Former Vice-President Mike Pence will fight special counsel Jack Smith subpoena seeming testimony about former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Sources told CNN that Pence will reject the subpoena on the grounds that he was president of the Senate at the time which makes him a member of the legislative branch and he would therefore be shielded from the subpoena under the “speech and debate” clause of the Constitution.
“He thinks that the ‘speech or debate’ clause is a core protection for Article I, for the legislature,” a source close to Pence told Politico. “He feels it really goes to the heart of some separation of powers issues. He feels duty-bound to maintain that protection, even if it means litigating it.”
Smith subpoenaed Pence last week for testimony about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the January 6 Capitol attack.
While Pence said he will fight the subpoena, the former VP spoke in detail about some of his interactions with Trump in the weeks after the election,in his memoir.
