On Tuesday (April 4), aides for former Vice President Mike Pence revealed the former Vice President didn’t plan to appeal a decision that would have him testify before a grand jury surrounding the events of the January 6 insurrection.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that Pence would have to testify regarding former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election.
However, the judge ruled that whole. Pence has to Testify about Trump’s efforts; he wouldn’t have to testify about his role in Congress.
Prior to last week’s ruling, Pence’s team had contended that the former Vice President didn’t need to testify before the grand jury investigating the events surrounding January 6 because the Speech and Debate Clause prevented him from discussing his role in Congress.
In a statement, Pence’s aide Devin O’Malley lauded the ruling for affirming “for the first time in history” that the Speech and Debate Clause extended to the U.S. Vice President.
O’Malley explained that Pence didn’t plan to appeal the ruling, given it “vindicated that principle of the Constitution.”
Earlier in the year, Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Pence as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation into Trump’s actions in the January 6 Capitol attack.
Pence and his team argued that at the time of the January 6 insurrection Pence, as the then-president of the Senate, was immune to discussing the day’s events because of the Speech and Debate Clause.
Pence also indicated that he was only challenging the subpoena on constitutional grounds, although his team felt the ruling was too narrowly applied.
