Pence Just Testified About Trump’s Election Theft Plot for Over Seven Hours
Former Vice President Mike Pence testified on Thursday before a DC grand jury probing former President Donald Trump’s role in efforts to overturn the election.
ABC’s Katherine Faulders reported that Pence was in the Washington DC courthouse for more than 7 hours.
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Pence had previously fought efforts by prosecutors to secure his testimony. Pence was subpoenaed in February to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation, which is being led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in November to lead the DOJ’s investigation into both Jan. 6 and Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Pence fought the subpoena, claiming that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers carrying out legislative duties, exempted him from giving testimony. Pence will ultimately not be required to answer questions pertaining to his actions as President of the Senate on Jan. 6, but must still answer questions pertaining to the overall efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election.
In March, after losing appeals challenging the subpoena, Pence told Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren that he believed he and his staff “did our duty” on Jan. 6 and upheld his constitutional mandate.
Pence’s meeting with prosecutors comes as he mulls making a challenge against Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination. On Sunday the former Vice President indicated that he would be announcing his decision “well before late June.”
If Pence does decide to run, he will need to directly challenge his former boss’s actions at the end of his presidency. Despite being thrown under the bus multiple times by Trump, and publicly stating that the former president “endangered [his] family and everyone at the Capitol, on Jan. 6, Pence is still defending him. In March, the former VP called the criminal indictment against Trump on charges of business records falsification an “outrage.”
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