Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com
Mike Pence’s time as the head of Donald Trump’s presidential transition is coming under renewed scrutiny with the news that special counsel Robert Mueller has secured access to “thousands” of emails from the team.
Axios reports that sources say “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails are now in Mueller’s custody, including some from Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser.
The Trump team did not know Mueller had their emails until the prosecutors working under him used them as the basis for questions asked of the witnesses being questioned in the Russia probe.
Pence particularly may have reason to worry, as Axios notes that the accounts “include the team’s political leadership.”
The emails are said to include “speculation about vulnerabilities of Trump nominees.”
Pence claimed to be in the dark about the background of Michael Flynn, whom he helped to vet, but he and the transition team were aware of Flynn’s ties to foreign governments. Despite these entanglements — including payments from Russia and an audience with Vladimir Putin — Flynn got the Pence-led team’s blessing and became Trump’s National Security Adviser.
It was Flynn being vulnerable to compromise by foreign governments while also obtaining access to classified national security materials that led then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates to raise multiple concerns with the Trump team.
She was ignored. Then she was fired.
Trump continued to delay removing Flynn, even as he and Pence knew that he was a ticking time bomb. Now, Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is reportedly cooperating with Mueller and his investigation into the Trump team for their collaboration with Russia, and attempts to obstruct justice by covering it up.
In the middle of this maelstrom, right next to Donald Trump, is Mike Pence. And now the investigator has the behind-the-scenes emails for the entire operation he led.
Pence is complicit, and he cannot escape the taint of this entire scandal.
