Mike Pence told the special counsel probing Jan. 6 that then-President Trump was advised by "crank" lawyers and almost created a "constitutional crisis," sources say.

Speaking with special counsel Jack Smith’s team earlier this year, former Vice President Mike Pence offered harrowing details about how, in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump surrounded himself with “crank” attorneys, espoused “un-American” legal theories, and almost pushed the country toward a “constitutional crisis,” according to sources familiar with what Pence told investigators.

The sources said Pence also told investigators he’s “sure” that – in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob tried to stop Congress from certifying the election – he informed Trump he still hadn’t seen evidence of significant election fraud, but Trump was unmoved, continuing to claim the election was “stolen” and acting “recklessly” on that “tragic day.”