WASHINGTON – Former US president Donald Trump has appealed against a judge’s order requiring his former vice-president, Mr Mike Pence, to testify in the special counsel probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Trump’s lawyers filed the appeal after a ruling related to the Justice Department investigation of efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election that Trump, a Republican, lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The case remains under seal. But on Monday, a new sealed case appeared on the federal appeals court docket in Washington, DC, that referred to a grand jury matter before US District Chief Judge James Boasberg.

Final briefs in the appeal are due by May 25, according to an initial schedule set by the court, which does not name the parties to the case.

Mr Pence last week disclosed that he would not appeal against a judge’s ruling that requires him to testify to a federal grand jury about conversations he had with Trump leading up to the deadly attack on the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.

A grand jury made up of citizens decides, after hearing evidence in a case, whether criminal proceedings should be brought against the individual.

In a March ruling, the judge also said Mr Pence could still decline to answer questions related to Jan 6.

Several of Trump’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney-General Merrick Garland last November to handle two Trump investigations, is presenting evidence to grand juries in the two separate investigations.

The first investigation is looking into attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following Trump’s November 2020 loss to Biden.

The second is looking at Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in January 2021, and whether he tried to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation. REUTERS