Judge bucks Trump, orders Pence aide to testify to Jan. 6 grand jury (non tweet version)
Last edited Fri Oct 14, 2022, 05:51 PM - Edit history (1)
Judge bucks Trump, orders Pence aide to testify to Jan. 6 grand jury
The appeals court refused to postpone testimony Thursday by Marc Short, dealing blow to former president’s claim of executive privilege and potentially clearing the way for other former top Trump aides to testify.
By Spencer S. Hsu, Josh Dawsey
and Jacqueline Alemany
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/14/marc-short-grand-jury-testify-pence-trump/
October 14, 2022 at 12:30 p.m. EDT
Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump at a campaign rally. (Evan Vucci/AP)
A former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence returned before a grand jury Thursday to testify in a criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election after federal courts overruled President Donald Trump’s objections to the testimony, according to people familiar with the matter.
In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that former Pence chief of staff Marc Short probably possessed information important to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that was not available from other sources, one of those people said.
Trump appealed, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to postpone Short’s appearance while the litigation continues, the people said, signaling that attempts by Trump to invoke executive privilege to preserve the confidentiality of presidential decision-making were not likely to prevail.
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The Justice Department asked the court to intervene, urging Howell to override Trump’s claim and to compel Short to answer questions about his communications with Trump, one person said. After arguments Sept. 22, Howell granted the government’s motion, the people said, but because the investigation and an appeal are ongoing, it is unclear if or when a redacted opinion will become public.
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