- Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a grand jury for more than seven hours
- He was testifying in a federal probe over former President Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election
- The testimony came hours after a federal appeals court in a sealed order rejected a bid by Trump’s lawyers to block Pence’s appearance
Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a grand jury for more than seven hours as part of a federal investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Pence’s appearance before a grand jury in Washington scrutinizing the president he once loyally served is a milestone in the Justice Department’s investigation and likely gives prosecutors a key first-person account about certain conversations and events in the weeks preceding the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
It also carries significant political implications, coming as Pence hints at entering the 2024 presidential race and a potential run against Trump, the Republican front-runner.
The testimony came hours after a federal appeals court in a sealed order rejected a bid by Trump’s lawyers to block Pence’s appearance.
ABC News and NBC News first reported the length of Pence’s appearance.
Pence was subpoenaed to testify earlier this year, but Trump’s lawyers objected, citing executive privilege concerns.
A judge in March refused to block Pence’s appearance, though he did side with the former vice president’s constitutional claims that he could not be forced to answer questions about anything related to his role as presiding over the Senate´s certification of votes on Jan. 6.
‘We’ll obey the law, we’ll tell the truth,’ Pence said in an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation that aired Sunday. ‘And the story that I’ve been telling the American people all across the country, the story that I wrote in the pages of my memoir, that’ll be the story I tell in that setting.’
Pence has spoken extensively about Trump’s pressure campaign urging him to reject Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including in his book, ‘So Help Me God.’
Pence, as vice president, had a ceremonial role overseeing Congress’ counting of the Electoral College vote but did not have the power to affect the results, despite Trump´s contention otherwise.
Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman, has said that Trump endangered his family and everyone else who was at the Capitol that day and history will hold him ‘accountable.’
