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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.

Whether Pence’s arguments will succeed in limiting or altogether avoiding grand jury testimony is unclear, but the Justice Department is expected to oppose those efforts and to make the case that the former vice president’s cooperation is essential for a probe focused on Trump’s actions.

The decision to try to fight the subpoena, which was first reported by Politico, marks a change in posture from Pence, who has cooperated with the Justice Department as it investigates how documents with classified markings ended up at his Indiana home after the end of the Trump administration. He permitted the FBI to search the property last week.

Even if his objection is ultimately rebuffed from the courts, an antagonistic posture could allow Pence to argue that he tried to fight the Justice Department — a potentially useful position in a GOP primary, as many in the Republican base have grown distrustful of federal law enforcement, in part due to Trump’s drumbeat of criticism. And it could delay the special counsel probe, which Smith is working to rapidly advance.

Pence’s decision to resist the subpoena also came after extensive back-and-forth 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 as he inches closer to a likely presidential run.

Richard Levy, a constitutional law professor at the University of Kansas, said it is true that the vice president is in a unique position as the technical presiding officer of the Senate, making the officeholder in some respects a member of the chamber.

But he said that not everything a member does is protected by the speech-or-debate clause and it is debatable whether the vice president’s role in certifying the election, which involves a mix of constitutional and senatorial functions, would be protected.

In any event, Pence’s argument would likely serve to limit the scope of his testimony rather than to block it altogether, he said.

“I don’t think the speech or debate clause would be a basis for quashing the subpoena altogether. It would be a basis for objecting to particular questions,” he said.

Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff to ex-U.S. President Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed as part of a probe by Special Counsel Jack Smith regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Smith's office wants documents and testimony related to Jan. 6, and Meadows received the subpoena in January, the report added.

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith, ABC News has learned.

The subpoena for the couple is specifically related to the special counsel's probe of Jan. 6 and the activities leading up to that day by the former president and his allies regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources told ABC News.

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith, ABC News has learned.

The subpoena for the couple is specifically related to the special counsel's probe of Jan. 6 and the activities leading up to that day by the former president and his allies regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources told ABC News.

Federal prosecutors have asked the chief judge in Washington, D.C.'s federal court to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to comply with a grand jury subpoena and testify as a witness in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, three people familiar with the investigation told CBS News.

The motion to compel Pence's testimony — filed in secret to Chief Judge Beryl Howell in recent days — came after lawyers for former President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege in response to Pence's subpoena, the people said.

Two people familiar with the investigation say the chief judge has also made a common move during a grand-jury investigation, issuing a court instruction for secrecy, or "gag order," in recent days. That means all those involved with the probe in any capacity cannot comment on it.

The moves by the special counsel come as Howell's term as chief judge presiding over all sealed grand juries in Washington, D.C.'s federal court is set to expire on March 17, and a new judge will take over.

The waiting must be most agonal.

My spidey senses tell me it's going to be well worth waiting for.

federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from Politico and The New York Times to unseal court filings from a grand jury investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Politico and The New York Times, along with their respective reporters, Kyle Cheney and Charlie Savage, made the unusual request that the court release filings related to former President Trump’s use of executive privilege in the investigation.

The two news organizations argued that the “historic significance” of the investigation and existing public reporting on the grand jury’s proceedings justified releasing such materials.

Chief District Judge Beryl Howell rejected these arguments in Thursday’s filing, finding that historical significance alone is not sufficient to justify the disclosure of grand jury proceedings and that the cited reports did not render “continued secrecy unnecessary.”

Howell noted that the government and presumed grand jury witnesses have not confirmed or declined to comment on the existing reports, which largely attribute their information to “people familiar with” the matters.

“Since there has been no equivalent disclosure to the government or a grand jury witness ‘proclaim[ing] from the rooftops’ about sealed grand jury information … the cited news reporting is insufficient to unseal any grand jury material,” Howell said in the filing.

Federal prosecutors probing former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office can break through assertions of attorney-client privilege and compel one of Trump’s attorneys to answer more questions in front of a grand jury, a federal judge ruled Friday, according to reports.

The ruling is a significant development in Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump and Trump’s possible obstruction of that investigation, and it is an ominous sign for the former president. The order sets Trump attorney Evan Corcoran up to be a lynchpin in the probe.

CNN was the first to report news of the ruling, which remains under seal.

Corcoran testified in front of a grand jury in connection with the probe earlier this year, but declined to answer some questions, asserting attorney-client privilege.

Federal prosecutors reportedly asked District Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to compel Corcoran to answer more questions, arguing that the crime-fraud exception – which is used to pierce attorney-client privilege when there is evidence that legal services may have been used in the commission of a crime – applied.

Howell agreed in her ruling Friday. The ruling is significant not only for its immediate consequences but also because it lends credibility to prosecutors’ underlying assertion.

The ruling is a significant development in Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump and Trump’s possible obstruction of that investigation, and it is an ominous sign for the former president. The order sets Trump attorney Evan Corcoran up to be a lynchpin in the probe.

he District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a tough blow to former President Donald Trump and his legal team Wednesday afternoon.

A three-judge panel rejected the efforts of Trump and his attorney, Evan Corcoran, to cease the turning over of documents and other communications as part of the investigation into whether the former president mishandled classified documents discovered by authorities at his Mar-a-Lago residence last year.

