Mueller at crossroads in Russia investigation

Mueller could continue to investigate anyone close to the Trump campaign for another year. If he did that, he would confirm that his inquiry has descended into a political cause.

Mueller could more evenly apply his investigations of lying, obstruction of justice and collusion during the 2016 campaign. That way, he would reassure the country of equal treatment of all under the law.

For example, Mueller might re-examine the false testimonies given to investigators by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and by Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin.

In his search for Russian collusion, Mueller might also investigate Steele, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS and the Clinton campaign. All used Russian sources to leak unproven gossip and smears to the press in an effort to warp the 2016 election.

In his search for obstruction of justice, Mueller might also investigate whether top DOJ and FBI officials misled the FISA court by withholding evidence that the Steele dossier was flawed.

In his search for felonious behavior concerning the leaking of classified documents, Mueller might determine:

Whether former top national security and intelligence officials requested that the redacted names of surveilled Americans be unmasked, and whether officials then illegally leaked those names to the media;

Whether FBI officials such as Comey and McCabe leaked confidential findings from their investigations to the media during the 2016 campaign and lied to investigators about it.

If the special counsel’s investigation has turned into a political cause, Mueller will no doubt prefer the last option. That is, Mueller’s report (and possibly more indictments of minor campaign aides) would likely appear shortly before the midterm elections.

If Democrats win the House, then they will probably shut down all congressional investigations of the FBI and the DOJ — and perhaps all reviews of the actions of Mueller himself.