More on Pitcock:

Top aide to Vice President Pence given waiver from ethics rules

June 1, 2017

WASHINGTON – The White House has exempted Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Josh Pitcock from ethics rules aimed at preventing conflicts of interest from Pitcock’s past work as Indiana’s federal lobbyist.

The waiver allows Pitcock to work on issues he previously handled for Pence, as well as to interact with Indiana officials.

Pitcock was included in the 14 ethics waivers disclosed Wednesday evening, ending a confrontation with the government’s top ethics official.

Pitcock’s waiver allows him to deal with Indiana officials despite President Donald Trump’s executive order barring former lobbyists from communicating with a former client unless the meeting is open to all interested parties. Pitcock represented Indiana’s federal interests while Pence was governor.

The Trump administration, the waiver states, has an interest in interacting with Indiana on issues important to the administration.

“It is important that you be able to communicate and meet with the state of Indiana, and disqualification from such meetings or communications would limit the ability of the office of vice president to effectively carry out administration priorities,” the waiver states.

Issues Indiana’s current federal lobbyist, Debbie Hohlt, is working on for Gov. Eric Holcomb include agriculture policy, infrastructure funding, the superfund site in East Chicago and Medicaid funding.

Pitcock also was given permission to be involved in policy matters he previously handled, including refugee resettlement, opioid abuse, environmental regulations, trade, agriculture and health care.

“The office of vice president has been tasked with a wide variety of issues,” the waiver states. “The administration has an interest in you working on matters in these areas due to your expertise and prior experience.”

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/behind-closed-doors/2017/06/01/top-aide-vice-president-pence-given-waiver-ethics-rules/102387670/

Trump-Pence campaign aide stays on Indiana payroll

Nov. 2, 2016

INDIANAPOLIS - A key aide to Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Gov. Mike Pence, continues to earn $23,000 a month as Indiana’s sole Washington lobbyist even as he has taken a paid position with the Republican presidential campaign and regularly travels with Pence to political rallies across the country during working hours.

The dual, simultaneous employment of Joshua Pitcock is unusual. Legal and ethics experts contacted by The Associated Press said the government lobbyist should be subject to the same ethics rules as rank-and-file state employees, which generally prohibit such double-dipping. A separate prohibition against moonlighting bans Indiana state employees from accepting outside employment or undertaking activities that are not compatible with their public duties, would impair their independence or judgment, or pose a likely conflict of interest.

The governor’s office said Pitcock is exempt from most such rules because the Pence administration treats Pitcock as an independent contractor. It considers his contract for “professional services” different from contracts for “personal” services, which treat contractors as employees.

Pitcock continues to collect monthly lobbying fees — a total of nearly $1 million since Pence won election in 2012 and took office in 2013. Since August, after Pitcock also began working as Pence’s policy director for the election, Trump’s campaign has paid Pitcock’s firm $32,374 for event consulting, according to the latest financial records from the Federal Election Commission. Pitcock told AP that he refunded to Trump’s campaign $15,612, which he described as an overpayment caused by an accounting error.

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Members of Indiana’s congressional delegation, including the office of Republican Sen. Dan Coats, said Pitcock was an effective lobbyist.

“Josh regularly communicates with Senator Coats and his staff on issues affecting Indiana and how to best advance Hoosier priorities,” Coats spokesman Matt Lahr said in an emailed statement.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/02/trump-pence-campaign-aide-stays-indiana-payroll/93163466/

Mueller report: Dan Coats declined to help end probe

DNI, former Hoosier senator, advised Trump to let it run its course

Apr 19, 2019

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was asked in 2017 by President Donald Trump to help end Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s alleged interference with the 2016 U.S. election, according to findings by Mueller’s team.

The redacted 448-page findings were released Thursday by U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

According to the Mueller report, several times in 2017, Trump asked Coats to help end Mueller’s investigation. The investigation, Trump said, was interfering with his ability to conduct foreign relations.

Coats declined, saying his job was to provide intelligence and not get involved with investigations. He told the president that the fastest way to “get it done” was to let the investigation run its course, according to the report.

Coats, a Republican, served as a U.S. senator from Indiana 1989-1999. He also was the congressional representative for Indiana’s 4th District 1981-1989, after defeating then incumbent-Birch Bayh for his first term.

On March 22, 2017, Trump asked for Coats and CIA Director Michael Pompeo to stay after a White House meeting, according to the Mueller report. Coats recalled that he was asked to state publicly that no link existed between the president and Russia.

Pompeo said he had no recollection of being asked to stay behind after the March 22 briefing, but he recalled that the president “regularly urged officials to get the word out that he had not done anything wrong related to Russia,” the Mueller report found.

Coats told Mueller’s office that the president never asked him to speak to James Comey, whom Trump later fired as the director of the FBI, about the FBI investigation.

However, some of Coats’ staffers offered different recollections of how Coats described the meeting immediately after it occurred.

According to senior Director of National Intelligence official Michael Dempsey, Coats said after the March 22 meeting that the president had brought up the Russia investigation and asked him to “contact Comey to see if there was a way to get past the investigation, get it over with, end it, or words to that effect,” according to the report.

Dempsey said that Coats described the president’s comments as falling “somewhere between musing about hating the investigation” and wanting Coats to “do something to stop it.”

Dempsey said Coats made it clear that he would not get involved with an ongoing FBI investigation.

https://www.tribstar.com/news/indiana_news/mueller-report-dan-coats-declined-to-help-end-probe/article_090837c2-afcf-553a-ac15-e231921dd6c7.html

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Mike Pence stopped DNI Dan Coats from quitting over frustrations with Trump: Report

March 26, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence had to talk Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats out of resigning from the Trump administration over his frustrations with the president, according to a new report Tuesday.

Mr. Coats‘ relationship with President Trump allegedly strained following requests by Mr. Trump to find evidence he was wiretapped by former President Barack Obama. The president also called on Mr. Coats to publicly criticize the intelligence community and even accused him of leaking top secret info, officials told NBC News.

The reported breaking point for Mr. Coats, a former Indiana congressman, was Mr. Trump’s decision to remove troops from Syria and the resignation of former Defense Secretary James N. Mattis.

Mr. Pence reportedly had to talk Mr. Coats out of handing in his resignation letter and implored him to stay until at least the end of the summer.

The vice president has allegedly also urged Mr. Trump to stay behind Mr. Coats, who the president calls “Mr. Rogers” whenever he’s frustrated with him, the report said.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/26/mike-pence-stopped-dan-coats-from-quitting-over-fr/

With Trump’s epic election upset, Vice President-elect Mike Pence urged Coats to join the administration as director of national intelligence.

http://www.journalreview.com/opinion/article_3b2594f6-8c57-11e8-9ee8-7b8696a510dd.html