(ConservativeSense.com) – Former Vice President Mike Pence is being ordered by a federal judge to answer questions regarding conversations held with former President Donald Trump before the events of Jan 6, 2021.
According to multiple reports on Tuesday, Chief DC US District Judge James Boasberg stated in a sealed ruling that the former vice president must divulge details about any potentially illegal actions by Trump on or before Jan 6th with a grand jury. The ruling also stated that Pence can choose to decline to answer questions about his own actions that day.
Citing his own executive privilege, Trump tried to block Pence from providing testimony to the grand jury. President Joe Biden told special counsel Jack Smith in a letter from special counsel Richard Sauber last month that the White House “has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the public interest with respect to the efforts to thwart the orderly transition of power under our Constitution,” referring to the riot at the Capitol in which many protesters attempted to prevent the certification of Biden’s 2020 victory.
A legal exemption was also requested for Pence by his attorney, claiming Pence’s testimony may violate the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution preventing Congressional members from dealing with legal liability over official government proceedings.
In an ABC interview, Pence said “there was no excuse for the violence that took place at the Capitol on Jan 6,” and that he’ll “never diminish it.” He also said Trump was wrong that day, and hoped he “would come around in time” and “see that the cadre of legal advisers that he surrounded himself with had led him astray.” Since the events of Jan 6, a rift immediately formed between Trump and Pence.
The former vice president is expected to appeal the decision even if it means taking the case to the Supreme Court. Special counsel Smith issued a subpoena last month to try and compel Pence’s testimony.
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