WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence appeared before a grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, news outlets reported on Thursday, citing unidentified sources.
Pence was inside the courthouse for more than seven hours, according to ABC and NBC News. Representatives for Pence had no comment.
Security was beefed up more than usual at the federal courthouse in Washington and a bomb-sniffing dog was spotted in the hallway. Multiple black SUVs with black-tinted windows were seen entering the courthouse parking garage, NBC News reported.
On Wednesday, Trump lost an appeal to block Pence from testifying in the special counsel probe, according to CNN.
Special Counsel Jack Smith took over the probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, including a plot to submit phony slates of electors to block Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
Trump, who is running for president in 2024, was recently indicted in a separate probe in New York over alleged hush payments.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Sarah N. Lynch and Costas Pitas; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Doina Chiacu)
