Oopsie. VP Pence may already have his very own impeachable offense.

[DetlefK]

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/law-prof-explains-legal-reasoning-why-trumps-new-memo-puts-mike-pence-in-legal-jeopardy-for-impeachment/

“So, we know that this letter was drafted on one day, and then after Steven Miller came back with that draft, it was read in a room of people, including Vice President Pence. And when that letter was read, it had, quote, The New York Times talks about a screed, and it identified all of these other connections to the Russian probe for why Trump had decided to fire Jim Comey. Then after this letter is edited, Mike Pence then tells the media that the Comey firing was not connected to the Russian probe, and he said it was due to Rod Rosenstein’s recommendation. Those statements are untrue.”

He explained that because Pence heard the first letter and the second letter and lied about it, it now “implicates Mike Pence now in a combination of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting obstruction of justice, and also a relatively less known felony called misprision of a felony.”

...

“Let’s keep in mind that the [President Richard] Nixon articles of impeachment included a provision blaming Nixon for misleading or false statements to the public,” Shugerman continued. “Now, that’s not a felony, but it was grounds for impeaching President Nixon.”

[thesquanderer]

1. Unfortunately, grounds for impeachment is whatever the House says it is.

There's no way that a Republican House thinks this would be grounds for impeachment. Heck, even a Dem House wouldn't impeach over this, though it might include it in a list of things if there were other more serious things.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. But it might give us ad fodder for 2020.

[ehrnst]

7. Think of all the fodder we had in 2016.... (nt)

[greeny2323]

4. Still

Even if true, it will still be an awesome day when Pence has to testify before Mueller's grand jury. Imagine Trump's tweets that day.

[Achilleaze]

3. Guy claims to be a "christian." Lies a lot.

That speaks volumes.

[Bluepinky]

5. Yes, he can't eat a meal with a woman unless his wife is also present, but he lies like a rug.

He's one crazy religious dude, I don't know what religion he follows but it's not Christianity.

[watoos]

8. I think he's one of those Dominionists

who believes that the rich are God's chosen. They are Christian Taliban. Remember the Air Force scandal when Dominionism was being forced on the Airmen? You are correct, this nutsy religion isn't Christianity.

[luvtheGWN]

12. He's not the only one in the Administration.

KellyAnne Conway and Huckabee Sanders are also Dominionists. And the description "American Taliban" fits perfectly. Their goal is to have their version of "God's Laws" be the law of the land and wipe out any vestiges of secularism. They are VERY SCARY people.

BTW, what is this new word (in the OP) -- "misprision"? I thought I was fairly erudite, but that's a new one to me!

[EarnestPutz]

13. Misprision

I had to look it up too. Wikipedia says
that there are two kinds of misprision,
negative and positive. Negative would be
concealment of treason or a felony. Positive
is actively doing something wrong that doesn't
rise to being a felony, a misdemeanor of a public
character, like the maladministration of high
public officials.

[luvtheGWN]

14. Thanks Earnest!

Good to know it's a real word and not a typo! Gotta remember that next time I play Scrabble!

[smirkymonkey]

11. He's like the Mafia guy who attends church religiously, and then goes out and

murders his rivals.

[madaboutharry]

6. Mike Pence has fashioned his own personal Christianity.

He has twisted it around in his mind to fit into his narrow vision of the universe. He has an authoritarian mind and a world view that is uncharitable and tainted by pro-life extremism. To people like Mike Pence, the end justifies the means. Lying about the Comey firing is justified if it means protecting Trump and the republican agenda of tax cuts, "small" government, and getting rid of Roe v. Wade. People like Pence have convinced themselves that Jesus would approve. He doesn't see his own corruption.

[BobTheSubgenius]

9. For prosecutors, the wonderful nature of conspiracy laws is that..

...even if a conspirator doesn't know what other people within the conspiracy are doing, and may not even know more than a fraction of said people, being part of it makes every conspirator equally liable for all of it.

Of course, prosecutions don't always, and indeed even rarely, follow such a stringent reading of the statutes, the fact that this weapon exists within a prosecutor's arsenal makes for great leverage.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Didn't he get caught in another lie about knowing and not knowing about

the Flynn situation too?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. He might deserve impeachment, but he's not going to be impeached.

Right now Pence is the establishment Republicans hedge against losing the White House. They'll soon offer up the mentally unstable, volitile and up to his eyeballs Trump but they'll hold the line at Pence.

Unless for some reason it's found that Pence is equally involved and culpable with the Russian collusion as Trump has. We haven't reached that point.

It's possible that if Democrats win Congress in 2018, they could try for a two-fer. But they'd still need two thirds to remove and I doubt they'll have a two thirds majority meaning some Republicans would have to go along. Replacing a Republican President and Vice President in one fell swoop with a Democratic Speaker would not go over well. The Republicans will cry coup and that could resonate.

So I'd expect Pence to say. The good news is we'd have a lot to hold over his head if he ran for reelection in 2020.

[Pope George Ringo II]

17. There's the rub

Pence could shoot Trump in the middle of Fifth Avenue and a Republican Congress still wouldn't impeach him.

[hedda_foil]

16. I wonder if Pence is a member of "The Family."

[toddwv]

18. Remember when a scandal

was the Secretary of State repeating information given to her by US intelligence?