Special Counsel Jack Smith is reported to have subpoenaed Mike Pence. He wants documents and testimony related to the January 6 riot. He also wants Pence to testify. Pence may be able to invoke executive privilege.

Let’s be clear. Pence doesn’t have anything to worry about here. There is no indication he did anything wrong as far as the events of January 6 go. Pence was a prime target of the rioters on Capitol Hill that day. Shouts of “Hang Mike Pence” were heard. Pence had to take his wife and daughter and go with security to a safe location. Nonetheless, the special counsel wants what he wants. Pence’s advisors previously said he was not interested in testifying before the January 6 committee. Pence is reported to have told people privately that he has concerns about testifying against Trump.

Quick question – if Pence is supposed to be too nervous to testify against Trump, is he going to run against him in the Republican presidential primary? I remain unconvinced that Pence will become a candidate for president. He’s selling a book. Playing coy about running for president makes for good book sales.

An interesting part of this story is that allegedly the subpoena was issued several days ago even though for months, federal prosecutors and Pence’s legal team have been in negotiations. What suddenly changed that caused Jack Smith to issue a subpoena to Pence? Did Pence stop cooperating?

Smith may want Pence to testify publicly about what happened on January 6. There were no witnesses to the one-on-one conversations he had with Trump.

Pence throws Trump’s lawyers under the bus in defense of the former president. He said that Trump got bad legal advice. He even slams Rudy Giuliani though he doesn’t name names.

In an interview with NBC last year, Pence said, ‘I don’t know if it is criminal to listen to bad advice from lawyers.

‘The truth is, what the president was repeating is what he was hearing from that gaggle of attorneys around him,’ he continued, in an apparent swipe at Trump’s one-time personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

‘Presidents, just like all of us that have served in public life, you have to rely on your team, you have to rely on the credibility of the people around you.

‘So as time goes on, I hope we can move beyond this, beyond that prospect. And this is really a time when our country ought to be healing.’

Federal prosecutors claim that Pence was a central figure in Trump’s efforts to stay in power. Pence’s role on Capitol Hill that day was largely ceremonial. He oversaw the certification of the election. Trump was under the impression that Pence could reject the results of the 2020 election and send them back to the states. His lawyers were encouraging that thought.

Also subpoenaed was former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. According to Bloomberg, unnamed sources say O’Brien received two subpoenas. They ask for testimony and documents.

O’Brien considered resigning from the administration but stayed on for the remainder of Trump’s term in office. He didn’t like the events of January 6, in other words, just not enough to resign and leave the Trump administration. Swampy, right?