Pence must testify before grand jury about Trump conversations: Judge
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According to a federal judge, the former Vice President must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, 2021.
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Mike Pence listens to questions during a 2015 news conference. (AP)
According to CNN, former vice president of the United States Mike Pence was ordered to testify, by judge James Boasberg, to the grand jury on conversations he had with former President Donald J. Trump leading up to the infamous Capitol attack on the 6th of January 2021.
The details of the ruling remain under seal. However, Pence can refuse to answer questions relating to his actions on January 6, since he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election, as reported by CNN.
Pence has not yet taken action regarding the ruling, saying that his team will be evaluating the court’s decision. He claims that “the requirements of my testimony going forward are a subject of our review right now, and I’ll have more to say about that in the days ahead.”
Special counsel Jack Smith has brought forth more than a dozen testimonies to the grand jury to bolster the US attorney's claims on Trump’s involvement in inciting the “Capitol attack”.
The former Vice President was subpoenaed by the special counsel in February. However, Pence challenged the subpoena under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers from certain law enforcement actions connected to their legislative duties.
The ruling made by the judge has officially refuted Pence’s legal claims.
It is worth noting that Pence refused to disrupt the congressional certification, as requested by Trump, of current President Joe Biden. In a memoir published by Pence, he recalls telling Trump, “Mr. President, I don’t question there were irregularities and fraud… It’s just a question of who decides, and under the law that is Congress.”
This, along with other conversations, detailed in the book, reveals Pence’s non-complying position regarding the validity of the 2020 elections. As he later stated, “I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
However, Trump’s conversations with Pence in the days surrounding the insurrection have been of keen interest to investigators looking into the attack. Though Pence declined to testify before the House January 6 committee that investigated the insurrection, people close to Trump’s told the committee about a heated phone call that went on between the two on the day of the attack in which he hurled insults at his vice president.
As days went by, and amid the ongoing investigation, Pence refused to announce his support for Trump in the upcoming 2024 presidential elections citing, “better choices”.
It is worth noting that Trump is also involved in a court case involving payments he made to adult star, Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump believes that this legal case is part of a political prosecution and called for protests against the in the event that he is arrested.
