‘Isn’t that telling?‘: Morning Joe throws suspicion on Pence spokesman’s refusal to deny Russia meetings

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough cast suspicion on Vice President Mike Pence's role in the Russia scandal after his spokesperson refused three times to say he'd never met with Russians during the campaign.

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer repeatedly pressed Pence press secretary Marc Lotter over whether the vice president had met with any representatives from Russia after joining the campaign July 15, 2016, and he tap-danced around the question each time.

"His press secretary could not say for sure whether Pence ever met with Russians during the campaign," Scarborough said.

Hemmer tried to nail down Lotter by asking "yes or no -- did he or did he not?"

"I'm not aware of anything that I have seen," Lotter finally admitted.

Scarborough credited Hemmer for remaining focused on getting an answer, but he expressed concern that Pence's spokesman seemed so uncomfortable with the question.

"Isn't it telling that even Mike Pence's people will not say he did not meet with Russians, after Mike Pence in January said, 'Of course, we never met with Russians, we were meeting with the American people,'" Scarborough said.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary under President Barack Obama, said Trump administration officials have clearly stopped trusting one another.

"This is what happens when you repeatedly tell lies," Earnest said. "People stop believing each other -- and for good reason. That's a natural human reaction."

Earnest said the vice president had been lied to at least twice about Russian contacts, and he agreed that was highly unusual.

"It seems like two more than should happen, when you're talking about something so open-and-shut," Earnest said. "This is not a shaded question, this is a pretty open-and-shut case -- what Russians did you meet with? I was in the White House eight years, I knew exactly how many Russians I met with."