title:  Mike Pence Indicates That He’ll Soon Be In The Russian Hot Seat
text: There has been a lot of social media speculation over what will happen if and when Donald Trump is impeached or he is forced to resign. The Constitution, obviously, says that Mike Pence will be made President. Pence, it s assumed, will be a slightly better alternative. While he s anti-LGBT and anti-woman enough to be the inspiration for the Handmaid s Tale, he appears to be just bland enough to be called sane.Not so fast. He might be sane, but if his latest move is any indication, he could be going down with Trump and the rest of the people who are in bed with Russia. He has hired his own lawyer for the apparent inevitability of appearing under oath.The vice president s office said Thursday that Pence has retained Richard Cullen, a Richmond-based lawyer and chairman of McGuireWoods who previously served as a U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.Pence s decision comes less than a month after Trump hired his own private attorney, Marc E. Kasowitz, to help navigate the investigations related to the Russia probe, and a day after The Washington Post reported that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is widening his investigation to examine whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.Source: Washington PostOf course, the act of hiring a lawyer in no way means Pence is guilty. What we do know, though, is that Pence knew from at least March that Trump s fired National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, was lobbying for a Turkish firm. Yes, there is evidence that policy changed because of Flynn s Turkish ties. Flynn had supposedly left that out when Pence was heading Trump s transition team.The White House, though, sat on that information for 18 days before firing Flynn.Again, hiring a lawyer does not mean guilt, but only three Vice Presidents have done so. Richard Nixon s VP, Spiro Agnew, hired one when he was under investigation for extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy. He ended up resigning, even before Watergate.Al Gore also hired counsel over questions about illegal fundraising. Dick Cheney hired counsel several times.The significant thing to note, though, is that none of the VPs hired counsel because their bosses were in trouble. They hired counsel because they were under fire. We can t be positive, but it s safe to assume that Pence will soon be testifying, and not just for his opinions.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images