What Mike Pence does next won't just change the impeachment inquiry — it could change American politics for decades

The VP and his counterparts in the Democratic Party are at a crossroads. What they do next could make for a huge Democratic victory — or a revered Republican hero

While it appears apparent that the US House of Representatives is headed toward the third ever impeachment of a president, until yesterday little had been said about the man who could become the 46th President of the United States, Mike Pence.

Vice President Michael Richard Pence's name was thrown into the spotlight last night after the Washington Post reported that "President Trump repeatedly involved Vice President Pence in efforts to exert pressure on the leader of Ukraine at a time when the president was using other channels to solicit information that he hoped would be damaging to a Democratic rival."

The implications of such a role by Pence in the alleged scandal would mean that Pence was either grossly unprepared for a meeting with the Ukrainian President, or that he was an accessory to Trump's abuse of office. According to reports, Pence was provided with a transcript and notes from Trump's questionable call with Zelensky prior to his own meeting with the Ukrainian president, and Pence's own top aide was also listening in or that call. While it's not out of the realm of possibility that Pence was grossly incompetent and refused to prepare for a crucial meeting with a key ally in the region, it seems much more likely that he knew exactly what was said during the call, and involved himself in the possible extortion of a foreign government on Trump's behalf.

While we are a long way from finding out all of the facts, these latest revelations and reports concerning Pence bring us to an inevitable question: If both the President and the Vice President are implicated in trying to extort a foreign government into digging up dirt on a political opponent, what then?

This could cause quite the conundrum for both Democrats and Republicans. If Democrats were to move forward with impeachment of both the President and the Vice President, they would almost certainly ensure an acquittal of charges in the Republican-led Senate. The mere fact that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is next in line for the presidency would all but guarantee Republicans vote to acquit at least one of the two top officers within the executive branch.

With that said, Democrats will likely have a strategy — either targeting Trump directly without the help of Pence, or, less likely, trying to convict Trump using Pence as a witness. While the odds of Pence turning on Trump seem rather low at this point in time, one must consider what he has hanging in the balance, and how he might like to strategize for his own future.

If Pence does continue to support Trump's denial of wrongdoing, and Democrats are able to show solid evidence of wrongdoing — in other words, that they can show both men worked together to hold up aid to Ukraine as a means to convince President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens — Trump and Pence would likely go down in history in the same breath as Richard Nixon and his VP Spiro Agnew. If, however, Pence portrays himself as someone who was coerced into going along with Trump's alleged extortion attempt, then he not only could help Democrats in the potential impeachment of Trump, but he could help push GOP Senators in the direction of a conviction, while simultaneously increasing his own odds of becoming the 46th President of the United States.

What Democrats do next will likely depend on two factors: Firstly, how much involvement they believe Pence had in helping Trump convince Ukraine to investigate the Bidens; and secondly, the likelihood of Pence prioritizing what's right for himself and America over what's right for Donald Trump.

Given that we are just 13 months from the next election, the ideal situation for Democrats would be for Pence to turn against Trump and implicate him in misconduct so severe that the GOP-led Senate has no choice but to convict the President, removing him from office. From a Democratic standpoint, this would turn a large portion of Trump's base against the Vice President, likely minimizing GOP turnout for next year's election, and giving their own nominee an almost certain path to the White House.

If, however, Trump is removed from office and Pence publicly subscribes to whatever Trump's impeachment defense may eventually be, then his own value within the Republican Party will only grow. Those Republicans who saw Trump as a stumbling block would now have a more traditional conservative candidate in Pence, while Trump's supporters would likely embrace Pence as their next-best option.

With all the uncertainty, one thing is for sure — as the investigation and likely impeachment hearings continue to unfold, Mike Pence's actions, public statements and cooperation, or lack thereof, will play a significant role in the future of American politics.