Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a federal court ruling ordering him to testify in a special counsel probe pertaining to the 2020 election.
In a statement shared with Breitbart News, Devin O’Malley, spokesman for Mike Pence, said that while the former vice president stands by his original claim that the “unprecedented subpoena was unconstitutional,” he will not appeal the federal court ruling.
“Vice President Mike Pence swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and his claim that the Biden Special Counsel’s unprecedented subpoena was unconstitutional under the Speech or Debate Clause was an important one made to preserve the Separation of Powers outlined by our Founders. In the Courts decision, that principle prevailed,” said O’Malley.
“The Court’s landmark and historic ruling affirmed for the first time in history that the Speech or Debate Clause extends to the Vice President of the United States. Having vindicated that principle of the Constitution, Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law,” he added.
The date for the former vice president’s grand jury appearance, where he will be asked questions under oath about former President Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election results, remains unknown. Per CNN:
In the recent ruling, Chief Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court in Washington, DC, decided Pence must testify about conversations he had with Trump ahead of the US Capitol riot.
The judge said the former vice president can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to one of the sources.
For Pence and his team, receiving that carveout from the court was critical. They argued to the court that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers from certain law enforcement actions connected to their legislative duties, prevents him from being forced to answer questions about some of the conduct that investigators are looking at.
In March, the former vice president told reporters that his challenge to the subpoena was important for the Constitution.
“For me, the reason to challenge a subpoena of a vice president in their role as president of the Senate was an important constitutional argument to have,” Pence told reporters in late March. “And now, for the first time ever, a federal court has recognized that these protections extend to a vice president.”