INDIANAPOLIS — Former Vice President Mike Pence is trying to break free of a subpoena to testify in front of a federal grand jury about the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
A source told CNN that Pence's legal team has filed a motion asking a judge to block the subpoena. The motion argues the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause protects Pence from being forced to testify.
The clause is intended to protect members of Congress from questioning about official legislative acts
Pence is arguing that the clause applies to him because he was acting in his role as president of the Senate on Jan. 6, 2021, during the congressional certification of the 2020 election that former President Donald Trump lost.
Trump's attorneys have also asked a judge to block some of Pence's testimony. They are arguing the former president can shield former aides from sharing internal communications.
Pence has publicly resisted the subpoena, arguing it was "unconstitutional and unprecedented."
"Let me clear: I am going to fight the Biden DOJ subpoena to appear before the grand jury because I think it's unprecedented and it's unconstitutional,'" Pence told reporters earlier this year. "The fact that no vice president has ever been subject to a subpoena to testify about the president with whom they served makes it unprecedented."
At the time, Pence said he was "prepared to take this fight into the court and, if needs be, take it to the Supreme Court of the United States."
Pence noted that he has written and spoken extensively about Trump's efforts to pressure him to overturn the results of the election — something he did not have power to do.
"I have nothing to hide and I'm proud of what we accomplished. But for me, this is a moment where you have to decide where you stand and I stand on the Constitution of the United States," he said.
He also said, at the time, that he expected Trump to try to assert executive privilege to block his testimony. "That's not my fight. My fight is on the separation of powers," Pence said.