Pence looking to fight subpoena from special counsel on ’20 election

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence is planning to fight a subpoena by the special counsel overseeing investigations into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Pence and his attorneys are planning to cite constitutional grounds as they prepare to resist special counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to compel his testimony before a grand jury. They argue that because Pence was serving in his role as president of the Senate on Jan. 6, 2021, as he presided over a joint session of Congress to certify the election results, he is protected from being forced to address his actions under the Constitution’s “speech-or-debate” clause that shields members of Congress.

“I think he views it as essential protection of his Constitutional role,” said Marc Short, a close adviser to Pence who served as his White House chief of staff.

Short compared Pence’s position to the one he took on Jan. 6 when he refused to go along with Trump’s unconstitutional scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Pence’s rejection of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office in the aftermath.

“The vice president of the United State is the president of the Senate and the fact is the functions of Jan. 6 were specific to that role,” he said of Pence, who has been laying the groundwork for a likely presidential campaign that would put him in direct competition against his former boss.

Pence has spoken extensively about Trump’s pressure campaign urging him to reject President Joe Biden’s victory in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including in his book, “So Help Me God.” Pence, as vice president, had a ceremonial role overseeing the counting of the Electoral College vote, but did not have the power to impact the results.

Pence’s decision to resist the subpoena also came after extensive back-andforth between his lawyers and the special counsel’s office, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

Pence is expected to address the issue in more detail during a visit to Iowa Wednesday.

Capitol riot plea: A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges involving use of a stun gun to attack a Washington, D.C., police officer who was brutally injured while trying to defend the U.S. Capitol from the angry mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Daniel Rodriguez, 40, of Fontana, admitted taking part in the assault on former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone after another rioter dragged the officer into the crowd outside the tunnel where police were trying to beat back the mob.

At one point, Fanone lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack.

Rodriguez’s guilty plea comes about two weeks before jury selection was supposed to begin in his trial in Washington’s federal court, where he pleaded guilty to four felony charges including conspiracy and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced in May. Federal sentencing guidelines call for about seven to 10 years in prison, according to court papers.

Feinstein’s plans: Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose groundbreaking political career shattered gender barriers from San Francisco’s City Hall to the corridors of Capitol Hill, said Tuesday she won’t seek reelection in 2024.

The senator, who turns 90 in June, is the oldest member of Congress and has faced questions in recent years about her cognitive health and memory, though she has defended her effectiveness representing a state that is home to nearly 40 million people.

The announcement came after several prominent Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, already had declared Senate campaigns.

Feinstein plans to remain in Congress through the end of her current term.

Migration deaths: More than 8,400 Europe-bound migrants perished at sea while attempting to cross the Mediterranean over the past four years, a charity said Tuesday.

Save the Children said in a report that about 500,000 people crossed or attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe since 2019. Of those, 8,468 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean, the charity added.

Analyzing data from the U.N. refugee agency, the charity said deaths at European borders could be partly blamed on “the increasing trend of European governments forcibly, illegally and often violently stopping refugees from entering their territory and even abducting and expelling those who have arrived.”

The 40-page report mentioned pushbacks of migrants trying to reach Spain from Morocco; Greece from Turkey; and Italy from Libya and Tunisia.

Pushbacks are considered to be unlawful under international and European Union law.

Gun violence prevention: The Justice Department is sending out more than $200 million to help states and the District of Columbia administer red-flag laws and other crisis-intervention programs as part of the landmark bipartisan gun legislation passed by Congress over the summer, officials said Tuesday.

Red-flag laws are intended to temporarily remove guns from people with potentially violent behavior and prevent them from hurting themselves or others.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have such laws.

Some of the $231 million in funding announced on the fifth anniversary of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, will also go toward crisis-intervention court proceedings and other gun violence reduction programs.

BBC offices searched: India’s tax officials searched BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, weeks after it aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the U.K., the broadcaster said.

The tax department was looking at documents related to the BBC’s business operations and its Indian arm, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, citing unidentified sources.

The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” was broadcast in the U.K. in January and examined the prime minister’s role in 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the western state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister at the time. More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence, and the Supreme Court said it found no evidence to prosecute him.

The second portion of the two-part documentary examined “the track record of Narendra Modi’s government following his reelection in 2019,” according to the BBC’s website.

India’s Foreign Ministry called the documentary a “propaganda piece.”

NEW ZEALAND DEFENSE FORCE Cyclone’s fury: People are airlifted amid flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle on Tuesday near Napier, New Zealand. The government declared a national state of emergency for only the third time ever after the storm, which was deemed to be the worst weather event in years. Rainfall also closed the main route between Auckland and the capital Wellington.