Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) reportedly plans to call former Vice President Mike Pence as a witness in the Georgia racketeering trial of former President Donald Trump.
Willis reportedly lists Pence among nearly 150 witnesses she intends to call at trial, according to a CNN report published Wednesday. Citing sources “familiar with court documents that remain under seal,” the outlet reveals that Willis’ latest witness list includes Pence’s name.
Though Pence was not interviewed by the special grand jury Willis called to determine the August charges against Trump, or by her office after the indictment was announced, the outlet reported the former vice president is included on “the most recent witness list,” which Willis’ office produced “just days ago.”
In a previous interview with the left-leaning cable network, Pence confirmed he would “comply with the law” if called to testify in one of the criminal Trump trials, though he acknowledged “profound issues” raised by the case “pertaining to the First Amendment.”
A witness list has not been published for the case, but special prosecutor Nathan Wade specifically mentioned a plan to call 150 witnesses during an early court appearance. Arguing against splitting the indictment into numerous cases, Wade claimed each trial will require identical witness testimony and an identical time commitment from the court.
Willis recently asked to begin the trial on August 5, 2024, which would coincide with the schedule she confirmed to a group of reporters at an event held at the headquarters of The Washington Post. In that event, Willis confirmed she expected the trial will be live on Election Day in 2024, and may continue until the inauguration in January 2025, but insisted she did not consider the political implications of the trial’s timing.
Republicans have blamed Willis’ prosecution of Trump for the county’s backlog of nearly 150,000 cases, which the sheriffs of Fulton County and Forsyth County blamed for severe overcrowding at the Fulton County Jail in an agreement that sees up to 70 inmates from Fulton County relocated each month.
Georgia State Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) led a group of eight Republican senators in an official complaint against Willis with the state’s new Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, claiming she “improperly cherry picked cases to further her personal political agenda,” resulting in “dangerous, deadly, and unjust overcrowding” at the jail.
However, the Georgia Supreme Court effectively paused the commission in November, when it refused to act upon receiving the body’s recommended rules, claiming it had neither the legal mandate to respond nor the constitutional power to act.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mike Pence” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
