- Pence will not fight a court ruling ordering him to testify before a grand jury about Trump efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
- A federal judge ruled last month that Pence must testify about conversations he had with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is poised to appear before a federal grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, CNN reported Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Pence said on Wednesday that the ex-vice president will not appeal a federal judge's ruling requiring him to testify to the grand jury, according to CNN.
The special counsel Jack Smith — who's spearheading the Justice Department's ongoing investigations involving Trump — subpoenaed Pence earlier this year to testify in connection to the Capitol riot probe. But Trump's legal team challenged the subpoena shortly after, arguing that Trump's conversations with Pence were protected by executive privilege and arguing that Trump had the right to keep some communications confidential.
US District Judge James Boasberg rejected the Trump team's arguments in a sealed order handed down last month. But he ruled that Pence could decline to answer questions related to his oversight of Congress' joint session on January 6, 2021, that was set to certify Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
Pence's legal team had argued that since he acted as president of the Senate on January 6, he is protected by the Constitution's "speech and debate clause," which shields members of Congress from testifying about their work.
"Vice President Mike Pence swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and his claim that the Biden Special Counsel's unprecedented subpoena was unconstitutional under the Speech or Debate Clause was an important one made to preserve the Separation of Powers outlined by our Founders," Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley said in a statement Wednesday, per CNN.
"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," O'Malley added.
Trump pressured Pence, both publicly and privately, to assist in his efforts to overturn Biden's 2020 election victory.
Ultimately, the vice president declined to participate, saying in a letter in January 2021 that he did not have the "unilateral authority" to reject some states' electoral votes and nullify Biden's win.
Trump lashed out at Pence afterward, tweeting that the vice president did not have the "courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."
Trump sent the tweet out as his supporters were storming the US Capitol in a deadly attempt to block Congress from certifying Biden's victory.
One Reuters photographer who was on the scene said he overheard at least three Trump supporters say they wanted to execute Pence, who was rushed out of the Senate chamber by his security detail shortly after the pro-Trump mob began laying siege to the building.
Trump supporters could be heard chanting that they wanted to "hang Mike Pence" during the Capitol riot, according to video footage. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, also later testified to Congress that Meadows told her Trump told him he believed Pence deserved the chants.
Hutchinson testified to the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot that the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, told Meadows they needed to act after the mob began calling for Pence to be hung.
"I remember Pat saying something to the effect of, 'Mark, we need to do something more. They're literally calling for the vice president to be effing hung,'" Hutchinson testified.
"Mark had responded something to the effect of, 'You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong,'" Hutchinson told lawmakers.