Former Vice President Mike Pence spent more than five hours behind doors in Federal District Court in Washington Thursday in the grand jury investigation of former President Donald Trump’s attempts to block congressional certification of Joseph Biden as president. Pence’s testimony could shape the legal and political fate of Trump as he makes an attempt to run for president in 2024, according to the New York Times. Pence is considered a key witness in the investigation, since the then vice president was the target of an intense pressure campaign in late 2020 and early 2021 by Trump to convince him to play a critical role in blocking or delaying congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
Pence, who is expected to decide soon about whether to challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, rebuffed Trump’s demands that he use his role as president of the Senate in the certification of the Electoral College results to derail the final step in affirming Biden’s victory. Pence’s advisers had discussions with Justice Department officials last year about providing testimony in their criminal investigation into whether Trump and a number of his allies broke federal law in trying to keep Trump in power. But the talks broke down, leading prosecutors to seek a subpoena for Pence’s testimony. Lawyers for Pence and Trump tried to fight the subpoena. Pence won a partial victory when the chief judge overseeing the grand jury ruled that he would not have to discuss matters connected to his role as president of the Senate on Jan. 6, but he that he would have to testify to any potential criminality by Trump. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday night rejected an emergency attempt by Trump to block the testimony.
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