GateHouse Media
November 30, 2018
President Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize
Special Counsel Robert Mueller as the U.S. Senate was voting down legislation
to prevent Trump from firing Mueller.
Trump: “When will this illegal Joseph McCarthy style
Witch Hunt, one that has shattered so many innocent lives, ever end-or will it
just go on forever?”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, justified
the senate vote by saying, “This is a solution in search of a problem. The
president is not going to fire Robert Mueller. We have a lot of things to do to
finish up this year without taking votes on things that are completely
irrelevant to outcomes.”
Trump wants Mueller silenced and for good reason. As
the walls begin to close in the president’s vitriol toward the special counsel
and the rule of law intensifies.
Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen recently pleaded
guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump company real estate negotiation.
Cohen is cooperating with Mueller, who is investigating Russian efforts to
influence the 2016 election in Trump’s favor by hacking Democrat emails and
promoting fake news about his opponent Hillary Clinton.
Trump: “He (Mueller) is doing TREMENDOUS damage to
our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the
other.”
Last week, President Trump’s attorneys submitted his
written answers to a series of questions from Mueller about Trump’s knowledge
of the Russian government’s efforts to assist his 2016 bid for the White House.
The inquiries include only a portion of the
questions that Mueller has sought to pose to Trump for nearly a year, when he
first requested an interview with the president, reported the Washington Post.
The topics cover activities during the campaign and do not delve into questions
about whether Trump has sought to obstruct the probe into Russian interference.
Trump: “The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and
they’ve got nothing but ruined lives.”
Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone’s late-night
telephone calls to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign have come under
increasing scrutiny. Mueller seems to be very interested in whether Stone
served as the conduit between Trump and WikiLeaks as the group was publishing
hacked Democrat emails.
Conspiracy theorist, and Stone friend, Jerome Corsi,
who recently turned down a plea offer, released excerpts to Newsweek of a
forthcoming book in which he alleged Stone asked him to tell WikiLeaks to hold
off on releasing some of the hacked emails in order to distract from the
release of the Access Hollywood tape.
Trump: “Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone
rogue....”
Mueller’s keen interest in the Stone-Trump
relationship was revealed this week in a draft court document in which
prosecutors drew a direct line between the two men - referring to Stone as
someone understood to be in regular contact with senior Trump campaign
officials, “including with then-candidate Donald J. Trump.”
According to the Washington Post, the inclusion of
the president by name in the draft filing rattled his legal team and indicated
how closely the special counsel is scrutinizing what Trump may have learned from
Stone about WikiLeaks’ hacked emails.
Trump: “Angry Mueller Gang of Dems is viciously
telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get relief.”
As though things were not bad enough for Trump and
his associates, the special counsel revealed Paul Manafort, Trump’s former
campaign chairman-turned-cooperating-witness, violated his plea agreement by
lying to the special counsel.
This seems to indicate Mueller no longer needs what
many observers believed would be his key witness. He got everything he could
out of Manafort. Using that information, Mueller has connected the dots with
other key players and now the investigation is moving forward fast and furious.
Manafort must face a judge with a conviction at
trial of serious criminal offenses and now a breached plea agreement - the
result of lying to the special counsel.
Things do not look bright for the former campaign
manager and may be a harbinger of things to come.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner’s Toll, 2010 was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner’s Toll, 2010 was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino.
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