Special counsel seeks to compel Mike Pence to testify about January 6

Compulsion motion against former vice-president marks pre-emptive move to rebut executive privilege arguments, sources say

The special counsel investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election issued a motion to compel testimony from Mike Pence in recent days - after the Trump legal team sought to block his appearance on executive privilege grounds, sources familiar with the matter said.

The compulsion motion against Pence marks a pre-emptive move by the special counsel to rebut the executive privilege arguments before Pence had even made an appearance before the federal grand jury in Washington DC pursuant to a subpoena issued last month, the sources said.