Mike Pence, the US Vice-President, has appointed a personal criminal defence lawyer to handle his responses to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“Pence has retained Richard Cullen, a former United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, becoming one of the most prominent figures in the Trump administration to have taken on personal white-collar criminal defence counsel,” the New York Times says.
The announcement comes amid reports that Mueller’s investigation has broadened to include Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner.
The Washington Post says investigators are “scrutinising meetings that Kushner held with Russians in December — first with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and then with Sergey Gorkov, the head of a state-owned Russian development bank”.
Yesterday Trump reacted angrily to reports that he is being investigated for “possible obstruction of justice” in connection with his decision to fire former FBI director James Comey.