Mike Pence testifies before grand jury investigating Donald Trump and 6 January

Washington: Former US vice president Mike Pence on Thursday testified in the federal investigation examining his former boss Donald Trump’s role in the 2021 assault on the Capitol, according to US media.

His testimony is a significant breakthrough in the investigation being conducted by special counsel Jack Smith investigating Trump’s actions leading up to the 2020 election and the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when rioters tried to prevent Pence and lawmakers from recognising President Biden’s victory.

The former vice president reportedly spent several hours testifying at a courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Pence has maintained he has nothing to hide from investigators about the fallout after the 2020 election.

Trump’s attorneys had sought to block Pence’s testimony, arguing that executive privilege from his time as president meant he could block Pence from speaking about internal White House matters.

On Wednesday a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s appeal, and the former president appeared not to exercise his options of appealing the issue to the Supreme Court.

Pence was the centerpiece of the 6 January uprising: on that day he was to preside over the full US Congress to formally certify Biden as the victor in the November 2020 president election.

Using unproven claims of massive voter fraud and ungrounded legal justifications, Trump had strongly and repeatedly urged Pence to not carry out the certification.

He also urged thousands of followers to protest that day in Washington, a protest that turned into the mob that violently battled its way into the Capitol, forcing a halt to the certification.

A number of those directly involved in the Capitol assault have been tried and convicted of seditious conspiracy, and Trump is being investigated by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith to see if his role violated criminal laws.

Pence’s testimony came as he weighs running against his former boss for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Democrat Biden on Tuesday announced he would seek reelection, and Trump currently is the front-runner for the Republican choice, possibly setting up a rematch of 2020.

Trump faces numerous probes, and on March 30 he became the first US president ever indicted on criminal charges, in a case involving making hush money payments to a porn star.

He is under investigation in Georgia for election interference, and on Tuesday a civil trial over allegations he raped a prominent journalist three decades ago got underway in New York.

With inputs from agencies

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