What Did Mike Pence Tell Jack Smith?
[Above video from MSNBC's The Last Word, "Trump election indictment shows Mike Pence will be Jack Smith's star witness." August 1, 2023 -- eds.]
Last spring, Mike Pence testified to a federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Pence was quoted in the federal criminal indictment against Trump for efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but in that indictment, special counsel Jack Smith was clearly holding back much of what he knew, saving it for trial. Now ABC News reports additional details of what Pence had to say.
According to ABC’s unnamed sources, Pence repeatedly insisted on his continuing loyalty to Trump, saying, “My only higher loyalty was to God and the Constitution.” He also (and this fills in the backstory on one of the minor mysteries of the days around Jan. 6, 2021) seriously considered not presiding over the certification of votes on that day.
"Not feeling like I should attend electoral count," Pence wrote in his notes in late December. "Too many questions, too many doubts, too hurtful to my friend. Therefore I'm not going to participate in certification of election."