Mike Pence ‘gave evidence to the grand jury for seven hours’ about Donald Trump and the 2021 US Capitol riots | US news

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Former US vice president Mike Pence has appeared before a federal grand jury investigating former president Donald Trump’s role in efforts to subvert the 2020 election, according to reports.

Mr Pence was inside the US District Court in Washington for more than seven hours on Thursday, NBC News reported.

Security was heightened at the federal courthouse and a sniffer dog was spotted in the hallway.

His testimony – behind closed doors – came less than 24 hours after a federal appeals court rejected a last-ditch appeal by Mr Trump’s legal team to block his appearance.

Mr Pence also hinted at a possible challenge to Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Mr Trump launched his third bid for the US presidency in November.

Incumbent Democrat president Joe Biden also confirmed this week that he will run again in 2024.

Mr Pence’s testimony on Thursday was a significant development in the Justice Department’s investigation and is likely to give prosecutors a key first-person account of several conversations and events in the weeks before the deadly attack. at the US Capitol.

Image: Mr Pence served as Mr Trump’s vice president during his presidency. Photo AP

Asked about his testimony, Mr Trump, who was at a campaign event in New Hampshire, told NBC News: “I don’t know what he said, but I have a lot of confidence in him.”

Mr Pence is considered a key witness in the criminal investigation led by Jack Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor.

“We’ll obey the law, we’ll tell the truth,” Mr Pence said in an interview with CBS News that aired on Sunday.

“And the story that I tell Americans across the country, the story that I write in the pages of my memoir, that will be the story that I will tell in that setting.”

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Mr Pence has spoken widely about Mr Trump urging him to deny President Biden an election victory in the days leading up to January 6, 2021, including in his book, So Help Me God.

“For four years, we had a close working relationship. It did not end well,” he wrote, summing up their time in the White House.

He has previously defended his actions that day, after Mr Trump claimed a vice president had the authority to overturn the election results.

“President Trump is wrong. I have no right to overturn the election,” Mr Pence, who has often avoided confronting his former boss, said in March.

“And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

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0:45 Pence: ‘Trump is wrong’

Mr Smith is separately investigating Mr Trump over the possible mishandling of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, as well as possible efforts to obstruct that probe.

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