Appeals Court Upholds Ruling: Trump Cannot Block Pence Testimony

On Wednesday night, a court in Washington declined a request from Donald Trump’s lawyers to keep Mike Pence from attending a special meeting with a group of people called a grand jury. This grand jury is looking into things done to try and change the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election.

It was not known when former Vice President Mike Pence would show up for questioning by the Grand Jury. This group of people has been gathering information about what lead to the rioting at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 and any attempts Donald Trump or his friends did to change the election result. When he testimony is over, it will be an important moment in this investigation and give prosecutors a chance to hear it directly from him. It also could help move Mr. Pence closer to running for president again in 2024.

A three-judge panel from a U.S. court recently made an order, but they didn’t tell anyone who the people involved were or why it was happening. This happened just after a different judge ordered Vice President Pence to testify, even though the Trump team disagreed with this decision.

Nobody from the lawyers of Vice President Pence, Trump’s spokesperson and the Justice Department special counsel responded to emails asking for a comment. The case was decided by three judges. Judge Gregory Katsas was appointed by Trump, and the other two judges were both appointed by former President Obama. It is not sure yet if the lawyers for Trump will ask all the members of the appeals court to take part in this matter.

Earlier this year, the lawyers of former President Donald Trump asked that Vice President Mike Pence should not have to testify. They said it was a matter of executive privilege. But in March, the court said that Pence couldn’t be forced to answer questions about what he did on January 6th when he presided over the Senate vote count – but they didn’t stop him testifying.

A spokesperson for Pence said he would not fight back anymore, and that the Constitutional law that is meant to keep Congress members safe from being asked questions about their official activities had been proven right.

Vice President Pence said he will follow the law and tell the truth when interviewed by CBS’s “Face The Nation,” which aired on Sunday. Everything in his memoir about what happened will be the same thing he will say during the interview.

Pence wrote about how President Trump asked him to not accept Joe Biden’s win before January 6th in his book “So Help Me God”. The Vice President was allowed to be part of the Electoral College vote counting in Congress, but he couldn’t change the result even though Trump thought otherwise.

Vice President Pence said that what President Trump did at the Capitol put his family and many other people in danger, and he will be held responsible for it by history.

Pence also mentioned that their relationship showed signs of trouble when they were both working together in the White House.

A man named Jack Smith has been trying to figure out what happened by interviewing a bunch of people who used to work for President Trump – such as Pat Cipollone and Stephen Miller.

Smith is trying to find out if Trump did something wrong by handling lots of important documents at his Florida house, Mar-a-Lago. On Wednesday, people helping Trump with this case said the Justice Department messed up and that it might be connected to politics. They want the House Intelligence Committee to help by checking what happened and getting laws in place so presidents and vice presidents know exactly what to do when they leave office.

The lawyers suggested that the Department of Justice should not be involved and that a different group called the “intelligence community” should look into this issue instead. They said this investigation needs to include giving a detailed report to Congress (the Senate). We don’t know for sure when these investigations will end, or if anyone will get in trouble for it.