Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained why Vice President Mike Pence, who headed the Trump transition team, may go down with Trump in the Russia scandal if he knew that Mike Flynn was under investigation in January 2017.
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Schiff said, “Well. if this is accurate, what it says about the transition team and the President is that they were less concerned about whether Mike Flynn had a deep conflict of interest, may have violated reporting requirements or may be acting as an agent of a foreign power than they were having the guy that they wanted to have who was a personal friend apparently of the president. This is distressing at a number of levels, but I think what it underscores for the public, I think if they thought this was just a paperwork question. His failure to disclose that the was a lobbyist or register. They can now see the real world import, because if these reports are accurate and Mike Flynn was helping to make decisions even during the transition period affecting our approach to the war in Syria about we should arm the Kurds, and he’s being paid by Turkey. You can see the real world impact of this conflict of interest and this failure to disclose, and of course, it’s worse if he did disclose it, and the White House brought him on none the less.”
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Vice President Pence claims that he didn’t know that Flynn was being paid by Turkey until March 9, but it is being reported that Flynn disclosed to the Trump legal team that he was under federal investigation for his lobbying for Turkey on January 4.
As Schiff pointed out, the big problem for Pence is that if Flynn did report, he was under investigation in January, and Pence still made him Trump’s national security adviser, that puts the Vice President in the middle of the Flynn part of the Russia scandal.
Mike Pence has a Mike Flynn problem, and if he lied about what he knew, and when he knew it, he is going to go down with Trump for the Russia scandal
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
