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Despite those challenges, Vice President Mike Pence has been nearly invisible for the last 48 hours or so -- even as the Trump Administration has been buffeted by a slew of negative stories that have occasioned a special counsel to be named to oversee the ongoing Russia probe.

On Wednesday, Pence was nowhere to be seen for most of the day. His staff said that he was working on a series of speeches; Pence is set to deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame on Sunday. Pence's one public event was to honor Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders late in the day.

Still, Pence has spoken nary a word about the blockbuster news that Trump divulged classified information in an Oval Office meeting with two top Russian officials or the bombshell that Trump reportedly asked then FBI Director James Comey to leave off an investigation into the Russia ties of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Pence has also said nothing publicly about the fact that Trump directly contradicted his version of events surrounding Comey's firing 9 days ago.

"The vice president stands by his comments in March upon first hearing the news regarding General Flynn's ties to Turkey and fully supports the President's decision to ask for General Flynn's resignation," an unnamed Pence aide told CNN.

The issue with that statement, of course, is that Pence was the head of the transition team. In that capacity, it seems somewhat hard to believe that Flynn's warning to White House counsel Don McGahn that he was under investigation never made it to Pence's ears.

The last 48 hours, however, have highlighted Pence's political problem: He is serving under a deeply unpredictable president who he will likely be latched to -- in the public's mind -- no matter what happens over these next four or eight years. Pence has, to date, benefited politically from his willingness to embrace the Trump enigma. (He is vice president, after all.) But Trump is a double-edged sword and Pence has been feeling the sharp end of it since Monday.

Correction: An earlier version mischaracterized Pence's tweet about lunch with the Turkish president.

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Mike Pence's disappearing act - CNN

Lieutenant General Michael Flynn (ret.), National Security Advisor Designate speaks during a conference on the transition of the US Presidency from Barack Obama to Donald Trump at the US Institute Of Peace in Washington DC, January 10, 2017 (AFP Photo/CHRIS KLEPONIS)

A Morning Joe panel hinted that Mike Flynn was behind the revelation of several bombshell reports Wednesday that showed the transition team was aware of his foreign contacts and hired him anyway as national security adviser.

Once named to that position, Flynn reportedly killed a planned military action against ISIS at the behest of Turkey and discussed with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak setting up a back-channel network for President Donald Trump to communicate with Vladimir Putin.

Host Joe Scarborough said Vice President Mike Pence, who had been head of the transition team, should have been aware of Flynns problems and certainly knew the president had decided to fire the FBI director for probing his ties to Russia.

Karen Tumulty, a Washington Post political correspondent, also pointed out Pence had been present in the Oval Office just before Trump asked James Comey to drop the investigation of Flynn.

This is a bad story for Pence, either way, said John Heilemann, managing editor of Bloomberg Politics and MSNBC political analyst. Either he knew and is lying or he did not know and was wildly incompetent. Either way, not a great story for him. By the way, it seems to me the import of this story is that Michael Flynns lawyer came out a couple of months ago and said that Mike Flynn had a story to tell hes now starting to tell that story.

Heilemann suggested that Flynn was leaking the reports in hopes of getting the immunity he had sought.

If this is the thing that hes leaking, and there are other things that hes still holding to offer in exchange for immunity, that means this isnt even the worst of it that means hes got more things to say, Heilemann added.

Sam Stein, the senior politics editor for Huffington Post, said the Trump transition team had ignored a series of obvious red flags to name Flynn national security adviser, and both Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed thats because the president felt comfortable around him.

I can tell you first-hand, everybody on that transition team spoke of Michael Flynn as if he were Dwight Eisenhower on June 6, 1944, Scarborough said. He was the greatest guy, he was a calming influence that was the one selection that Donald Trump and Jared Kushner would never be moved off of.

Brzezinksi said the transition team was warned against Flynn, but they ignored those warnings and placed him in charge of national security.

Scores of people saying, Mr. President, do not appoint this man,' Scarborough said. Its the most important position, hes wildly unstable, it would be a terrible mistake. He and Jared Kushner heard that repeatedly every day and didnt give a damn.

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Morning Joe panel hints Flynn turned on Pence: 'He had a story to tell he's now starting to tell that story' - Raw Story

The Daily Banter

Mike Pence Repeatedly Lied About Trump Campaign's Undisclosed Contacts With Russia The Daily Banter Reuters notes that after Pence's comments, campaign and White House officials confirmed four meetings between Trump advisors and ambassador Kislyak. No one from either the Trump administration or the Russian government has been willing to comment ... Big TroubleTPM (blog) Exclusive: Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians: sourcesReuters Trump team knew Mike Flynn was a huge problem. They hired him anywayCNN all 57 news articles »

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Mike Pence Repeatedly Lied About Trump Campaign's Undisclosed Contacts With Russia - The Daily Banter

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained why Vice President Mike Pence, who headed the Trump transition team, may go down with Trump in the Russia scandal if he knew that Mike Flynn was under investigation in January 2017.

