A spokesman for Mike Pence on Wednesday repeatedly refused to answer whether the vice president ever met with representatives from Russia during last year’s campaign. Appearing on Fox News, Pence press secretary Marc Lotter was asked by host Bill Hemmer, “Did the vice president ever meet with representatives from Russia?”
“The vice president is not focused on the areas on this campaign, especially things that happened before he was on the ticket,” Lotter replied, adding that Pence’s focus was on “talking to the American people.” (This comment is almost identical to a statement Lotter issued to THE WEEKLY STANDARD on Monday, before Donald Trump Jr. released emails regarding his meeting with a Russian lawyer.)
Hemmer pressed: “If it wasn’t a private citizen from Russia, did he ever meet with representatives from the Russian government during the campaign?”
“That’s stuff that the special prosecutors and the counsels are all looking at,” Lotter said. “I can tell you that in all my time with the vice president I knew that he was focused entirely on talking to the American people.”
Hemmer asked one more time. “I’m not aware of anything that I have seen,” Lotter said.
In January, Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Pence whether the Trump campaign had communicated with Russians before the election.
“Of course not,” Pence replied then. “Chris, this is all a distraction, and it’s all part of a narrative to delegitimize the election and to question the legitimacy of the presidency. The American people see right through it.”
Lotter also said that Donald Trump Jr.’s emails, in which he discussed setting up a meeting with a Russian lawyer to obtain information damaging to Hillary Clinton, was not an important matter for the Trump administration.
“This is not something that the White House is focused on at all right now,” Lotter said.
President Trump tweeted his displeasure with the story several times Wednesday morning:
My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
Remember, when you hear the words “sources say” from the Fake Media, often times those sources are made up and do not exist.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
