Mike Pence testifies in 2020 election inquiry
According to US press reports, Pence answered grand jury questions in Federal Court in Washington DC as part of an investigation focused on Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021 raid on Congress.
While no information was shared about the statement from Pence, who is claimed to have been in court for more than five hours, no statement was made by either Trump or Pence.
While Pence was the highest-ranking person to testify in the investigation in question, the incident made history, as it was the first time in US history that a vice president had testified in an investigation conducted against the president with whom he worked. .
TRUMP’S REQUEST WAS DENIED
Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the Trump legal team’s request to block the lower court’s decision on Pence’s testimony.
On March 28, the US Federal Court rejected Pence’s executive privilege thesis for failing to testify before the grand jury investigating his efforts to disrupt the 2020 election.
Washington DC Federal Court Judge James Boasberg ruled that Pence had to respond to a call from former Attorney General Jack Smith, who was appointed as an authorized special expert in the investigations of “confidential documents” and the “congressional raid of January 6” about Trump.
Experts said Pence had the right to appeal Judge Boasberg’s decision.
In February, Special Attorney General Smith sent Pence an official subpoena to testify before a jury about his conversations with Trump as part of the investigation into the January 6 congressional raid, and Pence and his lawyers argued that under the Constitution , the vice president had immunity in connection with his duties.
Trump’s lawyers also filed in the same court in a separate filing requesting that Pence’s testimony be limited because of “executive privilege” that protects certain communication between the president and vice president.
The federal court’s refusal was seen as “the latest defeat for Trump’s legal team in their efforts to limit their calls to testify against grand juries investigating the former president of the United States on a variety of issues.”
MAY BE A CANDIDATE
Trump allegedly pressured Pence to use his role in overseeing confirmation of election results to delay or prevent confirmation of his 2020 election loss.
Pence’s opposition to Trump’s demands caused tension between the two, which was also reflected in the public.
It is claimed that former Vice President Pence may be a candidate in the 2024 presidential election for the Republican Party. However, in the polls, Trump is way ahead of Pence, as are his other rivals. (AA)