The latest filing in Mueller's Russia investigation shows that the transition led by Mike Pence is the subject of interviews with informant Michael Flynn.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's court filing on information he got from Michael Flynn has serious implications, not only for Trump, but for Mike Pence as well.
Mueller's memo recommends a light criminal sentence for Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser, due to the "substantial assistance" he has provided to the investigation. Flynn has been interviewed at least 19 times by Mueller's team and attorneys from the Department of Justice.
In the document, Mueller notes Flynn has "provided firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials."
The Trump transition team was led by Mike Pence, after they decided to remove scandal-plagued Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) from the effort.
Pence has repeatedly tried for over a year to distance himself from the Russia scandals. But Pence led the team that approved installing Michael Flynn as a senior official and gave him access to classified information in the Trump administration.
And Pence's team was warned by Democrats that Flynn had financial ties to foreign governments. But this didn't stop Pence from letting Flynn into the inner circle.
Soon after, Trump and his team were made aware by acting Attorney General Sally Yates that Flynn was possibly compromised by Russia.
When the scandal first began, Pence used the company line, saying, "There is no evidence of collusion between our campaign and any Russian officials."
But then evidence of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians emerged.
Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak met with Jeff Sessions during the campaign, when Sessions was serving as an adviser to the Trump campaign. And Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with a Russian operative offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the campaign.
So Pence changed his story, suddenly proclaiming that he was "not aware" of the connections. That spin didn't work at the time, and the new details of Flynn's cooperation with Mueller indicate the special counsel's office wasn't thrown off the trail either.
Trump, his family, and his top cronies are under the microscope of the investigation. Despite his best efforts to convince the public otherwise and save his own political skin, so is Mike Pence.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
