Former Vice President
Mike Pence
is wise not to appeal a judge’s order that he testify in the investigation of former President
Donald Trump’s
attempt to negate the 2020 election.
As I wrote here on March 28,
the judge gave Pence half a win
by saying he could avoid testifying about his own actions on the day of the Capitol riot, and it is a half-win worth accepting. By limiting the testimony to his pre-Jan. 6 conversations with Trump rather than his own Jan. 6 actions, the judge forces Pence to aid the important investigation into Trump. He does so, though, without completely obliterating Pence’s claim that, in at least some circumstances, a vice president can invoke the legislative immunity that senators enjoy.
PENCE WILL TESTIFY TO JAN. 6 GRAND JURY
Trump can still try to bar Pence from testifying by claiming a different immunity — executive privilege. Executive privilege is far from absolute, however, and Pence should use whatever legal means he can to secure the judge’s ruling about whether Trump’s privilege should bar Pence’s testimony. For the sake of the public’s right to know what caused a dangerous incursion into their own historic Capitol, Pence’s goal should be to provide as much information as the courts say he possibly can.
Pence did the right thing, under great pressure, by resisting Trump’s entreaties for him to toss out electoral votes already certified by the states. When the incursion began, even as his family was in physical danger, Pence kept his cool and his courage. Urged by his own Secret Service detail to flee the Capitol, Pence refused. Instead, he set his mind on two tasks: calling in assistance for the beleaguered Capitol Police and returning to the House chamber as soon as safely possible in order to continue the civically sacred ceremony marking a peaceful transfer of small-‘r’ republican power.
By agreeing to testify, Pence again serves his country. While the goal of the special counsel investigation is to see if Trump broke laws while trying to overturn the election, the more important goal for the public weal is for as much information to be made available, under oath, so that officials can learn to ward off any future actions even remotely similar to the 2021 abomination.
Pence’s decision today serves both the law and the public well. Good job.
