It’s time for Mike Pence to come clean

The key question after James Comey’s testimony is: What did Mike Pence know, and when did he know it? 

Yes, the question the nation asked more than a generation ago during Watergate is the same question which needs to be asked in the latest White House scandal. 

Let’s go through some key facts and dates:

Dec. 29, 2016: Flynn speaks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about the sanctions recently placed on Russia by the Obama administration.

Dec. 30: Vladimir Putin announces that Russia will not take action in response to the sanctions.

Jan. 4, 2017: Flynn informs the Trump transition team, which Pence headed, that he is under investigation for failing to register as an agent of the Turkish government. 

Jan. 12: The Washington Post reports that Flynn and Kislyak spoke the day before Putin’s announcement.

Jan. 14: Flynn and Pence speak about the situation. Pence claims that Flynn told him that the sanctions against Russia were not discussed with Kislyak.

Jan. 15: Pence goes on Face the Nation and states that Flynn did not discuss sanctions with the Russian ambassador – a statement that proved blatantly false.

Jan. 26: Sally Yates and an aide go to the White House to speak with Don McGahn, the White House counsel. They explain that Flynn has been compromised and that he needs to inform the President, Vice President, and others.

Jan. 27: McGahn asks Yates to return to the White House to further discuss the matter.

Jan. 30: Trump fires Yates after she refuses to enforce his travel ban.

Feb. 9: The Washington Post reports that Flynn discussed the sanctions with Kislyak. A spokesperson for Pence claims that the VP had been unaware.

Feb. 10: Donald Trump also claims that he was unaware that Flynn and Kislyak had discussed sanctions.

February 13th: It is reported that the White House knew about the nature of Flynn’s discussions with Kislyak for weeks.

Now we come to James Comey’s testimony. According to Comey, as far as he understood it, the Vice President was aware of the nature of Flynn’s discussion with Kislyak.

If you are to believe otherwise, you’d have to be willing to believe that somehow others in the White House knew, including the President, but not the Vice President, who was busy speaking on news outlets and saying the complete opposite. 

You’d have to believe that McGahn, who, according to Sean Spicer, conducted an “exhaustive and extensive questioning of Flynn,” did not, for some reason, inform the Vice President. It would mean that either McGahn was not doing his job and Pence didn’t know, or Pence is not telling the truth and covering the White House. 

Shouldn’t we ask McGahn in order to find out?

And why wouldn’t Trump stop Pence from repeating the inaccurate information?

And if Pence isn’t telling the truth, we again must ask why. Why would Pence continually mislead the public about his knowledge of Flynn’s interaction with Kislyak?

If you ask yourself that question, you can’t help but reach the conclusion that it could only be for nefarious purposes.

Comey also indicated that Attorney General Jeff Sessions potentially could not be trusted when it came to the Russia/Flynn situation.

Again: Why?

Then, when Comey himself refused to let the Russia matter drop, he was pressured by Trump and then suddenly and unceremoniously canned. Coincidence?

The question remains: What happened between Pence and McGahn and why was the Vice President continuing to make claims that the administration knew were false?

Can Mr. Pence answer that one?

Ross Rosenfeld is a political pundit who has written for Newsday, the New York Daily News, Charles Scribner’s, MacMillan, Newsweek.com, Primedia and The Hill.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.