This is from an article by Bill Conroy published on May 29, 2017.
When President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, spoke clandestinely with Kremlin officials this past December about the status of US sanctions against that nation, Pence defended him initially — but claimed later that Flynn lied to him about the content of the conversations.
Despite the fact the Trump administration was informed by a member of Congress in November of last year that Flynn was working as a paid agent of the Turkish government while advising Trump on national security matters, Pence insists he only learned of Flynn’s Turkish lobbying pact through the media this past March.
Pence’s claimed ignorance of these events, until they became public via the media, is even more surprising in light of the fact he was responsible as head of Trump’s transition team for overseeing the vetting process for White House appointees like Flynn.
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And the we come to the personal reasons Pence might not want to admit knowing anything.
[O]ne of Pence’s main corporate backers, Eli Lilly & Co., was charged by U.S. officials with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 2012 in relation to its business practices in Russia.
[...]
While serving as a US congressman from 2001-2013, and thereafter as governor of Indiana [...] , Pence also served the interests of another Indiana-based corporation that has deep business roots in Russia — Cummins Inc.
These two Indiana-based Fortune 500 companies with major business interests in Russia — diesel-engine manufacturer Cummins and drug-maker and distributor Eli Lilly — ranked as the No. 2 and No. 3 donors, respectively, to Pence’s federal campaign coffers, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
[...]
In addition to being a leading contributor to Pence’s congressional and gubernatorial campaigns, Eli Lilly also donated $15,000 to an economic development fund used by Pence “to travel overseas, rent luxury sports suites, lobby lawmakers and fly to Iowa ahead of its first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest,” according to an investigation by the Indianapolis Star.
[...]
Jon Mills, media spokesman for Cummins, stressed that the company has “no concern about our perception” with respect to donations made to Pence’s political campaigns over the years or because of the fact Vice President Pence’s brother is an executive at Cummins.
[...]
That’s not to say Pence’s brother has done anything wrong, but he would be considered a potential target of a foreign intelligence service looking to compromise the vice president.
[...]
Some media outlets, including CBS News and the Daily Beast, have reported that behind the scenes [Paul] Manafort played a key role in convincing Trump to pick Pence as his vice presidential running mate. Is it possible that Manafort took an interest in Pence, in part, because he saw him as a Moscow-friendly ally, if push came to shove?
[...]
Given his home state’s reliance on these two huge employers and their past financial support of his political career, it can’t be ruled out that Pence is willing to carry some water for Trump on the Russian front, if that path dovetails with Cummins’ and Eli Lilly’s investment interests in Russia’s economy.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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