According to former Vice President Mike Pence, the appointment of a special counsel by the DOJ to oversee two investigations into former President Donald Trump is “very troubling.”
Pence made these remarks in a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital, which was conducted on the sidelines of the annual Republican Jewish Coalition leadership conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The former Vice President also revealed that his level of cooperation with the investigation overseen by the newly-appointed special counsel would be contingent on his legal team.
Pence’s remarks come hours after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice had appointed Jack Smith, a former prosecutor in the DOJ, to the role of special counsel.
Smith will oversee two probes the DOJ is conducting into Trump — the mishandling of sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and the potential that “any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power” in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Pence criticized the DOJ’s decision, calling it “very troubling” while acknowledging that “no one is above the law.”
However, Pence noted that, when it comes to Trump, there have been “years of politicization at the Justice Department.”
He used the botched investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2016 as an example of the politicization, noting that there had been “disclosed FBI agents falsifying documents” and the use of a “Clinton campaign-funded opposition research document” in that investigation.
Pence also indicated he was “deeply troubled” by “senior leadership at the Justice Department” deciding to raid the former President’s Mar-a-Lago residence, explaining that something like that had “never been done in history.”
