CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa: Former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that he will challenge a subpoena by the special counsel overseeing Trump investigations to compel his testimony before a grand jury — pursuing it to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by the Justice Department, is investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump spent the days before Jan. 6, 2021, aggressively pressuring Pence to reject the outcome, even though Pence had no power to do so. Pence was at the US Capitol presiding over a joint session of Congress as Trump’s supporters violently stormed the building that day.
“Let me first be clear: I’m going to fight the Biden DOJ subpoena for me to appear before the grand jury because I believe it’s unconstitutional and it’s unprecedented,” Pence told reporters in Iowa, the state that will hold the first contest of the 2024 nominating sequence.
“Never before in American history has a vice president been summoned to appear in court to testify against the president with whom they serve,” he said.
Pence said he was prepared to take the case “as far as it needs to go, if needs be to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
The posture marks an aggressive turn for Pence, who has been laying the groundwork for a likely presidential run. While it remains unclear whether Pence will succeed in delaying or limiting the scope of his testimony, the posture gives the former vice president a new opening to attack the Justice Department, which has become increasingly unpopular among conservatives, in part due to Trump’s constant attacks.
Indeed, Pence repeatedly criticized the department Wednesday, complaining of a “two-tiered justice system that Republicans have been dealing with throughout the Biden administration.”
The Associated Press previously reported that Pence was ready to contest Smith’s demand for his appearance on constitutional grounds. He argues that because he was serving in his role as president of the Senate on Jan. 6, he is protected under the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause from being forced to testify. That provision is intended to protect members of Congress from questioning about official legislative acts.
A spokesman for Smith declined to comment. The Justice Department, which had earlier declined to comment on Pence’s subpoena, is expected to oppose the former vice president’s efforts and make the case that his cooperation is essential.
Pence noted during an earlier stop in Minneapolis that he had written and spoken extensively about Trump’s efforts to pressure him to overturn the results of the election — something he did not have power to do — and has repeatedly denounced Trump’s efforts as “reckless” and “dangerous.”
“I have nothing to hide and I’m proud of what we accomplished. But for me, this is a moment where you have to decide where you stand, and I stand on the Constitution of the United States,” he said.
He added that he expects Trump to try to assert executive privilege to block his own testimony. “That’s not my fight. My fight is on the separation of powers,” Pence said.
Pence made his remarks after headlining events in Minneapolis and Cedar Rapids aimed at rallying conservative parents opposed to transgender-affirming policies in public schools. The events came as a federal appeals court was expected to hear oral arguments in St. Paul, Minnesota, in a case brought last summer by a national group representing parents of students in Linn-Mar Community School District in Marion, Iowa, near Cedar Rapids.
Parents Defending Education is trying to overturn a policy adopted by the school board last year allowing transgender students to request a gender support plan to begin socially transitioning at school without the permission of their parents. Pence’s advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, has filed an amicus brief in the case, as have dozens of mostly conservative groups and several conservative states.
“Across the country, parents’ rights are being trampled by a politically correct nanny state that’s ruining our schools and telling our parents that they have no role in their children’s most important decisions,” Pence said in Minneapolis, where he argued that parents must be informed of such decisions. “You do not craft a gender transition plan for my child without my knowledge or consent,” he said.
Though Pence says he has yet to make a decision about 2024, he has visited leadoff Iowa several times since the 2020 election. And his Wednesday event had the look and feel of a campaign stop, held in a pizza restaurant where candidates commonly hold court with voters.
Pence is hoping to draw the support of social and religious conservatives in what could be a crowded primary contest that already includes Trump and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who formally launched her campaign Wednesday.
To that end, Pence’s advocacy group launched a new campaign last week on the schools issue, a flashpoint for many on the right, as Haley and other presidential prospects, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, prepare for their own visits to the state this month.
Pence says he will fight subpoena as far as Supreme Court
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Pence says he will fight subpoena as far as Supreme Court

- The Justice Department, which had earlier declined to comment on Pence’s subpoena, is expected to oppose the former vice president’s efforts and make the case that his cooperation is essential
Trump’s approval rating rises as Americans worry less about recession

