JUST IN: CNN Reports ‘Truly Extraordinary’ News Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith Personally Watched Pence Testimony Face-To-Face
Special Counsel Jack Smith was personally in attendance for ex-Vice President Mike Pence’s testimony about former President Donald Trump last week, according to three CNN sources.
Last Thursday, Pence testified for more than five hours before the Smith-led Justice Department probe into Trump’s conduct surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the 2020 election.
The reporting team of Kristen Holmes, Jamie Gangel, and Katelyn Polantz broke the news Wednesday that Smith personally showed up to hear Pence testify, possibly the first time he’s done so during this investigation:
Smith and Pence interacted while Pence was at the courthouse, and one source described the interaction as respectful.
Smith’s appearance is the first known time the special counsel has attended a grand jury proceeding in the investigation. Smith is leading the criminal probe with a team of prosecutors into the aftermath of the 2020 election and efforts to overturn the results.
On Wednesday afternoon’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, Polantz explained to host John King why this news is such a “truly extraordinary thing”:
JOHN KING: We’re bringing some exclusive new CNN reporting now on the special counsel investigation into the former president, Donald Trump. Let’s get straight to CNN’s Katelyn Polantz. Katelyn, tell us what you’ve learned.
KATELYN POLANTZ: Well, the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, the man himself, the special counsel overseeing investigations into the Mar a Lago, documents and January 6, he personally was sitting in the grand jury observing testimony from former Vice President Mike Pence last Thursday when Pence was here testifying.
John, that is a truly extraordinary thing. Smith has many, many prosecutors working for him. We see them coming in and out of the courthouse, working with the grand jury regularly here. We have never seen Smith once.
And it is, as far as we know, the first time that Jack Smith himself would come here and observe those secret grand jury proceedings, that testimony from Mike Pence. One source is telling Kristen Holmes, Jamie Gangel and I that the two men, Jack Smith, the special counsel and former Vice President Mike Pence, they had respectful interactions during that day of testimony.
And all of this. It just really underlines how extraordinary of a situation it is for a former vice president to be compelled into the grand jury to testify. So much so it brought the special counsel himself to the premises.
Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.
