US 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 US President Donald Trump and Russia, his office said on Thursday. Pence hired Richard Cullen, chairman of law firm McGuireWoods, to help him respond to inquiries from special counsel Robert Mueller, a spokesman said. 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. https://t.co/ndegM7Jrd3 — Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) June 15, 2017Comey told a Senate panel last week he believed Trump fired him to undermine the FBI’s Russia probe. White House officials, including Pence, initially gave differing reasons for Comey’s dismissal, including that he had lost the confidence of the FBI.

Source: Dhaka Tribune June 16, 2017 03:05 UTC