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s approval rating rose this week as Americans worried less about his handling of the economy and prospects of a recession, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday.
The two-day poll showed 44 percent of respondents approved of the Republican leader’s performance, up from 42 percent in a prior Reuters/Ipsos survey carried out April 25-27. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Approval of Trump’s economic stewardship rose to 39 percent from 36 percent.
Trump began his term with a 47 percent approval rating, and saw his popularity tick lower as Americans worried about a series of trade wars he launched since taking office on January 20.
Trump’s moves to hike tariffs to historic levels on major trading partners, notably China, fueled stock market declines as many economists predicted a recession was looming.
In recent weeks, Trump has eased back on his sharpest trade actions and announced on Monday morning he was slashing tariffs on China. The benchmark S&P 500 stock index is up about 17 percent from its lowest closing of Trump’s second administration, hit soon after he unveiled sweeping tariffs.
Among the public, concerns about recession have also eased but remain high.
Some 69 percent of respondents in the new poll said they were concerned about a recession, down from 76 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted April 16-21. The share who said they worried about the stock market fell to 60 percent from 67 percent.
Trump has said blame for the country’s economic problems should fall on former President Joe Biden, his Democratic predecessor. Inflation surged during Biden’s presidency amid the global economic chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, but trended lower toward the end of his presidency. Annual price inflation cooled in April, the Labor Department said on Tuesday, though economists continue to warn that Trump’s trade actions are likely to boost prices later in the year.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 59 percent of respondents said it would be Trump’s fault if the economy falls into recession this year, compared to 37 percent who said it would be Biden’s fault.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted nationwide online, surveyed 1,163 people.
Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees

- The country has faced a major economic crisis since 2021 and is enduring the second worst humanitarian crisis in the world after Sudan, according to the United Nations
KABUL: The Taliban government said Tuesday it was ready for “dialogue” with the Trump administration on the repatriation of Afghan refugees whose legal protections in the United States will be revoked in July.
Citing an improved security situation in Afghanistan, Washington announced Monday that the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for Afghanistan would expire on May 20 and the termination would take effect on July 12.
Kabul is “ready to engage in constructive dialogue with the US & other countries regarding repatriation of Afghans who no longer meet criteria to remain in host countries,” said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on X.
The Taliban government has already offered assurances that those Afghans who fled the country as they stormed back to power in 2021 could safely return.
However, the United Nations has reported cases of executions and disappearances.
Taliban authorities have also squeezed women out of education, jobs and public life since 2021, creating what the UN has called “gender apartheid.”
The move by Washington could affect more than 11,000 Afghans, many of whom supported the United States during two decades of war and fled Taliban persecution, according to Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac.
“Afghanistan is the shared home of all Afghans, & all have the right to free movement,” Balkhi said in his statement.
The country has faced a major economic crisis since 2021 and is enduring the second worst humanitarian crisis in the world after Sudan, according to the United Nations.
More than 100,000 Afghans have returned home since neighboring Pakistan launched a new mass expulsion campaign in April.
More than 265,000 undocumented Afghans also returned from neighboring Iran between January and April, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
US federal law permits the government to grant TPS to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.
But since taking office President Donald Trump has moved to strip the designation from citizens of countries including Haiti and Venezuela as part of his broader crackdown on immigration.
White House slams Episcopal Church’s refusal to resettle white South Africans

- The Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans
WASHINGTON: The White House questioned Tuesday the humanitarian commitment of the influential Episcopal Church after it refused to comply with a federal directive to help resettle white Afrikaners granted refugee status by the Trump administration.
Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform and essentially halted refugee arrivals in the United States after taking office, but made an exception for white Afrikaners despite South Africa’s insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland.
On Monday, around 50 white South Africans arrived for resettlement in the United States, after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a “genocide.”
That claim — oft-repeated by Trump’s Pretoria-born ally, billionaire Elon Musk — has been widely dismissed as absurd, including by the South African government.
On Monday, the Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans.
In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly criticized the decision as raising “serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.”
She claimed white Afrikaners — who are primarily descendants of European colonizers and whose ethnic group dominated South African politics until apartheid was abolished in 1994 — had “faced unspeakable horrors.”
On Monday, the church had said it would wind up its refugee resettlement grant agreements — amounting to more than $50 million annually — with the US federal government rather than comply with Trump’s orders.
In a statement, the church’s presiding bishop was scathing in his criticism of the administration’s decision to grant the white South Africans refugee status.
“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” said Sean W. Rowe.
Under eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial minority in South Africa.
The Episcopal Church said that it could not comply with Trump’s order “in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”
It said its programs with the US federal government would be wound up by the end of the fiscal year, but that its work on refugee resettlement would continue, including supporting recently arrived refugees from around the world.
20 Democratic attorneys general sue Trump administration over conditions placed on federal funds