Video:

Schiff said, Well. if this is accurate, what it says about the transition team and the President is that they were less concerned about whether Mike Flynn had a deep conflict of interest, may have violated reporting requirements or may be acting as an agent of a foreign power than they were having the guy that they wanted to have who was a personal friend apparently of the president. This is distressing at a number of levels, but I think what it underscores for the public, I think if they thought this was just a paperwork question. His failure to disclose that the was a lobbyist or register. They can now see the real world import, because if these reports are accurate and Mike Flynn was helping to make decisions even during the transition period affecting our approach to the war in Syria about we should arm the Kurds, and hes being paid by Turkey. You can see the real world impact of this conflict of interest and this failure to disclose, and of course, its worse if he did disclose it, and the White House brought him on none the less.

Vice President Pence claims that he didnt know that Flynn was being paid by Turkey until March 9, but it is being reported that Flynn disclosed to the Trump legal team that he was under federal investigation for his lobbying for Turkey on January 4.

As Schiff pointed out, the big problem for Pence is that if Flynn did report, he was under investigation in January, and Pence still made him Trumps national security adviser, that puts the Vice President in the middle of the Flynn part of the Russia scandal.

Mike Pence has a Mike Flynn problem, and if he lied about what he knew, and when he knew it, he is going to go down with Trump for the Russia scandal

Adam Schiff, Mike Flynn, Mike Pence, Pence could go down for Russia scandal, Russia scandal, RussiaGate

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Rep. Adam Schiff Explains Why Mike Pence Is Going Down For The Russia Scandal - PoliticusUSA

Some graduating seniors at the University of Notre Dame say they are planning to protest the presence of Vice President Pence at their commencement by standing up and quietly walking out of the ceremony. School officials say they wont try to stop them.

Pence will give the commencement address at the nations most prominent Catholic university on May 21 at the campus in South Bend, Ind. In the past, the university invited newly inaugurated presidents to give the address in their first year of office and six previous presidents accepted but this year was different.

Thousands of students and faculty members signed a petition asking Notre Dames president, the Rev. John Jenkins, not to invite him, saying that they did not think Trumps actions and behavior were in line with the schools values. While there were Trump supporters who wanted him to speak, the school decided to instead invite Pence, a former Indiana governor.

A coalition of student activist groups at Notre Dame called We StaND For is planning the walkout to protest policies Pence pursued as governor that they say targeted the most vulnerable. Other groups from outside the school community will, at the same time, hold a protest just south of campus to show solidarity with the students, according to Bryan Ricketts of We StaND For. One of the participating groups, South Bend Equality, wrote in a statement about why it is participating:

Our members lived in South Bend when Mike Pence was governor. We know all too well how his policies endangered or caused direct harm to public education, health care, womens rights, the environment, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants and refugees, reproductive rights, local infrastructure, the economy of our state, and more.

Other groups participating in the off-campus protest are We Stand For; We Go High! of St. Joe County, Ind.; Michiana Alliance for Democracy; Alliance for Democracy; the Nu Black Power Movement; Inclusive Michiana; Planned Parenthood of Indiana & Kentucky; and the IWW Local 26.

Paul Browne, vice president for public affairs and communications at the University of Notre Dame, said that student protest leaders have already talked to security police and other officials on campus about their plans, and the school isnt trying to stop them. He said the protesters plan to silently leave commencement at some point and do it in a respectful manner.

The action, he said, does not surprise school officials because the university has repeatedly been the scene of protests.

For example, some antiabortion activists protested President Barack Obama when he spoke at the 2009 graduation ceremony, and there were protests too for Vice President Joe Biden at the 2016 commencement, he said. Biden was there to receive the Laetare Medal, along with former Republican house speaker John Boehner; the award is the highest given to Catholics in the United States and recognizes service to the Catholic Church and society. There were protesters on campus, too, for a recent talk by conservative political scientist Charles Murray.

Its not unusual for us, he said.

Pence protest organizers are using the hashtag #WalkOutND to build support for their effort and say they expect scores of students and many more family and friends in the audience to participate. There will be about 2,000 graduating seniors at the ceremony.

Browne said the school was not concerned about the protests. Virtually our entire discussion at the moment is about the weather, he said. Thunderstorms may drive the ceremony from an outside venue, where students can have unlimited tickets for guests, to an inside auditorium where tickets will be limited, he said. (Correction: An earlier version said the six previous presidents had spoken at Notre Dame; it was six former presidents. Also clarifying wording on past protesters.)

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Notre Dame students plan to protest against Mike Pence at ... - Washington Post