On Wednesday night’s The 11th Hour on MSNBC, host and resident dunce Stephanie Ruhle spent the first block of her program whining about former Vice President Mike Pence writing a book that details his experiences working in the Trump/Pence administration including his side of the story about what happened at the Capitol on January 6, while at the same time refusing to testify before the partisan Pelosi-picked January 6 panel.
After airing a portion of an interview Pence gave with CBS’s Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan in which he told her that the committee has no authority to compel him to testify because of the constitution’s separation of powers doctrine, Ruhle turned to frequent MSNBC guest and legal commentator Joyce Vance.
“I want you to explain this math to me. Mike Pence can talk all about January 6 in a book he's gonna cash in on. He can go on TV to promote that book, but he can't talk to the January 6 committee? Explain to me how this patriot operates,” Ruhle said condescendingly.
“It's just in derogation of the oath of office that Mike Pence took to serve the American people,” Vance responded. “This is a Vice President who was supposed to serve all of us, who found himself in an untenable position, who had one moment of courage, and an important moment of courage, where he served us all,” she continued.
Proving she has no understanding of history of constitutional powers of the executive and legislative branches, Vance whined that “this notion that he doesn't have to testify in front of the January 6 committee just flies in the face of what our history tells us about leaders at the highest level of our government voluntarily appearing and testifying when requested to do so.”
Lashing out like an entitled teenager, Vance ended by wailing: “the fact that Mike Pence is comfortable selling books but not comfortable testifying in bodies that are responsible for building a historical record and providing the American people with detail about what happened, that's just shameful.”
Pence has no obligation to testify before a partisan circus act. Especially since he’s just written a tell-all book in which he gives many details about what happened on January 6.
If Ruhle and Vance want to know what Pence knows about that day and his relationship with former President Trump, then they should go to their local book store and buy a copy of the former Vice President’s book.
This whiny segment on MSNBC was made possible thanks to the endorsement of Chase. Their information is linked.
The transcript is below click expand to read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
11/16/2022
11:13:33 p.m. EasternSTEPHANIE RUHLE: Joyce, I want you to explain this math to me. Mike Pence can talk all about January 6 in a book he's gonna cash in on. He can go on TV to promote that book, but he can't talk to the January 6 committee? Explain to me how this patriot operates.
JOYCE VANCE: So, Steph, I wish I could explain that to you. But I can't. It's just in derogation of the oath of office that Mike Pence took to serve the American people. You know, I know that we're all used to talking in absolutist and tribal terms. That's not what this is. This is a Vice President who was supposed to serve all of us, who found himself in an untenable position, who had one moment of courage, and an important moment of courage, where he served us all.
But this notion that he doesn't have to testify in front of the January 6 committee just flies in the face of what our history tells us about leaders at the highest level of our government voluntarily appearing and testifying when requested to do so. The notion that Pence thinks it would somehow demean the integrity of the White House when what we're talking about here is Mike Pence in a singular position to have had conversations where he understands what Donald Trump thought after the election.
Mike Pence could confirm whether or not Trump truly believed he had won or whether it was always a ruse to hold on to power, he could talk about the pressure campaign that was leveled against him, he could talk about other activity that either approaches criminality, or that involves outright criminality.
One thing we all know about the sort of privilege that exists inside of the White House to shield its conversations from external eyes is that that's not an absolute privilege. When we talk about those issues. And that it must fall in the face of need, of great need for that testimony, as it did during the Nixon era, and certainly it shouldn't be used to shield a possible criminal conduct.
So the fact that Mike Pence is comfortable selling books but not comfortable testifying in bodies that are responsible for building a historical record and providing the American people with detail about what happened, that's just shameful.
