What did Mike Pence know??

[kentuck]

Behind the curtains, what happened to cause Donald Trump to get rid of Michael Flynn?

The White House decided to do nothing after being informed about the actions of General Flynn by Sally Yates. They debated for four days and finally decided to get rid of Sally Yates. General Flynn would stay in his position.

For those four days and two weeks longer, VP Pence knew nothing about it. He went on TV, as did the spokesman, Sean Spicer, to inform America that there was nothing to the call that Flynn had made to the Russian ambassador. The subject of sanctions was not brought up.

Until the Washington Post broke the big story that there was recorded evidence, the White House was content to let Flynn stay on as National Security Advisor. But, the Post story got the attention of Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership and they recognized the seriousness of the situation. Michael Flynn had to go.

There was an urgent meeting with Trump to persuade him that he had no choice but to get rid of Flynn. It was for the good of Party and they would say that VP Pence knew nothing about the details of Flynn's call when he went on TV and said that sanctions were not mentioned. He was lied to by General Flynn. That was their story and they were going to stick to it.

Trump was not a happy camper when the Republican leadership recommended General McMaster to be Flynn's replacement. He needed Flynn. He did not want a replacement. But, the GOP leaders told him that he had no choice. They could not defend Flynn's telephone calls with the Russians. The first leak in the White House ship had been plugged.

Mike Pence continued to play the charade that Flynn was not truthful with him and that was the reason given for Flynn's dismissal by Trump. This became the new narrative. McMaster took over the National Security position and began to clean house with the holdovers brought in by General Flynn.

Trump was never as comfortable with General McMaster as he had been with General Flynn. Pence continued to praise Trump every time he had the opportunity, because he knew that always worked with Donald Trump, and continued to wait in the wings for his opportunity to come.

[dchill]

1. Putin plugin Pence has known everything all along.

[kentuck]

5. He was in charge of the transition team.

I don't buy their story that Flynn "lied" to him and that he did not know about the contacts with the Russians. I think he knew about it when he lied to the American people.

[dchill]

15. Exactly. He did what he was put there to do.

[LovingA2andMI]

2. Everything....

And All of It.

[nikibatts]

3. He knew it all and he lied about it. Ask Cummings.

[onecaliberal]

4. He knew everything there was to know.

[HopeAgain]

6. I feel like that's where Yate's testimony actually may have hurt the cause..

She consistently testified as though it was a given that Pence was the dupe; that he didn't know he was pushing inaccurate information. She could have easily made clear that is not a given...that too many others were hangin' with Russians, including Manafort, Page and Sessions. Pence was leading the transition, for God's sake. Yates really should have testified that Pence was saying things that Justice knew to be false. That regardless of what Pence actually knew, the entire Administration was being set up for blackmail and the Justice Department saw it coming.

I am already seeing the new RW defense -- that Trump and Pence were clueless; that Flynn, Page, Manafort, Sessions, Prince, Kushner, and all the other druz'ya of Putin were acting without the knowledge or consent of Trump and Pence. Yates seemed reluctant to talk about the pattern which even Comey was stronger on pointing out.

[Moostache]

10. If that's their plan, they better tied Trump to a chair and break his phone...

Getting Trump to play the unwitting patsy, the weakling, is going to be their downfall if they try that line of defense. The man can't let ANYTHING slide, so to be the open target of scorn and ridicule for being essentially an incompetent dupe is going to drive him nuts.

Don't forget he LOVES to tell people how smart he is, how he has a great brain, how he has the best words, etc...

[SHRED]

12. I heard that also

She should never have assumed what Pence knew or didn't know.

[Enoki33]

7. It defies logic for it to be any other way. The performance of the

GOP so far in the hearings supports their party first policy. The long term damage they are inflicting on themselves will be more evident in the future. Incidentally, Pence, in addition to being a liar, is also a religious bigot.

[Saviolo]

8. It all sounds too good to be true...

If they were going to get rid of Trump and install Pence instead, we'd be in just as bad (and in some ways worse) a position as before, but if Pence is getting painted with the same brush, is it possible they'll both be shown the door? Is it too much to hope for? Both of them are compromised and need to go?

[OnDoutside]

9. Wasn't there a case to get hold of Pence's emails when he was Govenor ?

[ehrnst]

11. If the WH knew, and Pence didn't, that's gross negligence in national security issues

If Pence knew, then that is gross negligence in national security issues

[berksdem]

13. What I want to know...

is when is this all going to come to an end! We know the Russians wanted Trump but we need to complete truth surrounding the collusion of Trump and his Team. Is there an end to this or will this just keep moving along until he is voted out of office?

Sorry, I am getting impatient about this 80)

[kentuck]

14. Trump has been able to escape their net for the last 30 years.

I would guess that Senator Whitehouse's proposal to crack down on LLC's scare him more than anything?