January 6 panel claps back at Mike Pence for refusing to testify and calling them 'partisan,' saying he's 'misrepresenting' their work while promoting his memoir

• Former Vice President Mike Pence said he would not testify for the January 6 committee.

• Pence has spoken out against Trump's actions during the riot, but called the committee "partisan."

• The committee rejected his comments and noted the House GOP rejected a bipartisan commission.

The January 6 committee has spoken out against recent comments by former Vice President Mike Pence about his decision not to provide testimony.

"The Select Committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book," Reps. Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, the committee chair and vice chair, said in a joint statement Wednesday.

Pence, who has done a series of interviews promoting his memoir, told CBS News on Wednesday he was "closing the door" on testifying.

"From the time that January 6 was formed, and every member was appointed by the Democrat speaker of the House, I was concerned," he said, adding: "It's inconceivable to me that one party would appoint every member of a committee in Congress."

"The partisan nature of the January 6 committee has been a disappointment to me," he continued.

Thompson and Cheney rejected his characterization of the committee's work as "partisan," noting more than 50 Republican witnesses have been questioned. They also noted that all members of the committee supported a bipartisan commission, but that GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy blocked it after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of his picks and asked him to nominate others.

"The Select Committee has consistently praised the former Vice President's refusal to bow to former President Trump's pressure to illegally refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th," the committee's statement said. "But his recent statements about the Select Committee are not accurate."

The former vice president continued to condemn the January 6 attack in a CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night, saying it was "the hardest" day of his professional life.

"It saddens me," Pence said of the rioters who chanted "hang Mike Pence" in the halls of the Capitol on January 6. "But that day, it angered me."

During the Wednesday night appearance, Pence dodged questions about whether or not he would run for president in 2024, but told CNN's Jake Tapper that he believed the Republican Party would ultimately have "better options" than his former boss, who announced his own 2024 campaign on Tuesday night. 

Pence cited Trump's return to old rhetoric surrounding the 2020 election and January 6 siege as reason for the two eventually "going their separate ways."

"I still pray for the president and for the grace to forgive him and all those responsible for that tragic day," he said.

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