Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating Donald Trump. Now, reports say the former vice president is expected to resist the subpoena, inside sources say.
Special counsel investigating Trump subpoenas Pence
The office of special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence as part of its investigation into former president Donald Trump and his role in the events of January 6, 2021.
The special counsel is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, and they want Pence to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol, CNN reported.
The subpoena of Pence comes some 2 years into the investigation. Pence is an important witness who has detailed in a memoir some of his interactions with Trump in the weeks after the election. Some believe those details likely opened the door allowing the Justice Department to override – at least some of – Trump’s claims of executive privilege.
Pence’s attorney Emmet Flood is known as a hawk when it comes to executive privilege and expects Pence to claim at least some limits to providing details on his direct conversations with Trump.
Pence will fight subpoena, sources say
Former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to resist a subpoena for testimony issued by Jack Smith, the special counsel assigned by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee investigations into Trump.
According to sources, Pence and his team say that his serving as the former president of the Senate essentially makes him a member of the legislative branch and, therefore, he would be shielded from the subpoena under the “speech or debate” clause of the Constitution, The Hill reported.
Rather than argue executive privilege, Pence is set to argue the novel “speech or debate” clause. His allies say this legally binds federal prosecutors from compelling Pence to testify about the central components of Smith’s investigation. They further say that if Pence testifies, it could jeopardize the separation of powers that the Constitution seeks to safeguard, Politico reported.
“He thinks that the ‘speech or debate’ clause is a core protection for Article I, for the legislature,” said people familiar with Pence’s thinking and legal strategy on the condition of anonymity. “He feels it really goes to the heart of some separation of powers issues. He feels duty-bound to maintain that protection, even if it means litigating it.”
