Vice President Mike Pence, a likely witness as the investigation focuses on Trump’s firings of both White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey, made the most public break yet in Trump’s innermost circle this week by confirming he’s retained a prominent Virginia GOP attorney to represent him.

“Pence hiring a lawyer tells the White House staff two things: They’re all potential witnesses in this investigation and don’t listen to Marc Kasowitz,” said Adam Goldberg, a former Clinton White House crisis communications official…

“I just worry staffers in the White House will feel that it’s a test of their loyalty to Trump whether they’re willing to follow Kasowitz’s wishes. That could be very dangerous to them,” said William Jeffress, a white-collar attorney who represented Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, in the CIA leak investigation. “I kind of feel sorry for them in a way.”