Why did Flynn lie to Pence?

Or, why did Pence lie about Flynn?

The answer might be simple - they didn't.

Pence was already on record as authorizing no coordination with Russians.

Which was wrong, because they had asked Flynn to do it as part of the transition work.

So what was Flynn supposed to do?

Call Pence a liar?

Or run with the same story, and risk being caught out?

Except they had the wiretaps.

Flynn took the heat for Pence.

Better to accept the blame as being a liar, then to undermine the new VP as a liar.