Pence won’t appeal judge’s decision ordering his testimony before grand jury investigating Jan. 6
Written by ABC AUDIO on April 5, 2023
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a district court ruling and will comply with the grand jury subpoena requesting documents and testimony related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election, his spokesperson said.
“Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law,” his spokesperson, Devin O’Malley, said in a statement.
The top federal judge for the D.C. district court last week rejected former President Donald Trump’s assertion of executive privilege to prevent Pence from testifying before the grand jury, sources told ABC News.
Pence was subpoenaed in February by special counsel Jack Smith to provide documents and testimony related to Smith’s election interference probe, following months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence’s legal team, sources said.
In addition to claims of executive privilege, Pence’s attorneys had argued that Pence should be exempt from providing records or answering certain questions that align with his duties as president of the Senate overseeing the formal certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pence’s team had argued that such communications could run afoul of the Speech and Debate Clause that shields officials in Congress from legal proceedings specifically related to their work.
D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg narrowly upheld parts of that legal challenge, ruling last week that Pence should have to provide answers to the special counsel on any questions that implicate any illegal acts on Trump’s part, according to sources.
Speaking last month with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl for “This Week,” Pence said, “We’re going to respect the decisions of the court, and that may take us all the way to the highest court in the land.”
Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor and former head of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, was tapped in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel to oversee the DOJ’s investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office.
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