Donald Trump did not want Mike Pence to testify before the Jan. 6 grand jury. In fact, the former president launched a legal fight in the hopes of blocking his former vice president from answering questions under oath.
Those efforts failed, and as NBC News reported, the Republican Hoosier finally appeared before the grand jury yesterday.
Former Vice President Mike Pence appeared Thursday before the federal grand jury convened as part of the special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and remain in power, according to a source familiar with the matter. The testimony is a significant development in the special counsel’s probe….
The assessment about this being a “significant development” seems more than fair. In fact, taking a step back, there’s no denying the extraordinary circumstances: A federal criminal investigation is underway into a former president’s efforts to overturn a free and fair American election, which included an insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol. A former vice president has aided the Justice Department’s probe with grand jury testimony.
More than a few observers have characterized all of this as “unprecedented,” which is entirely accurate.
To be sure, Pence was a reluctant witness. As we discussed yesterday, after special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Pence, the Hoosier balked, claiming the summons was, in his words, “unconstitutional.” It was an odd claim, which didn’t fare well in the courts.
After a federal judge ordered Pence to comply with the subpoena, he said he’d forgo the appeals process and answer prosecutors’ questions.
“We’ll obey the law, we’ll tell the truth,” he told CBS News last week, in an interview that aired on “Face the Nation.”
That apparently didn’t quite sit well with Trump, who launched a legal fight of his own in the hopes of blocking Pence’s testimony, but on Wednesday, a federal appeals court rejected the former…
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