’s offices and “under the personal supervision and monitoring of a majority staffer,” the letter states.
“It is outrageous and unjustifiable to deny us those basic documents, which are critical to our ability to meaningfully prepare for and participate in this investigation,” the letter states. “We require the same access to the same documents in the same format, as is enjoyed by you and your staff.”
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Visit pence.house.gov or call (812) 799-5230 to contact Rep. Greg Pence’s local office.
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