Why won't Mike Pence's press secretary confirm if the vice president met with Russians?
Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary refused to say definitively if Pence ever met with representatives of Russia during an interview with Fox News' Bill Hemmer on Wednesday. Previously, Pence's team tried to distance the vice president from the Russia scandal, going as far as to pointedly note that Pence joined the Trump campaign only after Donald Trump Jr.'s controversial meeting with an apparent Kremlin agent.
On Wednesday, though, Pence's press secretary Marc Lotter dodged three separate times when asked point-blank if his boss had met with Russian representatives. Hemmer first asked, "Did the vice president ever meet with representatives from Russia?" with Lotter declining to give a straight response. Unsatisfied, Hemmer again asked, "Did he ever meet with representatives from the Russian government during the campaign?" This time, Lotter said the question was something "that the special prosecutors and the counsels are all looking at."
One final time, Hemmer gave Lotter a chance to offer a clear answer. "Is that a yes or a no?" Hemmer demanded. "Did [Pence] or did he not? And was it relevant, in fact?" And one final time, Lotter refused to say. Watch below. Jeva Lange
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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