Pence is among the most politically experienced members of Trump's administration.

But despite of -- or perhaps because of -- his political acuity, Pence has remained largely oblivious to contacts between Trump officials and Russian operatives, at least according to his aides.

Aside from the Flynn episode, Pence's aides said he did not know Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damning information about Hillary Clinton. And his office similarly claimed that Pence wasn't aware of Trump Jr.'s contact with WikiLeaks in the closing days of last year's presidential campaign.

Pence was in charge of Trump's transition team. So is he incompetent, or is he lying?