Court Battles

Pence says he has no plans to testify against Trump during trial

Former Vice President Mike Pence, then a Republican presidential candidate, addresses the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2023.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he has no plans to testify against former President Trump at trial after his former boss was indicted on federal charges on Tuesday over his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. 

“I have no plans to testify, but people can be confident we’ll obey the law,” Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. “We’ll respond to the call of the law, if it comes, and we’ll just tell the truth.”

Pence appeared before the federal grand jury in the case in April, after previously challenging a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith. While a federal judge limited the scope of his testimony, the former vice president was ultimately ordered to testify.

“We challenged in court the scope of any testimony that I could provide, because as president of the Senate, the Constitution provides me with the protections that are afforded to members of Congress,” Pence added. “We won that at the lower court level and, and ultimately, we responded to a subpoena.”

Trump was indicted Tuesday on four counts — conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction or attempted obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. He pleaded not guilty in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

While much of the information in the indictment had previously been made public by the Jan. 6 committee, it featured several new details, including references to contemporaneous notes the former vice president took down about his conversations with Trump at the time.

According to the indictment, Trump repeatedly pressured Pence to send back or reject electoral votes at Congress’ certification of the election on Jan. 6, at one point allegedly calling the former vice president “too honest” as he maintained that he did not have the authority to reject the results.