Mike Pence blows smoke rings at Adam Schiff American Thinker, Dec 12, 2019
Rep. Adam Schiff is a wily, calculating old weasel, and in drawing on his impeachment show, he thought he had a live one in Vice President Mike Pence, the man who theoretically stands to gain from any removal from office of President Trump. Schiff asked Pence to declassify records of his conversations with Ukrainian leaders, same as Trump declassified his records of phone calls. It should have been easy....
But he was in for a surprise: Instead of jumping to do what Schiff wanted, Pence calmly blew smoke rings at him. Here's Politico:
QuoteVice President Mike Pence’s counsel rejected House Democrats’ request to declassify details of a Sept. 18 call between Pence and Ukraine’s president, calling the request illegitimate because the impeachment inquiry has concluded.
In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pence’s lawyer, Matthew Morgan, said it “serves no purpose” to declassify supplemental testimony from one of Pence’s national security aides, as Schiff had demanded.
The reason cited, of course, is that the impeachment is over. Schiff did his Schiff show, wrapped it up, and forked it over to the Judiciary committee for the inevitable vote against Trump. Schiff's bid to have Pence declassify documents after that has no actual purpose other than a political one for Schiff's benefit -- and Pence could see it. Seriously, what possible exciting thing be contained within a September phone conversation between Pence and the president of Ukraine? Pence isn't a flashy guy. Schiff obviously just wanted to keep the whole thing cooking, now that the current express-impeachment effort is faltering.
Politico notes that it's not the first time Pence has seen right through Schiff's maneuvers and told the clown 'no.'
And from Pence's point of view, it's bad stuff given that private conversations between leaders and their foreign counterparts shouldn't be splattered all over any time Schiff wants to go digging for something new to impeach.