Pence responds to court ruling compelling him to testify on Trump: ‘Nothing to hide’

Former Vice President Mike Pence has declared that he has nothing to hide in response to a recent court ruling compelling him to testify about conversations concerning the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. A federal judge has ruled that Pence must speak with a grand jury impaneled to aid in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Donald Trump.

Pence has long avoided testifying before the panel, contending that the protections in the debate clause, which insulates Congressional officials from legal scrutiny over their work, apply to the vice president. He also avoided testifying before the now-dissolved House Jan. 6 committee.

Pence insisted he would “make a decision in the coming days” about whether to challenge the recent ruling. He said, “Let me be clear: I have nothing to hide. I have a Constitution to uphold. I upheld the Constitution on Jan. 6. I believe we did our duty that day under the Constitution of the United States. And in this matter, I thought it was important that we stand on their constitutional principle again.”

Meanwhile, Pence has been testing the waters for a possible 2024 presidential run, which would put him on a collision course with former boss Trump. He laid out “spring or early summer” as a time frame for his decision about whether to run and stressed that he is receiving an “awful lot of encouragement from around the country.”

Pence has been under scrutiny for classified documents after material was unearthed at his Indiana residence earlier this year. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) have voiced frustration with the intelligence community for not being more forthcoming about the nature of the documents that were found at the residences of Trump, Pence, and President Joe Biden. Pence replied that he would have no objection to seeing the documents and looks forward to putting the matter behind them.

Pence is currently running in third place in a hypothetical 2024 GOP primary, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate. Earlier in the day Tuesday, he delivered a keynote at Liberty University School of Law’s Consecration Service. He also has his eighth trip to Iowa scheduled for Wednesday following a recent stint in New Hampshire.