- The lawsuits are the latest legal actions that Democratic-led states have taken against Trump since he took office earlier this year
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: A coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general filed two federal lawsuits on Tuesday, claiming that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds unless states agree to certain immigration enforcement actions.
According to the complaints, both Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have threatened to cut off funding to states that refuse to comply with President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
While no federal funding is currently being withheld, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said during a news conference on Tuesday that the threat was “imminent.”
“President Donald Trump can’t use these funds as a bargaining chip as his way of ensuring states abide by his preferred policies,” Bonta added.
Department of Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the lawsuit will not stop the Trump Administration from “restoring the rule of law.”
“Cities and states who break the law and prevent us from arresting criminal illegal aliens should not receive federal funding. The President has been clear on that,” she said.
Duffy said in a statement that the 20 states have filed the lawsuit because “their officials want to continue breaking federal law and putting the needs of illegal aliens above their own citizens.”
Both lawsuits say that the Trump administration is violating the US Constitution by trying to dictate federal spending when Congress has that power — not the executive branch.
On April 24, states received letters from the Department of Transportation stating that they must cooperate on immigration efforts and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs or risk losing funds.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin criticized the timing of Duffy’s letter when Newark’s airport struggles with radar outages and other issues.
“I wish the administration would stop playing politics with people’s lives,” Platkin said. “I wish Secretary Duffy would do his damn job, which is to make sure planes land on time, not to direct immigration enforcement.”
Meanwhile, on Feb. 24, states received letters from the Department of Homeland Security declaring that states that “refuse to cooperate with, refuse to share information with, or even actively obstruct federal immigration enforcement reject these ideals and the history we share in common as Americans.”
“If any government entity chooses to thumb its nose at the Department of Homeland Security’s national security and public safety mission, it should not receive a single dollar of the Department’s money unless Congress has specifically required it,” Noem wrote in her letter.
Attorneys general behind the lawsuits include the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin and Vermont.
The cases are being spearheaded by California but were filed in federal court in Rhode Island, a detail that the attorneys general defended by saying they filed in “any court that is going to be fair and objective and consider our factual presentation and legal analysis.”
The lawsuits are the latest legal actions that Democratic-led states have taken against Trump since he took office earlier this year. Bonta noted that California has filed more than 20 lawsuits against the administration, while Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said his state has launched more than a dozen.
While the lawsuits have challenged policies on tariffs, federal employee firings and health care research, Trump’s focus on immigration enforcement and the mass deportation of immigrants in the United States illegally have received the most attention.
This has included the president’s promise to mass deport people and the start of a registry required for all those who are in the country illegally.
“What we’re seeing is a creeping authoritarianism,” Neronha said.
Federal grand jury indicts Wisconsin judge in immigration case, allowing charges to continue

- Prosecutors charged Dugan in April via complaint with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction
MADISON, Wisconsin: A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, allowing the case against her to continue.
The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan escalated a clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition to the crackdown.
Prosecutors charged Dugan in April via complaint with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. In the federal criminal justice system, prosecutors can initiate charges against a defendant directly by filing a complaint or present evidence to a grand jury and let that body decide whether to issue charges.
A grand jury still reviews charges brought by complaint to determine whether enough probable cause exists to continue the case as a check on prosecutors’ power. If the grand jury determines there’s probable cause, it issues a written statement of the charges known as an indictment. That’s what happened in Dugan’s case.
Her case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a courthouse back door to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent. That case was eventually dismissed.
Prosecutors say Dugan escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back jury door on April 18 after learning that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking his arrest.
According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz illegally reentered the US after being deported in 2013. Online state court records show he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic abuse in Milwaukee County in March. He was in Dugan’s courtroom that morning of April 18 for a hearing.
Court documents suggest Dugan was alerted to the agents’ presence by her clerk, who was informed by an attorney that the agents appeared to be in the hallway. An affidavit says Dugan was visibly angry over the agents’ arrival and called the situation “absurd” before leaving the bench and retreating to her chambers. She and another judge later approached members of the arrest team in the courthouse with what witnesses described as a “confrontational, angry demeanor.”
After a back-and-forth with the agents over the warrant for Flores-Ruiz, Dugan demanded they speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom, according to the affidavit.
She then returned to the courtroom and was heard saying words to the effect of “wait, come with me” and ushered Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a back jury door typically used only by deputies, jurors, court staff and in-custody defendants, according to the affidavit. Flores-Ruiz was free on a signature bond in the abuse case at the time, according to online state court records.
Federal agents ultimately captured him outside the courthouse after a foot chase.
The state Supreme Court suspended Dugan from the bench in late April, saying the move was necessary to preserve public confidence in the judiciary. A reserve judge is filling in for her.