Former Vice President Mike Pence is going to fight a subpoena issued by the DOJ’s special counsel investigating Trump’s supposed efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The subpoena has been issued for him to testify, but Pence believes that he should be shielded from the subpoena given that he was the president of the Senate.
Here’s more via Fox News:
Former Vice President Mike Pence is preparing to resist a Justice Department grand jury subpoena for him to testify on former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, Fox News has learned.
A source familiar with the former vice president’s thinking told Fox News on Tuesday morning that Pence plans to fight the subpoena issued last week by Special Counsel Jack Smith regarding the Jan. 6 investigation into Trump, on the ground that he was president of the Senate and should be shielded from the order. Currently, it appears Pence is not planning to assert executive privilege.
Politico first reported on Pence’s decision to challenge the DOJ subpoena earlier Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the former vice president’s thought process.
The former vice president’s allies told Politico he’s protected by a constitutional provision called the “speech and debate clause,” which generally shields members of Congress from having to fear that anything they say during legislative activities will implicate them in a lawsuit. According to Politico, Pence’s allies said federal prosecutors are legally blocked from compelling testimony from the former vice president related to key elements of Smith’s probe under the Constitution’s separation of powers.
“He thinks that the ‘speech or debate’ clause is a core protection for Article I, for the legislature,” one of the two sources familiar with Pence’s legal strategy told Politico on condition of anonymity. “He feels it really goes to the heart of some separation of powers issues. He feels duty-bound to maintain that protection, even if it means litigating it.”
As this entire investigation is nothing more than a sham, I hope Pence prevails in his lawsuit to be exempted from the subpoena.
Remember, the only reason there is a special counsel in this ‘investigation’ is because Joe Biden got angry last year that his Attorney General wasn’t investigating Trump. Shortly thereafter we saw Trump’s home invaded by federal agents and a special counsel appointed.
It’s all a manufactured investigation and I support anyone’s efforts to fight subpoenas issued by this special counsel.