Trump's efforts to block testimony are 'collapsing one by one': Former Manhattan prosecutor

Former President Donald Trump's efforts to shield and privilege any testimony that could incriminate him in the special counsel investigation of January 6 is falling apart, argued former Manhattan prosecutor Adam Kaufman on CNN Wednesday.

This comes as former Vice President Mike Pence has decided not to appeal a federal judge's order for him to testify before a grand jury investigating the matter for special counsel Jack Smith.

"Pence's testimony would include conversations he had with Trump ahead of the Capitol attack," said anchor Jake Tapper. "How significant is the ruling, and Pence's decision to not appeal it?"

"I think the ruling is tremendously significant, and we're seeing, coming out of the grand jury litigation, a series of rulings and orders coming from the federal bench, limiting executive privilege, overruling claims of attorney-client privilege on crime-fraud exception, meaning that there was criminal element to the conversation, so they were not privileged," said Kaufman. "And so all of this means that the efforts to shield the former president from having his closest advisers testify against him are collapsing one by one."

IN OTHER NEWS: Lead Jan. 6 investigator details questions special counsel will likely ask of Mike Pence

"Now, it is also true that Trump and his team could appeal the ruling, even if Pence isn't going to," said Tapper. "Do you think it's likely they could successfully prevent Pence from testifying?"

"You know, it would be hard to think of the basis that would let them do so," said Kaufman. "I mean, I think Vice President Pence, you know, sort of did what he had to do to try to maintain appropriate privilege and brought it to court and heard a ruling from the federal bench. And once he had that ruling, I think from his perspective, the rule of law is clear, and you have to comply with the federal order. Certainly Mr. Trump, I mean, they appealed the Manhattan D.A. grand jury subpoena to the Supreme Court and beyond. So certainly he may seek to appeal it. It helps to delay and obfuscate. But it's hard to imagine that it would be a successful appeal."

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