made those false statements was because he didn't know. mike flynn had lied to him about that. how could he have known? now based on the court filings surrounding mike flynn's guilty plea we know that the government has evidence that that story about mike pence is untenable. it wasn't just mike flynn who knew he was discussing sanctions with russia. it was multiple members of the trump transition team. the trump transition team was run by mike pence. so the story can no longer be that flynn, bad apple, rogue actor, lied to the vice president and that's why the vice president told those unwitting lies to the american public. that is over. that can no longer be their rational contention. the story now has to be that not just mike flynn but the entire transition team that mike pence was overseeing all conspired together to lie to mike pence and then agreed to keep the lie going for weeks and weeks as the vice president kept unwittingly repeating the lie to the