ABANDON SHIP

Pence Distances Himself From Trump Jr. Scandal

He’s “not focused on stories about the time before he joined the ticket.”

Vice President Mike Pence has appeared to distance himself from the president as the scandal over Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer grows. In a statement issued Tuesday, Marc Lotter, Pence’s press secretary, said, “The vice president was not aware of the meeting.” “He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket,” the statement said. A White House official cited by Politico said Trump’s aides were irritated by the statement, seeing it as an admission of guilt. Both President Trump and his son have denied any wrongdoing in Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the presidential campaign last year. Trump Jr. released emails Tuesday showing that he’d agreed to the meeting in the hopes that Veselnitskaya would provide damning information on Trump’s election opponent, Hillary Clinton.