Federal judge orders Mike Pence to testify before grand jury

A federal judge has ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to answer questions about conversations he had with former President Donald Trump prior to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, multiple reports indicated Tuesday.

Chief DC US District Judge James Boasberg said in a sealed ruling that Pence must share details with a grand jury about any of the 76-year-old Trump’s potentially illegal actions on or before his supporters stormed the seat of the legislative branch, according to sources who spoke with CNN and ABC News.

However, Boasberg also said the vice president may decline to answer questions about his own actions on that day.

Trump had previously attempted to block Pence from testifying before the grand jury, citing his own executive privilege. However, President Biden informed special counsel Jack Smith that the White House would not assert executive privilege over Pence’s testimony.

“These events — which reflected the most serious attack on the operations of the Federal Government since the Civil War — threatened not only the safety of Congress and others present at the Capitol, but also the principles of democracy enshrined in our history and our Constitution,” White House special counsel Richard Sauber wrote in a letter to Smith last month, which was obtained by ABC.

“In light of these unique circumstances, President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the public interest with respect to the efforts to thwart the orderly transition of power under our Constitution.”

Pence’s attorney had also requested a legal exemption for the vice president, saying his testimony could violate the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, which prevents members of Congress from facing legal liability over official proceedings.

The events of Jan. 6 have caused a rift between Trump and Pence, with the latter ramping up attacks on his former boss in recent interviews.

“There was no excuse for the violence that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and I’ll never diminish it as long as I live,” Pence told ABC’s Jonathan Karl earlier this month. “But look, I — the president’s wrong. He was wrong that day and … I had actually hoped that he would come around in time, Jon, that he would see that the cadre of legal advisers that he surrounded himself with had led him astray.”

Some members of the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were captured on video saying, “Hang Mike Pence,” as the then-VP was presiding over the certification of the 2020 election results in his capacity as president of the Senate.

Pence, 63, is expected to appeal the judge’s decision — and has expressed willingness to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Smith subpoenaed Pence last month in an attempt to compel his testimony.

Boasberg joined the federal judiciary in 2011 after being nominated by former President Barack Obama.

The 60-year-old took over as chief judge of the DC district court March 17, replacing Beryl Howell, who in one of her last moves on the bench forced Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and some of his aides to testify before the grand jury.

A rep for Pence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.