By Steve Neavling
Former Vice President Mike Pence pledged Wednesday to fight a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith to testify before a grand jury about Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine the 2020 election.
“No vice president has ever been subject to a subpoena to testify about the president with whom they served,” Pence told reporters, calling the subpoena “unprecedented and unconstitutional,” NBC News reports.
Pence insists that legal protections for lawmakers makes him immune from testifying because he was acting as president of the Senate when the body was conducting the Jan. 6 Electoral College count.
“For me, this is a moment where you have to decide where you stand, and I stand on the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said.
Still, the former vice president took a jab at Trump for his role in the insurrection.
“On Jan. 6th, President Trump was wrong. As I’ve said before, his words were reckless, and they endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol,” he said.
Pence added, “I had no right to overturn the election.”
“But I would say in this very moment, it’s also wrong to establish a precedent where a legislative official can be called into court by the executive branch.”
Meanwhile, the special counsel subpoenaed Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows to testify in the case, CNN reports.
