I‘m not convinced Vice President Mike Pence’s request of Robert Mueller this week was really all that dramatic.
Here’s how Pence responded to questions about the special counsel investigation in an interview with Andrea Mitchell: “Our administration has been fully cooperating with the special counsel and will continue to. What I think is it’s been about a year since this investigation began. Our administration has provided over 1 million documents, we’ve fully cooperated and in the interest of the country I think it’s time to wrap it up.”
“And I would very respectfully encourage the special counsel and his team to bring their work to conclusion,” Pence added.
He didn’t demand Mueller close up shop immediately, undercut the probe, give any sort of ultimatum, or make any threats, though from some of the media reaction you may have come away with that impression. Pence didn’t even insist the probe end on a clear timeline, choosing instead to “respectfully encourage” the special counsel to “wrap it up” and “bring their work to a conclusion.”
That’s gentle language, both in delivery and impact. How the vice president’s “respectful encourage[ment]” in a press interview would actually influence Mueller, or pressure him into cutting short his work, is unclear.
It’s of course the position of the administration that the investigation’s targets are innocent and Mueller will uncover no wrongdoing. What, then, is so egregious about Pence “respectfully encourag[ing]” those investigators to move towards a conclusion?
We don’t really know at what stage of the investigation Mueller is, or the severity of what he may have uncovered. And I don’t support the administration working to delegitimize his work at all. But that’s not what Pence did. Nor was he guilty in that moment of exerting undue pressure on the special counsel to close up shop. If he’s taking more concrete steps behind the scenes to influence the investigation, that’s another story.
