US former vice president Mike Pence testified before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Pence, who has hinted at running for the 2024 elections, testified at a hearing that was behind closed doors. This means, a lot of what Pence said, remains uncertain. The hearing lasted for about seven hours.
Pence testifying is a moment of potential legal peril and constitutional consequence for the former president. Pence's appearance before a grand jury in Washington scrutinising the president he once loyally served is a milestone in the Justice Department's investigation and likely gives prosecutors a key first-person account of certain conversations and events in the weeks preceding the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
Pence's testimony is crucial in the investigation being led by special counsel Jack Smith. After the 2020 elections, Trump reportedly coerced Pence to reject electoral college votes for Joe Biden at the joint session of Congress.
Pence was subpoenaed to testify earlier this year, but Trump's lawyers objected, citing executive privilege concerns. Pence had privately indicated to advisers that he would try to provide an accurate account of events in the White House in the weeks preceding the Capitol Hill riots on January 6 and how Trump had been informed that his actions could be deemed illegal. The government has been trying to get Pence to testify for months.
--With PTI inputs