--- title: Mike Pence Hires Lawyer Amid Trump Russia Investigation description: Mike Pence has hired outside legal counsel to help him navigate the investigations into possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia canonical: https://time.com/4820834/mike-pence-donald-trump-russia-lawyer/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-15T21:51:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:03:25.506Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mike Pence Hired a Personal Lawyer to Handle the Russia Investigation og:description: As reports indicate the probe is now looking at whether Trump obstructed justice og:url: https://time.com/4820834/mike-pence-donald-trump-russia-lawyer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd15af9fbb28f93a/6988d1fefb4eacfe548927de/vice-president-mike-pence-lawyer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Vice President Pence Speaks At Conference On Prosperity And Security In Central America og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mike Pence Hired a Personal Lawyer to Handle the Russia Investigation twitter:description: As reports indicate the probe is now looking at whether Trump obstructed justice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd15af9fbb28f93a/6988d1fefb4eacfe548927de/vice-president-mike-pence-lawyer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mike Pence Hired a Personal Lawyer to Handle the Russia Investigation > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6df8b4ba-a357-41de-89ba-d08604c8c1fb&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Jun 15, 2017 9:51 PM UTC  Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America at the Florida International University on June 15, 2017 in Miami, Florida. The conferance brought together government and business leaders from the United States, Mexico, Central America, and other countries to address the economic, security, and governance challenges and opportunities in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America at the Florida International University on June 15, 2017 in Miami, Florida. The conferance brought together government and business leaders from the United States, Mexico, Central America, and other countries to address the economic, security, and governance challenges and opportunities in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Jun 15, 2017 9:51 PM UTC Vice President [Mike Pence](http://time.com/4793901/vice-president-mike-pence/) has hired outside legal counsel to help him navigate the investigations into possible ties between [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4819555/fight-to-bring-order-donald-trump-white-house/)’s campaign and Russia, according a new report. Pence has retained Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuire Woods and former U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, the [Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pence-hires-outside-counsel-to-deal-with-russia-probe-inquiries/2017/06/15/c40ef55c-51f5-11e7-a973-3dae94ed3eb7%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.aad84c16620e). Cullen also previously served as Virginia’s Attorney General in the late 1990s. “I can confirm that the Vice President has retained Richard Cullen of McGuire Woods to assist him in responding to inquiries by the special counsel,” Jarrod Agen, a Pence spokesman, told the _Post_. “The Vice President is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the President’s agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this matter.” Pence’s move to hire his own representation comes a few weeks after Trump tapped his own personal attorney, [Marc Kasowitz](http://time.com/4819560/trump-taps-personal-lawyer-for-russia-probe/), to help him with the Russia probes. The [_Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-investigating-trump-for-possible-obstruction-of-justice/2017/06/14/9ce02506-5131-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.c4600393c7b2)[ also reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-investigating-trump-for-possible-obstruction-of-justice/2017/06/14/9ce02506-5131-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.c4600393c7b2) this week that Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the probe, has expanded his investigation to examine whether Trump obstructed justice. Trump’s team hit back at the obstruction report, with a spokesman for Kasowitz saying that leaking information about Mueller’s investigation was “[outrageous, inexcusable and illegal](http://time.com/4819320/donald-trump-robert-mueller-investigation-obstruction-of-justice/).” He did not, however, deny the _Post_ report. As for Pence’s lawyer, he will not be paid with taxpayer money, an aide for the vice president said. The vice president’s office also said the decision to hire a lawyer underscores Pence’s cooperation with any inquiries related to the Russia investigations. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4820834/mike-pence-donald-trump-russia-lawyer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4820834/mike-pence-donald-trump-russia-lawyer/"},"headline":"Mike Pence Hired a Personal Lawyer to Handle the Russia Investigation","datePublished":"2017-06-15T21:51:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:03:25.506Z","description":"As reports indicate the probe is now looking at whether Trump obstructed justice","url":"https://time.com/4820834/mike-pence-donald-trump-russia-lawyer/","keywords":["White House","Mike Pence","onetime","Russia Investigation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd15af9fbb28f93a/6988d1fefb4eacfe548927de/vice-president-mike-pence-lawyer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd15af9fbb28f93a/6988d1fefb4eacfe548927de/vice-president-mike-pence-lawyer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vice President Pence Speaks At Conference On Prosperity And Security In Central America","caption":"Vice President Pence Speaks At Conference On Prosperity And Security In Central America","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4820834/mike-pence-donald-trump-russia-lawyer/","name":"Mike Pence Hired a Personal Lawyer to Handle the Russia Investigation"}}]}] ```