Summary: Vice President Mike Pence is taking moves to protect himself by retaining his own lawyer during the Russia investigation.
With the special counsel investigation and congressional inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election beginning, everyone is looking for ways to protect themselves. Even Vice President Mike Pence has hired a lawyer to represent him during the investigation.
Former Virginia attorney general and chairman of McGuireWoods, Richard Cullen, will represent Pence. Pence had interviewed a number of attorneys before deciding on the former U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia. Pence has been moving to find his own lawyer for weeks, according to his aides. This move is not surprising considering that President Donald Trump has been building his own legal team of outside lawyers to represent him through the investigations.
The vice president’s communications director Jarrod Agen said, “I can confirm that the Vice President has retained Richard Cullen of McGuireWoods to assist him in responding to inquiries by the special counsel. The vice president is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the President’s agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this matter.”
The announcement comes a day after Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller announced he is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice. Mueller will be interviewing three top intelligence officials as part of the investigation. They will be National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and retired deputy NSA director Richard Ledgett.
Of course, Trump had something to say on his Twitter, “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice.”
Pence has stood by Trump, stating there are no ties to Russia. He said in May, “As has been stated repeatedly and the President has been told, he’s not under investigation. There is no evidence of collusion between our campaign and any Russian officials.” After the election, Pence served as head of the transition team but has received criticism for not knowing a number of things that happened during the transition. One source said Pence was focused with Senate-confirmable personnel. They said, “The primary focus for Pence was Cabinet level, as the President had selected his senior staff.”
Pence advisers and staff are also concerned about being drug into the investigation. One senior administration adviser told CNN, “You just worry about some meeting or call that you were at and don’t recall even innocuous in nature, and then you get pounced on.”
Pence plans to pay for his personal lawyer with “non-taxpayer funds.” This means he will use a campaign fund of some kind to foot the bill. He just opened a leadership PAC, the Great American Committee that he plans to fundraise for Friday night. Other funds include Trump-Pence re-election committee or Republican National Committee funds.
Cullen’s other high-profile clients include Tom DeLay, the former Republican majority leader investigated by the Justice Department for connections with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He also represented Tiger Woods ex-wife Elin Nordegren through their divorce and former Senator Paul Trible in the Iran-contra investigation.
Do you think Pence has any connection to Russia? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
To learn more about the Russia investigations, read these articles:
- Key Official Who Was Investigating Trump’s Ties to Russia Departing DOJ
- Trump Campaign Allegedly in Contact with Russians 18 Times in 2016
- Steve Bannon to Head Russia “War Room” Legal Team
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