The January 6 attack investigation is among Donald Trump’s many legal problems. Now his then Vice President has also testified before a grand jury.
Former US Vice President Mike Pence testified before a grand jury regarding the January 6, 2021 violent storming of the US Capitol. For more than seven hours yesterday, Pence was a witness in a federal court in the capital Washington and answered questions, US media reported unanimously.
Nothing was known about the content of the survey. The investigation aims to clarify the role that Pence’s former boss, ex-President Donald Trump, played in the events of that day. An appeals court had previously denied Trump’s request to block questioning of his former deputy. The US Department of Justice had appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate the matter.
Radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to prevent the formal certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Five people died as a result. Read more here.
Pence wanted to avoid questioning
Pence himself had agreed to testify in early April after a judge ordered him to do so. Pence, in his role as Senate President, chaired the House session to confirm Biden’s election victory on the day of the Capitol storm. Trump had repeatedly called on his vice president to stop confirming the outcome of the election. Pence refused at the time, saying he didn’t have the authority to do so.
Special Counsel Smith is not only examining Trump’s possible criminal responsibility for the attack on the Capitol. He also deals with numerous secret documents that Trump took from the White House to his private estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, at the end of his term in office.
And the January 6 attack investigation is among Trump’s many legal problems. US author Jean Carroll accused Trump of sex crimes in the mid-1990s in a civil lawsuit she brought on Wednesday. Charges have been filed against Trump in another case involving hush money payments. Trump is also under investigation for his handling of classified government documents. In the state of Georgia, the prosecutor is investigating possible attempted election interference against Trump.
Probably another race between Biden and Trump
Trump himself describes law enforcement’s actions against him as politically motivated because he is running again as a presidential candidate for the 2024 election. Pence is also considered a potential rival in the race for the Republican nomination. However, the 63-year-old arch-conservative politician has not yet announced an application.
In the race for office, he accused his likely opponent, Biden, of being a “danger to democracy.” Biden had said the same thing about Trump on Wednesday.
In the race for the US presidency, however, another duel between US President Joe Biden and Trump is currently emerging, as was the case in the last election in 2020.
