Liz Cheney to ABC News on Pence testifying: ‘I would hope that he will do that’

(WASHINGTON) — GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, once a rising star in the Republican Party and considered a potential speaker of the House, told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that she has no regrets about her political career, including her primary landslide election loss in Wyoming on Tuesday, saying she now is laser-focused on keeping Donald Trump out of the White House.

During an exclusive and wide-ranging interview set to air Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Cheney, who serves as vice chair of the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol attack, told Karl she still hopes former Vice President Mike Pence testifies before the committee in the near future and that conversations with his legal team are still ongoing.

Pence had indicated this week that he would consider testifying before the committee if he were invited to do so.

“We’ve been in discussions with his counsel,” Cheney said, speaking with Karl in the Jan. 6 committee hearing room where millions of Americans have watched her during this summer’s series of hearings.

“Look, he played a critical role on January 6. If he had succumbed to the pressure that Donald Trump was putting on him, we would have had a much worse constitutional crisis. And I think that he has clearly, as he’s expressed, concerns about executive privilege, which, you know, I have tremendous respect. I think it’s, you know, hugely important constitutional issue in terms of separation of powers,” Cheney said.

“I believe in executive privilege. I think it matters. But I also think that when the country has been through something, as grave as this was, everyone who has information has an obligation to step forward. So, I would hope that that he will do that,” Cheney said.

“So, you think we’ll see him here in September in this room before the committee?” Karl asked.

“I would hope that he will understand how important it is for the American people to know every aspect of the truth about what happened that day,” Cheney said.

Cheney was asked if Trump would be asked to testify but she demurred.

“I don’t want to make any announcements about that this morning. So, let me just leave it there,” she said, adding that Trump’s interactions with the committee would be under oath.