WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence says he’d agree to take a lie detector test “in a heartbeat” to prove he isn’t the author of an anti-Trump New York Times opinion piece.
A top Pence aide has already said the vice president didn’t write the anonymous piece criticizing President Donald Trump’s leadership. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has said Trump would be justified in using lie detectors to ferret out the anonymous essay writer. Trump hasn’t said whether he’d go that far, but Pence says he’s willing.
Pence says during a taped “Fox News Sunday” interview: “I would agree to take it in a heartbeat and would submit to any review the administration wanted to do.”
Pence is “100 percent confident” that no one on his staff was involved with the anonymous New York Times column criticizing President Donald Trump’s leadership.
Pence tells Sunday’s edition of CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he hasn’t polled staffers about the opinion piece because “I know them. I know their character.”
The vice president says his aides are as dedicated as he is to advancing Trump’s agenda.
He adds that he doesn’t know the author’s identity but repeats that the individual should resign.
Pence also says he hasn’t been asked for an interview by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He says he’s willing to sit down with Mueller if asked.
Pence adds that he has cooperated with all requests for information from the special counsel and will continue to.