Trump’s legal team prepares to take on Mueller on Russia probe

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s legal team has begun efforts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller and his team investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 polls.

They are looking for evidence to make a case of conflict of interest against Mueller and members of his team to either discredit them or get them fired, according to multiple news reports not challenged by the White House or, especially, Trump.

There are growing concerns in the White House that Mueller could go beyond the Russia inter- ference and investigate Trump and his family’s business and financial dealings. A big worry is also Trump’s tax returns that he has refused to release.

Investigators are already looking at Russian purchases in Trump buildings, his involvement in a New York project with Russian associates, taking the Miss Universe pageant to Moscowin 2013,and the sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian businessman in 2008, Bloomberg reported, citing a source.

According to The Washington Post, Trump has also asked his advisor sand legal team about his powers to pardon his aid es, family members and himself. But, an official insisted, Trump was merely expressing curiosity about his pardoning powers.

US presidents can grant “reprieves and pardons for of fences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment ”. And there is precedence for a president being pardoned— Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon—but there is none for a president pardoning himself.

The report about Trump’s legal team looking into Mueller came the day after he publicly warned the special counsel that it would be a “violation” to delve into his and his family business dealings.