Georgia prosecutors have added former Vice President Mike Pence to the list of witnesses who could be called to testify in Donald Trump’s upcoming election interference RICO trial, according to a report from CNN.
More than 150 individuals, including Pence, have reportedly been included in the Fulton County witness list, which remains under seal.
While Pence was compelled by Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify before a grand jury in the Justice Department’s federal election interference case against Trump, the former vice president has so far skirted significant involvement in the Fulton County case.
In August, Trump and 18 others were indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a sprawling racketeering investigation into efforts to illegally overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Trump’s co-defendants included coup architect John Eastman, as well as former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and Sidney Powell, and the former president’s one-time chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
As of November, four of those indicted alongside Trump have accepted plea deals. Powell and Ellis, as well as bail bondsman Scott Hall and coup plotter Ken Chesebro, all agreed to reduced charges in exchange for their cooperation and testimony.
While Pence has not been directly implicated in the effort to meddle with Georgia’s election results, for both federal and state prosecutors, the former VP could give critical insight into the inner workings of the final, chaotic days of the Trump administration. After all, Trump and his allies did attempt to convince Pence to put his hand on the scales through his role as president of the Senate and usurp the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6.
The plot orchestrated by Trump’s sycophants to have Pence introduce slates of fake, pro-Trump electors into the Electoral College certification — and how that scheme played out in Georgia — has been a key point of interest in the Georgia case. With Pence’s testimony, and the cooperation of the defendants who have accepted deals to save their own skins, Trump may soon find that those he brought into his closest orbit as president are now his adversaries in court.
