Mike Pence, the unpopular governor of Indiana who somehow wandered his way into the vice presidency, has one of the luckiest positions within the White House: he is part of the Trump administration but not of the strange, dynastic, New York City real-estate circle currently being investigated for possible ties to the Kremlin—all of which gives him better odds of career advancement than most vice presidents since Gerald Ford. That said, because of his proximity to Donald Trump, Pence will presumably be drawn into the mess, one way or another. On Friday, Politico reported that Pence's outside lawyer had met with special counsel Robert Mueller to express Pence's willingness to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presideintial election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with it.

According to the report, Richard Cullen, the former U.S. attorney whom Pence hired to represent him in the Russia probe, met with Mueller back in June to signal his interest in cooperating with the investigation. Such meetings between lawyers and prosecutors are not unusual in high-profile investigations like Mueller's, particularly since Cullen and Mueller are former Department of Justice colleagues—the meeting signals Pence's willingness to cooperate. While the White House and others involved in the investigation have stated publicly that they would cooperate, Pence's timing appeared prescient. The meeting, which was held at Pence’s request, came before a tidal wave of Russia inquiry-related news breaks, such as Paul Manafort's, Jared Kushner's, and Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer to discuss potential damaging intel on Hillary Clinton.

Evidence exists to distance Pence from the most suspicious aspects of the Russia inquiry. He was not, for instance, part of the campaign when Trump's son, son-in-law, and campaign manager met with the Russian lawyer peddling Clinton dirt. And when Michael Flynn was fired from his position as national security adviser, Trump could point to the fact that Flynn had lied to Pence about his contacts with the Russians, which led to Pence claiming that Flynn had not discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. But his proximity to the most controversial events in the administration thus far—he was, for instance, one of the people Trump dismissed from an Oval Office meeting before he allegedly asked then-F.B.I. director James Comey to ease up on Flynn—may turn him into a valuable asset in Mueller’s investigation.

For now, however, Pence is fully on the team, recently traveling to the Midwest on behalf of the president. “Confidence is back. Manufacturing is back. And under President Donald Trump, America is back,” said Pence at one point, ignoring the literal and metaphorical hurricane of controversy over Puerto Rican recovery, the cabinet’s penchant for private air travel, and the recent collapse of the Graham-Cassidy attempt to repeal Obamacare.