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As you\u2019ve probably heard by now, Donald Trump<\/strong> is in a whole lot of legal peril. For starters, he\u2019s currently on trial for rape<\/a>, having been accused by writer E. Jean Carroll<\/strong> of attacking her in a New York department store in the mid-\u201990s. Then there are the 34 class E felonies he was charged<\/a> with by the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office last month, stemming from various hush money payments he allegedly made in the lead up to the 2016 election. But of course, that\u2019s not all. The ex-president is also under investigation<\/a> by the Fulton County district attorney\u2019s office for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia; he\u2019s been sued by the New York attorney general\u2019s office on allegations of massive fraud<\/a>; and a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department is running a pair of criminal probes into both his handling of classified documents (and possible obstruction<\/a>) and plot to stay in power following his loss to Joe Biden<\/strong> (plus the insurrection that followed). And the former guy is unlikely to be thrilled about the latest development in the DOJ\u2019s election investigation.<\/p>\n CNN reports<\/a> that special counsel Jack Smith<\/strong> \u201csat in on the federal grand jury proceeding while former vice president Mike Pence<\/strong>\u00a0testified for more than five hours last week,\u201d according to a trio of people familiar with the matter. As the outlet notes, the former VP\u2019s testimony is \u201clikely to elicit a strong negative reaction\u201d from Trump\u2014and not just because Trump is prone to massive outbursts<\/a> over the smallest of perceived slights.<\/p>\n As a reminder, the ex-president has expended significant time and energy trying to block Pence from testifying about January 6 and the weeks leading up to the attack on the US Capitol; last month, his attorneys reportedly tried<\/a> (and failed) to\u00a0reverse a judge\u2019s\u00a0order<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Pence to appear before a federal grand jury. (For his part, Pence spent the two-plus years since January 6, 2021,\u00a0refusing<\/a>\u00a0to tell investigators<\/a>\u00a0what he knew about the insurrection and the days that preceded it, and then, in April,\u00a0his adviser announced<\/a>\u00a0that he would not appeal the latest ruling ordering him to comply with the special counsel\u00a0subpoena for testimony.) Trump\u2019s desire to block Pence from speaking likely has something to do with the former VP\u2019s unique insights into his attempt to stay in power and the lengths he went to steal a second term. Those insights include but are not limited to: the fact that Trump reportedly spent weeks pressuring Pence to overturn the 2020 election,\u00a0even after being told it was illegal<\/a>; told Pence, \u201cYou can be a patriot or you can be a pussy<\/a>\u201d; told Pence, in the days before January 6, that hundreds of thousands of people were going to hate him for being \u201ctoo honest<\/a>\u201d to overturn the results of the election; and inspired his supporters to go after Pence by telling them at the \u201cStop the Steal\u201d rally that the then VP had the power to block\u00a0Joe Biden\u2019s win, which resulted in chants of \u201cHang Mike Pence\u201d and a situation wherein the Secret Service had to\u00a0move Pence<\/a>\u00a0and his family to a secure location, lest the rioters make good on their threats.<\/p>\n After Pence said<\/a> in March that his old boss was \u201cwrong\u201d to demand he overturn the results of the election and\u2014in his most strongly worded remarks to do date\u2014declared that \u201chistory will hold\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0accountable,\u201d Trump flew off the handle and blamed Pence for January 6,\u00a0saying<\/a>: \u201cHad [Pence] sent the votes back to the legislatures, they wouldn\u2019t have had a problem with Jan. 6, so in many ways, you can blame him for Jan. 6. Had he sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I believe, number one, you would have had a different outcome. But I also believe you wouldn\u2019t have had \u2018Jan. 6\u2019 as we call it.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a claim so divorced from reality that even the gang at Fox News couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So, yeah, Pence (and Smith) can probably expect that a \u201cstrong negative reaction\u201d is forthcoming.<\/p>\n Every single point here is true (<\/strong>and yet<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n
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