Former Vice President Mike Pence has been added to the witness list for former President Donald Trump’s election interference trial in Georgia.
Prosecutors added Mr Pence to the list of those who could be called to testify at trial, CNN reported citing sources with knowledge of filings still under seal.
Mr Pence, who recently dropped out of the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has appeared before a federal grand jury in the investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith into Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, which the ex-president falsely argues was stolen. But the former vice president, Indiana governor and congressman has so far not played a large part in the Georgia proceedings.
While witness lists filed by the prosecutors in Georgia’s Fulton County haven’t been made public and are still under seal, CNN points to sources saying that the newest iteration of the witness list included about 150 names, with Mr Pence being one of them.
Mr Pence could be an important witness in any of the investigations into Mr Trump given his proximity to the president at the time of the election and the insurrection on January 6, 2021.
In August, Mr Pence appeared at the National Conference of State Legislatures, saying, “Despite what the former president and his allies have said for now more than two and a half years and continue to insist … the Georgia election was not stolen, and I had no right to overturn the election on January 6”.
The former vice president has so far not testified under oath in the Georgia probe, which includes the special purpose grand jury that spoke to 75 witnesses during its probe.
Mr Pence has previously indicated that he would be willing to testify in any federal trial.
“I have no plans to testify, but, look, we’ll always comply with the law,” he told CNN this summer when asked about the federal case.
In the Georgia racketeering case, 15 defendants are still in the process while four have taken deals with prosecutors to plead guilty and testify as part of the case.
Mr Trump’s lead attorney in the Georgia case argued in court on Friday that the special counsel’s case in Washington, DC is a “mirror image” of the Peach State proceedings, adding that he needs an evidence list from that case.
“This is a problem,” he said, according to CNN. “There is no doubt that the special counsel’s office … has relevant and material information that deals with the allegations in this case.”
The judge in the Georgia case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, noted that there’s a “great deal” that overlaps between the two cases, and told prosecutors that they should think about contacting the special counsel’s office to work together on discovery issues.
