The Justice Department is seeking to question former Vice President Mike Pence in its investigation into January 6, the New York Times reported.
President Trump will likely move to block Pence’s testimony by invoking executive privilege.
Mike Pence has not been subpoenaed, according to the New York Times.
Pence recently refused to testify before the January 6 Committee.
The New York Times reported:
The Justice Department is seeking to question former Vice President Mike Pence as a witness in connection with its criminal investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Thomas Windom, one of the lead investigators examining the efforts to overturn the election, reached out to Mr. Pence’s team in the weeks before Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed a special counsel on Friday to oversee the Jan. 6 investigation and a separate inquiry into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Mr. Garland has said that the appointment of the special counsel, Jack Smith, will not slow the investigation.
Officials at the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Mr. Pence declined to comment.
The discussions about questioning Mr. Pence are said to be in their early stages. Mr. Pence has not been subpoenaed, and the process could take months, because Mr. Trump can seek to block, or slow, his testimony by trying to invoke executive privilege.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland last Friday appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate whether criminal charges should be filed against Trump.
Trump last week announced his 2024 bid for the White House so Biden’s DOJ is running interference.
The special counsel investigation will focus on whether Trump broke the law when he took White House records to Mar-a-Lago and the other part of the probe is related to January 6.