Mike Pence insists he had no idea Donald Trump Jr. was talking to WikiLeaks

Of all the things you might say about Vice President Mike Pence, it would be difficult to claim he's the kind of person who doesn't let things get past him. On Monday, Politico reports that Pence distanced himself from reports that President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., was in contact with WikiLeaks over the course of the 2016 campaign, with the vice president's press secretary claiming Pence "first learned of this news from a published report earlier tonight."

It is not the first time Pence has apparently been left out of the loop — Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after he was caught lying to Pence about what he discussed with the former Russian ambassador. Pence had been repeating Flynn's false statements in multiple interviews, having been misled.

Pence also scrambled to issue a statement in July distancing himself from revelations that Trump Jr. met knowingly with a Russian source for information about Hillary Clinton. And by all appearances, Pence was completely in the dark about Trump Jr.'s dealings with WikiLeaks, too. Following what at the time appeared to be a lowball question about the Trump campaign being in "cahoots" with WikiLeaks, Pence protested in October 2016: "Nothing could be further from the truth."

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Practically since his appointment as vice president, speculation has run rampant about the White House #2 one day becoming #1. Of course, those ambitions would require some careful distancing from thorny situations like those involving Trump Jr. Watch below. Jeva Lange