Trump loses appeal to block Pence from testifying before grand jury on January 6

Donald Trump cannot stop former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before a grand jury investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump lost an emergency attempt to bar Mike Pence from testifying about his direct talks, in latest push to a federal criminal investigation examining the actions of Trump and others after the 2020 election, under the direction of special counsel Jack Smith, according to CNN.

The former president has repeatedly tried to prevent responses from witnesses close to him in the special counsel's investigation.

The ruling helps clear the way for Mike Pence to speak under oath about Trump's pressure to declare the 2020 election results invalid.

This latest order from the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will likely mark the start of Pence's grand jury testimony, a development unprecedented in modern presidential history.

The unanimous decision, of Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Greg Katsas on the DC Circuit, came in a sealed case Wednesday night that CNN previously identified as challenging Trump's executive privilege to bar Pence from testifying.

Trump has tried to block Pence from testifying about his direct communications multiple times, even after the former vice president wrote about some of those exchanges and a lower court judge ruled against him.

Trump asked the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals for emergency intervention weeks ago The court refused to stay Pence's subpoena and set aside the lower court's ruling, flatly denying Trump's requests.

Trump could try to appeal again and even press the issue in the Supreme Court

Pence has already said would not appeal part of the lower court's decision and would comply with the subpoena.

Judge James Boasberg of the DC District Court acknowledged that Pence could have some protections in Congress.

But that ruling does not appear to prevent him from answering grand jury questions about his many conversations with Trump, as Trump and his allies pressured Pence to block Congress from certifying the presidential vote.

Trump's talks with Pence in the days surrounding the US Capitol riot have been of great interest to investigators investigating the attack, and the former vice president wrote in his book that Trump told him he would be a "weakling." 8221;in a call made the morning of the attack.