Washington’s Chief Judge James Boasberg reportedly ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence must answer any federal grand‑jury questions probing potential criminal conduct by the former president. However, Pence may decline to discuss his actions on the day of the insurrection itself, when he was presiding over the Senate’s certification of the election, the reports said. The sealed ruling represents a partial victory for the Justice Department as it investigates the Jan. 6 attack, which resulted in several deaths, more than 100 police officers wounded and over 1,000 arrests.
Trump is running for the White House again in 2024, and Pence has hinted he may challenge him for the Republican nomination. Investigators are examining Trump’s role in inciting the violence as part of a broader alleged effort to cling to power after losing the election to Joe Biden. Both Pence and Special Counsel Jack Smith, the government’s quasi‑independent prosecutor, can contest the portions of the decision that did not favor them. Neither has announced whether they will appeal, though Pence has previously vowed to fight his summons all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Pence and Trump have been at odds since Pence refused to cooperate with Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. A segment of the pro‑Trump mob that stormed the Capitol called for Pence to be hanged, forcing him to flee. Pence has already recounted many relevant conversations with Trump in *So Help Me God*, a memoir published last year, but he declined to testify before the House committee that investigated the insurrection. He unsuccessfully argued that the Constitution’s “Speech or Debate” clause— which shields members of Congress from legal proceedings related to their official duties—allowed him to avoid giving evidence. The judge also rejected Trump’s claim of executive privilege, which protects aides from testifying about certain presidential conversations.
The offices of Trump and Pence did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump remains the frontrunner by a considerable margin for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, but he faces legal jeopardy on several fronts, including a separate federal probe into his handling of classified documents, investigations into election interference in Georgia, and a hush‑money case in New York. He denies all wrongdoing, describing the investigations as a multi‑pronged “witch hunt.”
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