Happening now, former Vice President Mike Pence says he will not appeal a judge's ruling

to testify in the Special Counsel's January 6th investigation. Pence is now poised to

recount for the first time under oath his conversations

with Donald Trump leading up to the January insurrection. Also tonight Kevin

McCarthy leads a defiant show of force in the face of stern warnings from China, the

speaker and a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers holding a historic meeting

with Taiwan's president on American soil. I'll be speaking with a top Democrat who is in the room for the

talks. And later this hour we will go live to Jerusalem amid rising tensions in

the Middle East. There are new fears that violence could boil over after Israeli forces raid one of the

holiest sites in Islam for the second straight night.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.

Wolf Blitzers off today, I'm Alex Markward and you're in the situation room.

Let's get straight to our top story tonight. Special counsel Jack Smith notches a major victory securing a firm commitment from former Vice

President Mike Pence to testify in his probe of the January 6th insurrection.

CNN Sarah Murray has been working her sources for us.

Sarah, of course, all eyes have been on Manhattan this week for that investigation but this now sets up a

major moment in one of the federal investigations so how significant is

Pence's testimony? I mean it could be hugely significant obviously we know that in

the run-up to January 6th

Donald Trump put enormous pressure on his then vice president Mike Pence

to block the certification of the election results and what a court said

is that Mike Pence would have to answer questions about those conversations

...