Robert Mueller should 'wrap up' his Russia investigation, Mike Pence says
Mr Mueller's team has indicted at least four associates of the president, and more than a dozen Russian nationals
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Your support makes all the difference.Vice President Mike Pence has suggested he thinks it is time for special counsel Robert Mueller to conclude his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any other potential misdeeds by associates of President Donald Trump during that time.
“In the interests of the country, I think it’s time to wrap it up,” Mr Pence said on NBC News.
Mr Pence said that the Trump administration had “fully cooperated” with the probe, even as Mr Trump has called the investigation a “witch hunt”. Mr Pence noted that the administration had handed over more than one million documents to Mr Mueller’s investigation.
The vice president is just the latest ally of Mr Trump to say that it is time for the investigation to be wrapped up.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined the president’s legal team, has also called on the Justice Department to put an end to the investigation.
“I would very respectfully encourage the special counsel and his team to bring their work to completion,” Mr Pence continued.
When asked about recent news that Mr Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had received millions of dollars in payments from companies, Mr Pence said that it was a “private matter” and that it is “something I don’t have any knowledge about”.
In addition to the payments from those companies, Mr Cohen has been under investigation for his role in paying $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in return for her signing a nondisclosure agreement about an alleged affair she had with Mr Trump in 2006.
Mr Trump has denied the affair occurred. Mr Giuliani confirmed last week that Mr Trump himself reimbursed Mr Cohen for the payments to Daniels.
Mr Mueller’s probe has led to indictments of at least four Trump associates, including his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Mr Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and has sought to have his case dismissed because the alleged crimes were not actually related to the 2016 election.
In addition to those four, the Mueller probe has led to indictments of at least 13 Russian nationals, and three Russian companies.
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