Pence hires his own lawyer for Russia
probes
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[June 16, 2017]
By Roberta Rampton and Julia Edwards Ainsley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President
Mike Pence has hired a lawyer known for defending government officials
in high-profile investigations to help him with probes into whether
there were ties between the election campaign of U.S. President Donald
Trump and Russia, his office said on Thursday.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow interfered in last
year's presidential campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump's favor.
Trump, who hired his own lawyer last month for probes by a special
counsel and congressional committees, lashed out on Thursday after a
report that he was under investigation for possible obstruction of
justice.
He dismissed as "phony" the idea that his campaign colluded with any
Russian effort to sway the 2016 election. Moscow denies meddling in the
campaign.
Pence hired Richard Cullen, chairman of law firm McGuireWoods, to help
him respond to inquiries from special counsel Robert Mueller, a
spokesman said.
Cullen is a former federal prosecutor who has long ties to former FBI
Director James Comey, whom Trump fired on May 9. He represents former
FIFA President Sepp Blatter in the corruption probe into world soccer's
governing body. U.S. prosecutors have not accused Blatter of wrongdoing.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jun/16/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png)
Cullen, who supported Trump's rival Jeb Bush during the race for the
Republican presidential nomination, also represented Tom DeLay, a Texas
Republican and former majority leader of the U.S. House of
Representatives, during the investigation into corrupt Washington
lobbyist Jack Abramoff. DeLay was not charged.
Pence had been looking at hiring his own counsel for several weeks, and
made his decision earlier this week after interviewing several
candidates, his office said.
"The vice president is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the
president's agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this
matter," Pence spokesman, Jarrod Agen, said in a statement.
Pence has seldom addressed the Russia issue, which has overshadowed
Trump's efforts to overhaul the healthcare system, cut taxes and boost
jobs - priorities that Pence has worked on intensively with Republican
lawmakers.
The Washington Post first reported the Cullen hire. Just before the
story broke, Trump wrote a pair of angry tweets, suggesting that Hillary
Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the election, should be under
investigation instead of him.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump called the probe a "witch hunt" on Twitter.
"They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero
proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story.
Nice," Trump wrote.
LINES OF INQUIRY
Mueller is investigating whether anyone on Trump's campaign, or
associated with it, with him or any of his businesses, may have had any
illegal dealings with Russian officials or others with ties to the
Kremlin, said one U.S. official familiar with the rough outlines of the
probe and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That includes the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, who
is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, and is a senior adviser at the
White House, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unnamed
officials familiar with the matter.
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![](../images/061617pics/news_o23.jpg)
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence watches as U.S. President Donald
Trump departs the White House to embark on his trip to the Middle
East and Europe, in Washington, U.S., May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin
Lamarque
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_060817.png)
Mueller is also looking at a second line of inquiry: whether, if any
potential offenses were committed, Trump or others attempted to
cover them up or obstruct the investigation into them, the source
said.
An examination of possible obstruction of justice charges was
"unavoidable" given testimony by Comey, although the issue may not
become the main focus of the probe, the source said.
Comey told a Senate panel last week he believed Trump fired him to
undermine the FBI's Russia probe. He also told the Senate
Intelligence Committee in his June 8 testimony that he believed
Trump had directed him to drop a related agency investigation into
the president's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
White House officials, including Pence, initially gave differing
reasons for Comey's dismissal, including that he had lost the
confidence of the FBI.
Pence said on Twitter on May 10 that Trump had "made the right
decision at the right time to remove Comey as the head of the FBI"
and praised him for showing "strong & decisive leadership to restore
trust & confidence of the American people in the FBI."
Trump later contradicted his own staff, saying on May 11 he had the
Russia issue in mind when he fired Comey.
Examining the possibility of obstruction charges will allow
investigators to interview key administration figures including
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod
Rosenstein and possibly Trump himself, said the source familiar with
the Mueller investigation.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jun/16/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_051513.png)
While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution,
obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment. Any
such step would face a steep hurdle as it would require approval by
the U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by Trump's
fellow Republicans.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Eric Beech, Jonathan Landay
and John Walcott in Washington and David Ingram in San Francisco;
Writing by Susan Heavey, Arshad Mohammed, Howard Goller and Roberta
Rampton and; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
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