Ground shifts underneath an embattled president
Special counsel appointed to lead investigation into possible links between Trump and Russians
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump, walking crisis, creates so many little fiascos that the real earthquakes can feel at first like just more of the usual tremors.
Well, hold on to your red baseball caps: the big one has hit. And you can see the ground around the president shifting fast.
In the latest major development to daze the flailing administration over three consecutive remarkable days, the U.S. deputy attorney general has made the rare decision to appoint a special counsel to lead the investigation into possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government. Rod Rosenstein handed the probe Wednesday to former FBI director Robert Mueller, a lawyer who led the bureau under president George W. Bush but who commands bipartisan respect. Mueller was an ally of the FBI director fired by Trump last week, James Comey, during a Bush-era internal battle.
Rosenstein’s decision, which had been requested by Democrats but opposed by Trump, removes the delicate investigation from the direct control of the president’s own appointees.
It therefore leaves Trump significantly more exposed to the political and legal peril that had already been growing since Monday.
Mueller is authorized to prosecute any federal crimes arising from the investigation.
“My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted,” Rosenstein said in a statement.
“I have made no such determination. What I have determined is, based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.”
His announcement followed two blockbuster media scoops, on Monday and Tuesday, that deepened the self-inflicted calamity Trump triggered when he terminated Comey and then admitted he had been thinking about the Russia probe when he did it.
All signs point to things getting worse for him over time.
Crucially, there are indications that the Republicans who control Congress are begrudgingly awakening from their long oversight slumber. They seem to have been roused by Tuesday’s New York Times report that Comey had written a memo asserting Trump asked him to end the investigation into Trump’s just-fired national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Some legal experts said there was a possibility that Trump had committed obstruction of justice. That crime, though, is difficult to prove, since it requires prosecutors to establish that the perpetrator had corrupt intentions, and there is no reason to think Republican leaders will dump Trump any time soon.
Acase in point: House Speaker Paul Ryan began his weekly press conference Wednesday talking about tax cuts. Against all evidence, the message was business as usual.
But party donors disagreed, expressing anonymous dismay to U.S. publications, and so did investors. As markets tumbled on fears about the fate of Republicans’ business-friendly agenda, some party politicians began using dire language previously limited to Democrats.
Sen. John McCain invoked the Watergate scandal, saying this saga is moving even faster. At least three Republican congressmen uttered a variation of the word impeachment.
“Any effort to impede or interfere with a federal investigation is by definition obstruction of justice, and there’s precedent for the House to consider obstruction of justice an impeachable offence,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo told the Miami Herald.
Seasoned observers were skeptical that Republicans would do much of consequence. Trump, after all, is still supported by more than four-fifths of Republican voters. And this is the party that stuck by him after he was caught on tape appearing to confess to sexual assault.
But the crisis doesn’t need to force Trump’s ouster to inflict severe damage. The wound appears likely to fester for weeks if not months, impeding the ability of Trump and Republicans to achieve their goals.
“I think the legislative process has pretty much grounded to a halt until you get the Comey episode dealt with,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told NBC.
When the Washington Post reported Monday that Trump had divulged highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister, most Republicans were still responding to his latest misbehaviour with the detached pose they have perfected: professions of “concern,” no action at all. The story about Trump’s alleged request to spare Flynn finally shook the party into motion.
Republicans in both the Senate and House invited Comey to testify in public. And House oversight committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz requested all of Comey’s documents about his dealings with Trump.
Comey is known as both a talented bureaucratic fighter and a prolific note-taker, and he is said to have a number of additional memos. The best case for Trump is another lightning round of credibility-tarnishing news about stories we already know about. The worst case is a sensational new revelation that convinces Republicans they have no choice but to take steps toward impeachment.
In between, an unpleasant middle ground: a morass of investigations, hearings and subpoenas tying up the emotional energy of a president who appears unable to control his impulses. Reports by the Times, the Post and Politico have portrayed Trump as enraged, confused and ignorant, his staff like hapless parents unable to corral their problem tod- dler. While Trump is said to be considering a major personnel shakeup, the fundamental problem, by all accounts, is the president himself.
Trump accepted his aides’ demand to refrain Wednesday from tweeting about the Russia matter. He expressed his frustration with the me- dia in a speech to a graduating class at the Coast Guard Academy, declaring that “no politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
He issued a restrained statement in response to the appointment of Mueller, saying a thorough investigation would prove “there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity.”
A special counsel is not entirely independent: Trump has the power to fire him and he still reports to Rosenstein. Democrats applauded the selection of Mueller but called again for an independent commission.
There was yet another Russiarelated revelation on Wednesday evening. The Post reported that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy had said, in a private Republican meeting in 2016, that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin “pays” Trump. Ryan then warned the group, “No leaks.”
People in attendance laughed during the exchange and McCarthy told NBC that it was “a bad attempt at a joke.”