(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) The U.S Justice Department is seeking to question former Vice
President Mike Pence as a witness in connection with its criminal
investigation into former President Donald Trump's efforts to stay
in power after losing the 2020 election, the New York Times
reported, citing people familiar with the matter, trend reports citing
reuters .
Pence is open to considering the request, recognizing that the
Justice Department's probe is different from the investigation by a
House of Representatives committee that has also probed the Jan. 6,
2021, attack on the Capitol, the newspaper reported on
Wednesday.
Thomas Windom, a lead investigator examining the efforts to
overturn the election, reached out to Pence's team in the weeks
before Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel
on Friday to oversee the Jan. 6 investigation and a separate probe
into Trump's handling of classified documents, the report
added.
The office of special counsel declined to comment when contacted
by Reuters.
The discussions about questioning Pence are in their early
stages, according to the newspaper. Pence has not been subpoenaed,
and the process may take months, because Trump may seek to block,
or slow, his testimony by trying to invoke executive privilege, it
added.
Pence has said he thinks Trump was wrong to believe the former
vice president had the power to reverse the outcome of the 2020
election. The election results were being certified by Pence and
lawmakers when the Capitol was attacked by supporters of Trump, a
Republican, after weeks of false claims by the former president
that he had won the vote.
Pence previously said he would consider testifying before the
congressional committee probing the Capitol attack if asked but
added later that he also considered the panel to have 'a partisan
taint.'
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