Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday said that he would “consider” testifying before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a new Axios report.

“If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence said during a Q&A after his speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics’ Politics & Eggs breakfast.

“But you heard me mention the Constitution a few times this morning. Under the Constitution, we have three co-equal branches of government, and any invitation to be directed to me, I would have to reflect on the unique role I was serving in as vice president. It would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill. But, as I said, I don't want to pre-judge, so if there's ever any formal invitation rendered to us, we would give it due consideration,” he continued.

If Pence were to accept such an invitation, he wouldn’t be the first vice president to do so. According to the U.S. Senate's website, per USA Today, at least six presidents and one vice president—Schuyler Colfax, vice president to President Ulysses S. Grant—have testified before congressional committees.

“I personally want to talk to Mike Pence,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of the committee’s two Republicans, said during an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation last month.

“I think it would be important to hear everything he has to say,” he added.

Pence on Wednesday also called for an immediate end to threats against the FBI following its August 8 Mar-a-Lago search, which was tied to former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and other White House records.

“The Republican Party is the party of law and order,” Pence said, per ABC News. “And these attacks on the FBI must stop; calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police.”

He added that the Republican party can still hold Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable for the search “without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI.”

“The truth of the matter is, we need to get to the bottom of what happened,” Pence continued. “We need to let the facts play out, but more than anything else, the American people need to be reassured in the integrity of our justice system and the very appearance of a recurrence of politics playing a role in decisions that the Justice Department demands transparency as never before.”

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.