
Mike Pence led the denials of Donald Trump's porn star affair. Now that more evidence is emerging of a pre-election payoff, he has gone silent.

Mike Pence once described the reports of an affair between Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels as "baseless." But as more and more details have emerged that back up the allegations — revealing both a financial relationship and cover-up — Pence has gone dark on the topic.

In January, Pence was asked by the Associated Press to comment on the affair, and he told the news service, "I'm just not going to comment on the latest baseless allegations against the president."

But the Trump-Daniels reports appear to be anything but "baseless."


As a series of revelations about Trump and Daniels have come to light, Pence has not retracted his comments, nor has he spoken more about the topic in any interviews, speeches, or tweets.

Pence has often presented himself as a "family values" conservative and has echoed many of those in the "religious right" when they have criticized other politicians for moral failings.

Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 on the eve of the 2016 election. The transfer of funds was reportedly made so that Daniels would not discuss the details of the relationship she had with Trump in 2006 and 2007, not long after he married Melania Trump.

Daniels has sued Trump, saying the agreement is not valid because Trump did not sign it. Cohen claims that Trump was unaware of the six-figure transfer.

Her lawyer Michael Avenatti told CNN that, when evidence and facts about the payments are finally revealed, "the American people are going to conclude that attorney Cohen and the White House have not shot straight with them on this issue."

The White House, through press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, tried to brush off questions about the arrangement. But in the process, Sanders has now confirmed that the story is the subject of White House strategizing.

Pence went out on a limb with his dismissal of the story, but now that bravado is turning out to have been false and premature. So now Pence is again laying low and hoping to avoid the fallout from another Trump scandal.