Former President Donald Trump has requested a federal judge block a subpoena to have former Vice President Mike Pence testify before a Grand Jury regarding the January 6 insurrection.
CNN was the first to report about Trump’s efforts, citing unnamed sources familiar with Trump’s lawyers mentioning executive privilege in the motion to prevent Pence from testifying.
While Trump’s move is unsurprising, it displays the strategy the former President is using to prevent those closest to him on January 6 from giving testimony in criminal investigations into his actions on that day.
Trump’s actions on January 6 are being investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who the Department of Justice appointed to probe the former President’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
A grand jury is seeking testimony and documents from the former Vice President about the January 6 insurrection. Still, Smith has already faced upheaval from Pence regarding his cooperation in the investigation, with Pence indicating he’d fight the subpoena.
Last month, Pence told reporters in Iowa that he’d “fight the Biden DOJ’s subpoena… because I believe it’s unconstitutional,” adding the request he appears before the Grand Jury is “unprecedented.”
Trump and Pence’s fervent resistance to the federal investigation into Trump comes as all signs point to the Special Counsel ramping up its probe into the former President, who launched his 2024 presidential bid in November.
The former President’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner — who served as Trump Aides while he was in the White House — have also been subpoenaed by the Special Counsel, according to multiple reports.
