March 29
By Claire Hansen
A federal judge has reportedly ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to comply with a grand jury subpoena issued as part of a Justice Department probe into former President Donald Trump’s role in the violent Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, rejecting Trump’s attempt to block Pence’s testimony on the grounds of executive privilege.
The ruling from James Boasberg, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, deals a major blow to Trump and is the latest significant development in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Smith subpoenaed Pence as part of his probe into the insurrection. Both Trump and Pence sought to block the full enforcement of the subpoena, though they made two different legal arguments.
Trump’s team argued that executive privilege, which bars some presidential conversations from being made public, applied to Pence’s testimony. Pence, in contrast, argued that the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which shields members of Congress from certain law enforcement actions connected to legislative duties, applies because Pence was acting as President of the Senate on Jan. 6 in order to certify President Joe Biden’s election.
Boasberg rejected Trump’s executive privilege claim, but accepted in part Pence’s argument, according to multiple reports.
The ruling reportedly allows Pence to decline to answer questions related to his actions on Jan. 6 itself, according to CNN. But he will be required to answer questions about any potential illegal acts by Trump, according to multiple reports. Details about the exact scope of the possible exceptions outlined in the ruling were unclear.
It’s uncertain if Pence or Trump plans to appeal the ruling. Pence has previously said that he would take the fight to the Supreme Court if necessary.