INDIANAPOLIS -- Vice President Mike Pence has retained outside counsel to help him navigate the ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to the Washington Post, ABC News and others.
The Washington Post was the first to report the news Thursday, noting that Pence had hired former Virginia attorney general Richard Cullen to represent him.
According to ABC News, a spokesman for Pence confirmed the hire an in emailed statement.
Cullen served as a U.S. attorney under President George H. W. Bush and is currently the chairman of the McGuireWoods LLP law firm in Richmond, Virginia, according to ABC News.
Cullen also served as special counsel to U.S. Senator Paul Trible (R-VA) during the Iran-Contra investigation and was on the staff of Rep. M. Caldwell Butler (R-VA) during the Watergate investigation.
According to his McGuireWoods bio page, Cullen is "frequently called on to conduct confidential internal investigations to assist corporations in assessing the risk of criminal prosecution or regulatory enforcement."
In May, President Donald Trump hired his own special counsel – his longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz – to help represent him in the ongoing probe into possible Russian interference.
Trump has been a vocal critic of the Russian investigation. He launched into a new Twitter tirade against it Thursday morning, calling it "phony" and the "single greatest with hunt in American political history."
