all right. we have got breaking news. former-vice president mike pence, who was considering cooperating voluntarily with the january 6th select committee is now unsure. this is according to a new report tonight in the new york times, which is reporting that this now, you know, issue with pence of whether he may not cooperate or not is, in part, because he believes the committee is becoming more partisan. specifically, more part san and designed to hurt republican chances of winning control of congress. this new report comes as a federal judge is asking tough questions about why former-president trump didn t do more to stop a violent mob from storming the capitol on january 6th. the comments came during a hearing today on three lawsuits from house democrats and capitol police officers, which are looking to hold trump, himself, along with donald trump jr., rudy giuliani, and republican gone congressman mo brooks liable for inciting the insurrection.
interesting, of course, the vice president has been negotiating, right, his team with the committee since last summer, right? so, this isn t new. b but, you know, this coming out now, you know, they do say mr. pence, in his view, these these criminal referrals that norm is referring to appear designed to hurt republican chances of winning control of congress in november. right? that that team pence is put out that they see the committee becoming partisan. is he playing politics here? or do you think he s made up his mind, already? there s so much politics going on here. i know that s shocking. uh, but because there are the word dance is one that norm used and i think that s a very important one. there is a lot of posturing happening. and there s a posturing happening on all sides and when it comes to mike pence and his world, there are multiple dynamics within that world, right? you have the former-vice president. what he may want to do when it
make it through on the case against trump at this stage. so, dana, final question is why we believe the gop will shut down the committee if it regains control of the house in november? minority leader kevin mccarthy is now being very public about his intent to go even further, and to remove key democrats from important committees. here he is today. the democrats created a new thing where they are picking and choosing who can with on committee. never in the history have you had the majority tell the minority who could be on committee but this new standard, um, which these democrats have voted for. you look at, um, adam schiff. he should not be serving on intel when he has openly, knowingly now used a fake dossier, lied to the american public in the process. and um, doesn t doesn t have any ill will. he also said he would kick off ilhan omar and eric swalwell from their communities. is he right the democrats opened the door to this with marjorie taylor greene and others? he he
counsel to house democrats during trump s first impeachment trial. and i know, norm, you are also part of a team working with the d.c. attorney general in a separate january 6th case before this judge. so, let me start with you, norm, because we have got the this this this issue with the judge. and of course, this news from the new york times. um, i i want to ask you about that, first. the new york times reporting that the former-vice president um, you know, the committee sort of presented was likely to cooperate may now be is unsure about doing so and that he believes, according to the new york times, he has told aides that the committee has taken a sharp partisan turn by openly considering the potential for criminal referrals to the justice department about mr. trump and others. what do you think about this, norm? this is pretty significant and could put the committee of having to make a decision about a subpoena for the former vice president. um, erin, thanks fo
me back. i think the committee has been cautious about predicting who will and will not cooperate. but there is nothing partisan about a congressional committee making criminal referrals. it is a common practice and, erin, if the evidence indicates that crimes were committed, it s vitally important that the 1-6 committee send that evidence and its legal analysis to the justice department and we heard from the attorney general last week. he was care careful and he was measured that, um, he will not play any favorites, that he will do justice in this case. so, he s ready to receive. um, i think that it s mike pence who may be playing a little bit of politics here, getting a little bit of cold feet. but let s remember, we have seen this dance back and forth before. we need to see how it plays out. but the committee must make those referrals. and, dana, you know, it s