The Justice Department is seeking testimony from former Vice President Mke Pence as part of its investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to reports.
Pence is open to consideration, people familiar with the situation told the New York Times. The DOJ investigation is separate from the one being conducted by the House Jan. 6 committee, whose requests for testimony the former vice president has repeatedly declined.
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The news comes just months after it was reported that the DOJ was investigating Trump as part of its larger inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. As part of that effort, witnesses have been asked questions about meetings Trump held in December 2020 and January 2021 to consider actions aimed at overturning the election, as well as the former president’s pressure campaign on Pence to assist with that effort on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pence’s cooperation in the investigation could provide behind-the-scenes details of these conversations and possibly throw a wedge into Trump’s 2024 campaign. The former president officially announced his White House bid just last week.
DOJ officials reached out to Pence’s team weeks ago, according to the outlet. Discussions about when and how to question the former vice president are reportedly in their early stages and it could take months before he offers his testimony.
It’s also unclear whether Trump will seek to block Pence’s testimony by invoking executive privilege, as the former president has done with other officials who have been subpoenaed for testimony.
Prosecutors have sought details about meetings in which Trump and some of his allies suggested submitting alternative slates of electors that could be called on in the event that the election was decertified, sources told the news outlet. Previous reporting said the Justice Department has been investigating such Trump allies as John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani for their part in advising the former president as they developed strategies to block Biden’s path to the White House.
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The Justice Department has also received the phone records of top officials in the Trump administration, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, sources told the Washington Post. The investigation aims to uncover what the former president told his attorneys and senior officials to do as part of their bid to change the 2020 election outcome, and there are two other paths that could lead to additional scrutiny of Trump, the sources said.
One centers on seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, similar to charges levied against individuals who were arrested for storming the Capitol. Another involves charging Trump with fraud in connection to the false electors plot or his efforts to pressure the DOJ to overturn the results of the election.
