Vice President Mike Pence vigorously defended President Donald Trump Monday during an interview with PBS NewsHour and suggested it wasn’t “a foregone conclusion that the House will vote to impeach” the president.
“The president did nothing wrong,” Pence told NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff. "And as the facts all come out, I think the American people will come to understand that.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier Monday said the House would vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry amid Trump’s criticism that the probe is “illegitimate.”
Pence slammed the current congressional investigations into allegations Trump held up military aid to Ukraine in part because he wanted the Ukrainian government to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
“The process that’s going on in Congress today is a disservice to the American people and it’s a disgrace,” Pence said. “I mean to have impeachment hearings taking place behind closed doors. And the only thing the American people learn about are piecemeal releases leaked apparently by the Democratic leadership on the committee to the press.”
Pence also defended the White House’s reasoning for defying subpoenas.
“The Congress acts by a vote in the majority,” Pence said. “Even that hasn’t happened here. The speaker of the House unilaterally initiated an impeachment inquiry. There’s been no vote. Members of Congress have taken no position on this inquiry, and most members of Congress have no access at all to what’s happening behind closed doors.”