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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDon't Believe That Pence Was "Out of the Loop" - Josh Marshall
By JOSH MARSHALL Published MAY 19, 2017 9:06 AM
Were seeing multiple stories this morning, building on hints and suggestions over the course of the week, that Vice President Mike Pence was kept out of the loop on seemingly all the problems with Mike Flynn. I see no reason to believe this.
Pence wouldnt be the first Vice President to go this route. Some of the modern ubiquity of this phrase stems from then Vice President Bush claiming hed been out of the loop on key decisions and knowledge about the Iran-Contra Scandal. Theres even less reason to believe this with Pence.
If we were still in the late summer of 2016, Id say maybe. Pence comes from a different world. Whatever Pences own issues, Trumps world of predation and appetites and grift isnt Pences. Or at least it wasnt. But Pence has now been up close, right there, with everything thats happened over the last 8 or 9 months, with Flynn and all his emerging secrets and bad acts. Pence was the head of the presidential transition when Flynn informed the transitions top lawyer Donald McGahn (now White House Counsel) that he was being investigated by the FBI. More than two months later Pence claimed it was the first hed heard about it.
It is fair to say that Pence probably wasnt the active manager of the Transition process. But its probably fair to say that nothing would be more important to the transition process than learning that the Presidents top foreign policy advisor was being investigated for being in the pay of a foreign power. Like, almost literally nothing. If he never learned about something that serious, he either made sure not to hear or had information kept from him by others. A similar pattern emerges with Flynns assurances about his calls with Russian Ambassador Kislyak: Pences public statements turn out to be false and its excused with the claim that he was left in the dark. There are many other examples.
The only way this seems plausible to me is if Pence were somehow so clean, so far from the center of the action, that the Trump crew knew not to tell Pence these things. That clearly seems to be the story Pences aides are trying to tell possibly to insulate him from Trumps ubiquitous corruption and lying and allow a smooth transition to a Pence presidency. But again, it doesnt add up.
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dont-believe-that-pence-was-out-of-the-loop
DefenseLawyer
(11,101 posts)whether he wanted to be or not.
ananda
(28,834 posts)Pence was always in the loop.
kentuck
(111,052 posts)VP Pence is such a talented politician.
spanone
(135,791 posts)Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)2naSalit
(86,323 posts)is innocent.