Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday urged the Justice Department to not indict former President Trump ahead of what many expected to be an announcement that the House select committee responsible for investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack would refer Trump on criminal charges.
Pence told Fox News that he was hoping that the Justice Department understood how significant the choice to indict a former President of the United States would be. He further added that this would cause a lot of division among the American people at a time when the country needs to heal. He continued to say that at this time of year the focus should be on “the most important things in our lives, our faith, our family” which is why the Department of Justice should be careful with how they tread.
Pence’s comments came a little bit before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack was set to hold its final public meeting. The committee is shortly expected to release a final report as well as make official referrals on what they believed the Justice Department should investigate based on the evidence that they had collected.
NBC News had also previously reported that the committee would take a vote before deciding whether or not a referral should be sent to the Justice Department against Trump.
Following the 2020 election, Trump spent a large amount of time alleging without evidence that there had been widespread voter fraud and that the election had been stolen for him. As a result, he had also pressured Pence into overturning the 2020 presidential election by having him not certify the results of the elections on Jan. 6.