Pence will testify to Jan. 6 grand jury after declining to continue subpoena challenge
Kaelan Deese
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Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a judge’s ruling requiring him to testify before a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, teeing up an important testimony for the special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election subversion efforts.
Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley announced the former vice president’s decision Wednesday to end his contest against a subpoena for his testimony. A date for testimony has not been selected, though it is likely to happen later this month, an adviser said.
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The decision follows an unprecedented ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to require Pence’s testimony but allow certain limits to the topics prosecutors can question him about.
“The Court’s landmark and historic ruling affirmed for the first time in history that the Speech or Debate Clause extends to the Vice President of the United States,” O’Malley said. “Having vindicated that principle of the Constitution, Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law.”
Several of Pence’s advisers, including his chief of staff and chief counsel, have offered testimony to investigators. However, Pence could be able to offer accounts of one-on-one discussions with Trump not previously disclosed.
Trump claimed that executive privilege, which conceals some presidential discussions from being revealed, barred Pence from appearing before the grand jury. While such claims have largely been rejected, Boasberg ruled last week that vice presidents are shielded from testifying about certain topics due to their role in Congress through the “speech or debate” clause.
The former president is facing the most severe legal scrutiny of his political career as he mounts a return to the White House.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection with his investigation into 2016 hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and other parties in relation to an alleged affair in 2006 that Trump has denied.
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Separately, the Justice Department has tapped special counsel Jack Smith to head up investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents discovered at his Florida home and whether there were additional efforts to obstruct that investigation.
Trump has denied wrongdoing over the two-pronged investigation by Smith and has criticized the Justice Department’s assignment to Smith as politically motivated.