Mike Pence won’t say if he’ll appeal order to testify about Trump: ‘Nothing to hide’

Mike Pence refused to say Wednesday whether he will appeal a federal judge’s order for him to testify about former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

The former vice president sounded a non-committal note about whether he will continue to resist testifying under oath about Trump’s plot to stay in power, which culminated with the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“(I’m) determining the way forward, but I have nothing to hide,” Pence said at an event in Iowa. “We’ll evaluate the best way forward and make our intentions known in the days ahead.”

District Court Judge James Boasberg reportedly has ruled that Pence must answer prosecutors’ questions about potential crimes, a major victory for special counsel Jack Smith.

But Pence did claim a partial victory when the judge also ruled the ex-veep could decline to talk about some actions specifically related to his ceremonial role as president of the Senate during the Jan. 6, 2021 certification of President Biden’s win.

The ruling remains under seal, so it’s unclear how wide a berth it would give prosecutors to quiz Pence. The speech-and-debate clause generally protects members of Congress, including the President of the Senate, from being forced to testify about legislative work.

“I truly do believe that preserving the constitutional protections enshrined in the speech and debate clause was very important,” Pence said. “I’m pleased that the federal judge recognized and agreed with our argument that that provision does apply to us.”

“At the end of the day, we’ll obey the law,” Pence added.

Pence has never spoken publicly about many aspects of Trump’s plan to stay in power or the violent attack on the Capitol, although he did write about some incidents in his memoir.

Trump confronted Pence several times in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to get him to join his so-called Stop the Steal campaign. The then-president even tweeted an attack on Pence as thousands of his loyal supporters hunted him down inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Forcing Pence to testify represents a huge victory for Smith, who has enjoyed a string of courtroom successes recently.

Another judge ordered ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and several other top aides to testify, rejecting their claims of executive privilege, which sometimes can be used to shield presidential decision-making from scrutiny.