Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump's involvement in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Pence, who previously refused to give testimony to the House January 6 Committee last year, was the target of a coordinated pressure campaign by Trump to block the electoral count of various swing states that had voted for President Joe Biden.
On CNN Thursday, political commentator David Chalian outlined how this is coming at the worst possible moment for Pence, who is currently taking steps that suggest he wants to run for president in 2024.
"One thing that i think is really important to separate out, just because I know people have seen Mike Pence in the headlines dealing with the documents case, that is not what we're talking about here," said Chalian. "The content, or at least the area of content that the subpoena's interested in — it's related to January 6th. So, it's not about the most recent issues that you see, and even though there are special counsels looking into the documents there, and I think that's key."
"I'll also remind you, you'll recall when the January 6th Committee was looking to perhaps seek testimony from Mike Pence and in a dance with them to figure out — you remember Mike Pence, when his book came out in the fall and he was giving a lot of interviews, he said the January 6th Committee had no right to his testimony. He walled himself off from that. So, dealing with the Department of Justice and a special counsel investigation is quite different than dealing with a committee in the House, and so now, whatever the terms here ... it will be crucial to understanding how walled off certain things are in actually to procure what they're looking for, or if indeed there's going to be a blockade."
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Another thing to consider, said Chalian, is that "this couldn't come at a worse time for Mike Pence right now and where he is politically."
"He is very much doing everything somebody does who wants to launch a presidential campaign," said Chalian. "And he is caught right now in a vise, because he leans into and stands by what he did to save democracy on January 6th, as he should. He did absolutely the right thing. It's just that ever since he did that, Donald Trump has worked to make him anathema to the Republican base that he's going to seek right now in a potential Republican nomination contest, and his attachment to Trump is part of his credentials. So he is in this very tough situation, and now, being asked to testify related to January 6th is only going to remind Republican base voters about this divide with the former president."
Watch video below or at this link.
David Chalian on Pence subpoenawww.youtube.com
