These past few weeks, due to a possibility of a Watergate-level misconduct from Trump, the President was in for a possible impeachment. It's only natural that spotlights are now slowly turning towards Mike Pence, the man who would succeed Trump if he gets impeached. However, the bigger question is, is he really different from Trump? While Pence may have started distancing himself from Trump's shenanigans, this article is going to list examples of how Pence may be considered assisting Trump's actions.
Access Hollywood Video
Mike Pence joined Trump back in 2016, stating that the man has a lot of respect for women, is religious in faith, and carries solid family values.
Yet, when reports of Trump's bigoted and sexist remarks were released, Pence only claimed that Trump's remarks were being taken out of context.
Even after a leaked video which showed Trump talking about sexually grabbing women without consent, Pence simply claimed that it's "just talk." And when Trump denied the accusations, Pence’s immediate stance seemed to back Trump’s character Trump.
Pizzagate
Three days after Trump's election win, he announced that Flynn would be his National Security Adviser and will help in the transition. Flynn brought his son on to help with the transition.
Soon after, Flynn's son started to circulate conspiracy theories on top of his racist remarks. One of the conspiracy theories that he circulated eventually led to a violent incident. A man believing that there was a child sex ring in the basement of a Washington pizza restaurant, actually fired shots at the location. Luckily, no one was injured.
When Pence was asked about the incident during an interview, he loudly claimed that Flynn's son has no involvement in the transition. In reality, Flynn's son was given a high-security clearance to help with the transition.
The Russian Call
Three weeks after the infamous Pizzagate issue, the Flynn and Russian government issues erupted. This was the incident that caused the termination of Flynn from the National Security Adviser position.
Almost immediately after the issue began to circulate, Pence came out saying that he talked to Flynn and he can vouch that the former National Security Adviser never discussed anything sensitive with the Russian government.
When a leak came out that Flynn did discuss sensitive information with the Russian officials, Pence immediately claimed that he was also being duped by Flynn.
Comey Meeting
On February 14 National Security officials, former FBI Director James Comey, Mike Pence, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Pres. Trump held a meeting. As the meeting was ending, Trump asked everyone to leave except Comey.
This was the time when Trump requested Comey to drop Flynn's investigation in connection to the possible Russian collusion incident.
A lot of experts would claim that a brave Vice President would at least try to find out why Trump requested Comey to stay as the possibility of the President lobbying on Flynn's behalf was very real. Instead, Pence was nowhere to be found. In fact, it was Jeff Sessions who made an attempt to stay. He only left as he was ordered by Trump to do so.
As the possibility of Trump's impeachment is becoming clearer and clearer, maybe it's time that we all ask ourselves if Pence is the right man to replace him. Pence may be playing smart by always claiming "I didn't know". He is willingly trying to keep himself out of the loop so he can claim innocence. At the very least, Pence may be abetting Trump's actions. Worst case scenario, he is "in" with Trump.
