Mike Pence To Robert Mueller On Russia Probe: 'Wrap It Up'
Vice President Mike Pence wants special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the probe into possible connections between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, to “wrap it up.”
On Thursday morning, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviewed Pence and asked about Mueller.
She first pressed Pence on whether Mueller could be trusted. Pence didn’t answer that question or her follow-up about whether “this investigation is a hoax.”
Instead, Pence responded, “What I think is that it’s been about a year since this investigation began. Our administration has provided over a million documents. We’ve fully cooperated in it. And in the interest of the country, I think it’s time to wrap it up. I would very respectfully encourage the special counsel and his team to bring their work to completion.”
.@MitchellReports asks @VP if he thinks Bob Mueller’s investigation is a “hoax” pic.twitter.com/ec9kaiqN0t
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 10, 2018
His comment raised a red flag for “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough, who mentioned the interview with Mitchell on his show on MSNBC later that morning.
Scarborough theorized that Pence might not be revealing all that he knows about the investigation, particularly about former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“Mike Pence has been claiming that he was just out in the dark,” said Scarborough.
.@JoeNBC reacts to Mike Pence's remarks on Mueller investigation pic.twitter.com/ONpApSxIBB
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) May 10, 2018
“And that he was just this clueless, hapless Indiana Hoosier that Donald Trump and the rest of the White House said nothing to. But you’ve just got to start asking yourself, if Mike Pence wants to kill an investigation that is pursuing how the Russians tried to undermine American democracy in 2016 — my gosh, makes me sad to say this … but I guess we have to start asking the question why does Mike Pence want to kill this investigation?”
Scarborough called Pence the “Spiro Agnew for the Trump administration,” referring to Richard Nixon’s first vice president, who resigned after pleading no contest to an income tax evasion charge.
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He has supported LGBT discrimination under the banner of "religious freedom."
The bill's passage sparked national controversy, and in the end, was reported to have set the state back $250 million. In April 2015, Pence signed a revised version of the bill into law that included language that explicitly barred businesses from denying services to customers on the basis of categories that include sexual orientation and gender identity. Many LGBT rights advocates remained critical of the revisions, saying that Indiana should have repealed the measure altogether.
He REALLY opposes same-sex marriage.
Of the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling that granted same-sex couples the right to tie the knot nationwide, he reportedly said that he said he was disappointed that SCOTUS had “failed to recognize the historic role of the states in setting marriage policy,” but nonetheless noted that he believed “in the rule of law.”
He's opposed hate crime protections for LGBT people.
At the time, Pence blasted President Barack Obama for using the measure to “advance a radical social agenda,” according to USA Today, and argued that the law could be used to curb free speech rights.
He didn't want "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repealed.
In 2010 he told CNN he did not want to see the military become “a backdrop for social experimentation," and said, "We ought to put their interests and the interests of our national security first."
He opposed Obama's 2016 transgender bathroom directive.
“The federal government has not business getting involved in issues of this nature,” Pence said.
His stance on HIV/AIDS prevention is questionable at best.
He's also suggested that needle exchange programs, which can be used to help prevent the spread of HIV, encouraged drug use.
Last year, Pence reluctantly allowed for a short-term needle exchange program to be put into place in Indiana following a spike in HIV infections across the state.
"I do not enter into this lightly," he told The Indianapolis Star. "In response to a public health emergency, I'm prepared to make an exception to my long-standing opposition to needle exchange programs."
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
