I MUELLER WANT TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: YOUR PAPERS
Russia probe heats up with requests for info
Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked the Trump administration for heaps of documents in investigation of Russian interference in election.
SPECIAL COUNSEL Robert Mueller has made a list and wants the White House to check it twice before he makes decisions on who’s been naughty or nice.
The former FBI director has asked the Trump administration for documents pertaining to 13 areas from which he wants information, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Those 13 topics reportedly include areas that suggest Mueller is interested in the President’s actions since taking office, including his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the day after he fired FBI Director James Comey.
Other requests are said to focus on Comey’s firing, the firing of disgraced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Unidentified officials told The Washington Post this summer Mueller was looking into the possibility that Trump obstructed justice.
The allegation was lobbed at Trump after Comey said he had been pressured to end the investigation into Flynn.
Trump’s lawyer John Dowd told the Los Angeles Times there was nothing out of the ordinary about Mueller’s actions.
“There’s nothing remarkable or unusual about his requests and Ty is responding to them in due course,” Dowd said, referencing fellow Trump attorney Ty Cobb.
“We have said now for two months that we will cooperate with Bob,” he said, adding that his team was a “very good relationship” with Mueller.
But the request is one of many signs the probe is heating up. Multiple media outlets reported late Tuesday that Mueller’s investigators had already interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose letter about Comey was used by the Trump administration to justify the firing.
Mueller’s investigation is one of many Washington probes delving into alleged election meddling by Russia and potential collusion with the Trump campaign.
Other inquiries are taking place in the House, Senate and FBI.
The special counsel, appointed as pressure on the administration ratcheted up with the Comey firing (inset), has called a federal grand jury to hear evidence.
His probe has also focused on those who surrounded Trump during his campaign and the nascent days of his administration.
Mueller’s agents raided the Alexandria, Va., home of former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort in July, an aggressive move that was followed by other unusual steps such as calling his spokesman and lawyer for testimony.
Manafort’s associates told The New York Times on Wednesday that incessant legal bills from the investigation have the adviser looking for new avenues to make money with gigs abroad.
This time he is going to the Middle East to support the upcoming referendum on independence for the Kurds in northern Iraq, the newspaper reported.
Manafort’s spokesman would not comment on work with the referendum, which is opposed by the U.S. for fears that it could lead to instability.