Vice President

Latest on the Trump-Putin Campaign investigation

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Earlier this week, NBC News reported that President Donald Trump in an interview last Friday tried to turn some of the controversy around his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, on the administration of President Barack Obama, saying the retired general was previously vetted. Trump Tries to Deflect Flynn Vetting Questions on Obama Administration:

“When they say we didn’t vet, well, Obama I guess didn’t vet, because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama administration,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.

“So when he came into our administration for a short period of time, he came in, he was already approved by the Obama administration and he had years left on that approval,” Trump said.

The implication is that the Trump transition team did not have to vet Flynn. But they did:

While Flynn served in the Obama administration — Flynn was fired by President Obama from his postion at DIA for clashing with other high-ranking officials and “Flynn facts” — the Trump transition team and White House had an additional responsibility to do a separate background check, which is always done for people at that level.

The Trump team did do a background check and learned about Flynn’s business ties with Turkey, but Flynn was appointed anyway, people close to the investigation have told NBC News.

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Vice Presidential Debate Preview

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The media villagers have settled on their meme for tonight’s vice presidential debate: Nice guys Kaine and Pence square off in VP debate.

PenceTrumpThis is yet another example of a lazy media’s undying devotion to false equivalency.

I’m sorry, but anyone who knows anything at all about the record of Mike Pence knows that he is not a “nice guy,” but rather a religious right extremist. This is why Donald Trump selected him as his running mate, to shore up his support among the evangelical religious right. Pence is the guy the religious right really wants.

Trump should keep this in mind should he be elected president, and increase his security detail. He is just “God’s vehicle” to get Pence in the door of the White House.

Steve Benen takes a look at Mike Pence’s record in To see Mike Pence as ‘normal’ is to grade on a generous curve:

[I]n one important area, Pence has the advantage of being perceived as a mainstream pol. Politico published a piece yesterday that characterized tonight’s vice presidential debate as “Battle of the Normals,” and a “sane moment” in a campaign cycle that’s often seemed insane.

It looms as the most normal political encounter of this paranormal political year: two middle-aged career politicians, experienced legislators and governors, debating for 90 minutes over their sharp but presumably civilized policy differences on the issues of the day.

There’ll be no Donald Trump-style invective. No Bernie Sanders ideological fireworks. No crowded field of GOP contenders vying to outdo each other for one good sound bite or memorable attack. Just two conventional pols reverting to form.

On a certain level, I can appreciate where analysis like this is coming from. As a matter of tone and temperament, Mike Pence is hardly scary: the governor is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken Midwesterner. Unlike the man at the top of the GOP ticket, no one would ever expect Pence to start tweeting at 3 a.m. about his disgust for a beauty-pageant contestant and encourage Americans to seek out a “sex tape.”

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