(FixThisNation.com) – Former Vice President Mike Pence has been ordered by a federal judge to testify before a grand jury about his communication with former President Donald Trump regarding his overturning of the 2020 presidential election.
The sealed order from Chief Judge James Boasberg is widely viewed as another legal setback in the legal troubles that Trump is facing. Trump has repeatedly tried to block the Department of Justice’s special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the events that unfolded before the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Last month, Pence received a subpoena from Smith calling him in to testify in the probe. However, following the subpoena, Pence’s team filed a motion in which they claimed that as vice president any discussion he and Donald Trump had would fall under executive privilege claims.
However, on Monday, Judge Boasberg on Tuesday determined that those arguments were inaccurate after a closed court hearing in which he heard from the lawyers on both sides. According to some sources and a Fox News report, Boasberg also ruled separately that Pence would have the right to not answer certain questions about his role as President of the Senate and the one responsible for certifying the election results. The certification process had at the time been blocked by the violent attack on the Capitol building by protesters.
Pence has previously stated that the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause protects him against official legislative actions.
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