Rachel Maddow Says Mike Pence’s Choice Of Legal Defense Is Proof That He’s Running Scared

Even though Vice President Mike Pence hasn’t been the central focus of the ongoing investigation into the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, Rachel Maddow explained on Thursday night that his choice of Richard Cullen as his personal criminal defense lawyer is proof that the vice president is afraid he might be brought down by the scandal, too.

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Maddow pointed out that Cullen was central to other major Republican presidential scandals, including Ronald Reagan’s Iran-Contra and Richard Nixon’s Watergate.

In other words, Pence is worried that the current scandal surrounding the administration’s links to Russia and its potential obstruction of justice could bring the whole administration down, so he picked a lawyer with experience in similar matters.

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Maddow said:

It’s very interesting that the vice president has felt the need to hire private counsel, right? The specific private counsel he’s chosen? Who knows if we should extrapolate from those previous experiences in previous Republican presidential scandals. … But, you know, it would appear that Vice President Mike Pence does have stuff to worry about here. … It’s not surprising that the vice president has no found himself a private lawyer, but oh what a private lawyer he has got. 

The fact that Mike Pence is now lawyering up suggests that, while he has largely flown under the radar with respect to the Russia scandal, he may have reason to worry after all.

As Maddow pointed out, Pence has uttered complete lies with respect to his knowledge of Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia and about the reasons behind the firing of James Comey, which the vice president had said had absolutely nothing to do with the Russia investigation.

Pence’s initial attempt at playing dumb may have worked in the short-term, but the more time that has passed, the more it looks like he, too, is caught up in this major White House scandal and possible obstruction of justice.

His hiring of a lawyer that has experience dealing with other major GOP presidential scandals is proof that Pence knows he could be in trouble and go down with Trump.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.