Dershowitz to Newsmax: Pence Under No Obligation to Testify

Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Tuesday that former Vice President Mike Pence is under no obligation to testify against his boss, former President Donald Trump, in front of a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

“I think he has an obligation not to answer,” Dershowitz told “The Record With Greta Van Susteren.”

A federal judge in Washington ruled Tuesday that Pence must honor a subpoena to testify, overruling constitutional arguments made by Pence’s attorneys, who cited the “speech and debate” clause in Article 1, Section 6. Trump’s attorneys also argued against Pence testifying based on executive privilege. Pence told Newsmax the ruling is unconstitutional.

“The judge’s ruling is categorically wrong and it ought to be appealed,” said Dershowitz, adding Pence could either appeal now or appear in front of the grand jury and wait until questions are asked and then appeal.

“And then you have to refuse to answer and that risks being put in contempt and appealing from the contempt, which no former vice president wants to do,” Dershowitz said.

Dershowitz, author of “Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law,” said executive privilege is rooted in Article II of the Constitution and that he can’t think of anything more resolute than a president talking with the vice president about matters of national interest.

“The Biden administration takes the absurd position that it’s up to the Biden administration to determine whether to invoke executive privilege, but that can’t be the law, which would make executive privilege completely disappear,” he said.

“We’re in a messy situation and, unfortunately, the law in the District of Columbia seems to be different for the Trump administration than it has been for other administrations.”

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