Circuit Judges J. Michelle Childs, Florence Pan and Nina Pillard issued the order lifting an administrative stay. Childs and Pan were both appointed by President Joe Biden, and Pillard was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Trump's lawyers were provided a Tuesday midnight deadline by the court to provide case-related information and arguments. The Department of Justice (DOJ) was given a 6 a.m. Wednesday deadline.

Last week, then-District of Columbia Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell permitted the DOJ to not just question Corcoran but ordered notes and other communications to be handed over to prosecutors.

Clark Cunningham, law professor at Georgia State University, compared Howell's ruling to that of Judge David Carter—who presided over a March 2022 case in which Trump attorney John Eastman argued that his communications with Trump surrounding January 6 were protected by attorney-client privilege.

It is known as the "crime-fraud exception" and allows Special Counsel Jack Smith to order Corcoran to testify, superseding any traditional attorney-client privilege.

"The crime-fraud exception applies when a client consults an attorney for advice that will serve them in the commission of a fraud or crime, and the communications are sufficiently related to and were made in furtherance of the crime," Carter wrote in the Eastman ruling issued in March 2022. "It is irrelevant whether the attorney was aware of the illegal purpose or whether the scheme was ultimately successful. The exception extinguishes the attorney-client privilege."

Cunningham said the assumption is that Howell's decision infers she "found it was likely that Trump communicated with Corcoran in relation to commission of a crime, and that those communications were related to and in furtherance of the crime."

He told Newsweek via email that the D.C. Court of Appeals' ruling is "striking."

The entire circuit is divided 6-4 between Democratic and Republican judges, he added, which makes him believe Trump and his legal team won't seek a full review by the entire circuit—which remains an option.

"Trump will probably appeal directly to the Supreme Court, which is likely to grant at least a temporary stay," he said.

Attorney Andrew Lieb told Newsweek via email that a lesson Trump may have learned from this ruling is to not "hide behind his attorneys and claim reliance on counsel as a defense" because that crime-fraud exception can make an attorney who furthers a crime a co-conspirator.

"As the walls cave in on Trump's freedom, perhaps the largest wall—the greatest wall, the biggest wall—has just fallen," Lieb said.

A top attorney for former President Donald Trump gave previously undisclosed testimony before a grand jury late last year regarding efforts by Trump's team to locate any classified documents that remained in Trump's possession after the FBI's unprecedented August search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The Dec. 22 testimony from attorney Timothy Parlatore was ordered after months of wrangling between Trump's attorneys and officials in the Justice Department, who had grown increasingly concerned that Trump still continued to hold onto classified documents after more than 100 were discovered in the August 8 search, sources said.

In fact, just days before his testimony, Parlatore revealed to the DOJ and D.C. district court Judge Beryl Howell that a search of Mar-a-Lago conducted by Trump's legal team on Dec. 15 and 16 had discovered four additional documents with classification markings, according to sources.

Parlatore was not subpoenaed for his testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Parlatore, when reached for comment by ABC News, said, "I voluntarily and happily chose to go into the grand jury so that I could present my client's case to them in the context of our search efforts. During my testimony, it was clear that the government was not acting appropriately and made several improper attempts to pierce privilege and, in my opinion, made several significant misstatements to the jury which I believe constitutes prosecutorial misconduct."

A spokesperson for Trump didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Parlatore spent more than seven hours inside the courthouse on the day of his testimony, according to a pool report from a broadcast producer stationed at the court that day.

News of Parlatore's appearance comes as another Trump attorney, Evan Corcoran, is expected to appear before a grand jury on Friday to answer questions from the special counsel that he had previously refused to address, citing attorney-client privilege. As ABC News first reported, Judge Howell last Friday found that prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith's office had made a "prima facie showing that the former president had committed criminal violations" in the course of using Corcoran's legal services, and that his claims of privilege could therefore be pierced, sources said.

The discovery, however, only exacerbated what was already a breakdown in trust between the two sides, sources said, as senior DOJ officials pressed in sealed court proceedings to have Trump's team ordered to comply with their original May 11 subpoena demanding Trump hand over any remaining documents with classified markings in his possession.

On Nov. 15, a month before the discovery of the four documents at Mar-a-Lago, Parlatore notified Howell and DOJ that two other documents in folders marked "Secret" were found when Trump's representatives searched a General Services Administration (GSA) rental storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, the sources said.

Smith, whose Nov. 18 appointment as special counsel overseeing the classified documents investigation came in the middle of the behind-the-scenes court fight with Trump's lawyers, eventually moved for Trump's team to be held in contempt by Judge Howell over their failure to comply with the May subpoena, as ABC News previously reported.

A federal judge has ruled that some of former President Donald Trump's closest aides, including ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, must testify before the grand jury investigating his involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell rejected Trump's argument that executive privilege allowed him to block testimony from former advisers like Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller, former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe and ex-national security adviser Robert O'Brien, the sources said.

Others ordered to testify in the Jan. 6 investigation were Ken Cucinelli, a former DHS official, former White House aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, the sources said.

Trump is expected to appeal the sealed ruling. Legal experts say a criminal investigation usually overcomes executive privilege, as it did when the Supreme Court forced President Richard Nixon to hand over tapes his Oval Office conversations.

Corcoran testified before the grand jury Friday.