Will Pence Hang Donald Trump?

Presumably— and prosectors have been presuming— Mike Pence has a great deal of first hand knowledge about Trump’s attempted coup. Yesterday he released a statement that he will not appeal a judge’s ruling requiring him to testify under oath in front of a Grand Jury investigating the failed coup that culminated in the J-6 insurrection and riot. Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer reported that “The decision by Pence “could clear the way for potentially consequential testimony that federal prosecutors have long sought as they explore Trump’s attempts to stay in office. It is unclear whether lawyers for Trump, who lost a parallel effort to limit Pence’s testimony, will also appeal the judge’s ruling. In a statement, Pence’s adviser, Devin O’Malley, noted that Pence had ‘prevailed’ on his attempts to argue that his testimony should be limited because as the president of the Senate on Jan. 6, 2021, he was protected from legal scrutiny by the executive branch— including the Justice Department— under the Constitution’s ‘speech or debate’ clause. That provision is intended to protect the separation of powers. ‘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,’ O’Malley said. ‘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.’”

The Judge had ruled that Pence would “have to testify about any potentially illegal acts committed by Trump on Jan. 6 or on the days leading up to it.” Trump has been fighting like a mad dog to prevent this testimony. He is desperate “to block the disclosure of details about plans to overturn the election. The former president’s lawyers have often sought— and have repeatedly failed— to limit the testimony of important witnesses with assertions of executive privilege.” This week, his legal team tried and failed to prevent Trumpist cronies Mark Meadows, his final White House chief of staff and Dan Scavino, (Meadows’s deputy) from being compelled to testify. Trump has earlier tried— and failed— to prevent testimony from two chief aides to Pence— Marc Short and Greg Jacob— and from two of the top White House lawyers— Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin. They’ve already spoken to the Grand Jury.

Pence has always been a potentially important witness in the election inquiry into Trump because of the conversations he took part in at the White House in the weeks preceding the Capitol attack. During that time, Trump repeatedly pressed him to use his ceremonial role overseeing the congressional count of Electoral College votes to block or delay certification of his defeat.

Prosecutors have been trying to get Pence to talk about Trump’s demands on him for months— first in requests by the Justice Department for an interview and then through a grand jury subpoena issued by the special counsel, Jack Smith, who inherited the investigation into Trump’s attempts to stay in power.

From shortly after the election until Jan. 6, Pence was subjected to an intense pressure campaign from a range of Trump’s associates outside the government, including John Eastman, a lawyer working with the president, and from Trump himself. Pence had his advisers research what his powers were with regard to Jan. 6. Over time, he made clear to Trump that he did not believe he had the authority that the president insisted he did to unilaterally overturn the results of the Electoral College vote.

By Jan. 5, Trump’s pressure campaign had become so heated that Short, who was then Pence’s chief of staff, called the vice president’s lead Secret Service agent to his West Wing office to tell him that Trump was going to turn on Pence, and that they might have a security risk.

The next day, Trump publicly pressured Pence in a rally address to a pro-Trump crowd near the White House, then urged his followers to march “peacefully” and “patriotically” to the Capitol. Once there, hundreds of rioters swarmed the building, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”