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Mike Pence Perfects His Disappearing Act
As Mueller closes in on the White House, the vice president makes himself scarce.
It is extraordinary, in retrospect, that Mike Pence wouldn’t have known about Michael Flynn’s conversations with Sergey Kislyak or his foreign lobbying ties. As we now know, multiple members of the Trump campaign were aware that the man who would become Donald Trump’s national security adviser was in communication with the Russian ambassador at a senior campaign official’s behest. Yet Pence, who was in charge of Trump’s White House transition team—directing staffing, organizing agency “landing teams,” and vetting administration candidates—was conveniently out of the loop. (Flynn was ostensibly fired for misleading the vice president about those contacts.) Pence went radio silent again last week, when Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about those conversations. And he was nowhere to be found in the aftermath, as Trump’s legal team raced to contain the fallout after the president potentially implicated himself in obstruction of justice on Twitter.
Pence’s recent absenteeism is only the latest evidence of a delicate balancing act the vice president has maintained since joining the ticket last year.
<snip>
Meanwhile, Pence boosters are waiting quietly in the wing. “It’s not a matter of when Republicans are ready to turn on Trump,” one senior G.O.P. Senate aide told The Atlantic. “It’s about when they decide they’re ready for President Pence.” - Vanity Fair
It is extraordinary, in retrospect, that Mike Pence wouldn’t have known about Michael Flynn’s conversations with Sergey Kislyak or his foreign lobbying ties. As we now know, multiple members of the Trump campaign were aware that the man who would become Donald Trump’s national security adviser was in communication with the Russian ambassador at a senior campaign official’s behest. Yet Pence, who was in charge of Trump’s White House transition team—directing staffing, organizing agency “landing teams,” and vetting administration candidates—was conveniently out of the loop. (Flynn was ostensibly fired for misleading the vice president about those contacts.) Pence went radio silent again last week, when Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about those conversations. And he was nowhere to be found in the aftermath, as Trump’s legal team raced to contain the fallout after the president potentially implicated himself in obstruction of justice on Twitter.
Pence’s recent absenteeism is only the latest evidence of a delicate balancing act the vice president has maintained since joining the ticket last year.
<snip>
Meanwhile, Pence boosters are waiting quietly in the wing. “It’s not a matter of when Republicans are ready to turn on Trump,” one senior G.O.P. Senate aide told The Atlantic. “It’s about when they decide they’re ready for President Pence.” - Vanity Fair
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