Trump signals that cooperative approach with Mueller is fading
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signaled a more confrontational legal strategy against the special counsel’s Russia probe on Monday, ripping into what he dismissed as an investigation into a “made up, phony crime.”
His series of tweets were fresh evidence that the cooperative approach with special counsel Robert Mueller that had been advocated by the president’s legal team for months has gone by the wayside. It also revealed the president’s anxiety about how the investigation could sway voters as they decide whether to keep congressional Republicans in power or force him to face an aggressive Democratic majority.
Mr. Trump’s new lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has used a string of media appearances over the past week to cast the probe as a “totally garbage investigation.” And Mr. Giuliani has called into question whether Mr. Trump would be treated fairly by Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors if he were to agree to an interview.
Mr. Mueller’s team is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with Trump associates as well as whether the president obstructed justice. So far, the special counsel’s office has charged 19 people — including four Trump campaign advisers — and three Russian companies.
On Monday, Mr. Trump seized on Mr. Giuliani’s message, focusing on what he sees as the conflicts of interest on Mr. Mueller’s team.
“The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice ... and just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!” he wrote in what seemingly was a reference to a federal judge in Virginia, who on Friday sharply questioned the motivations of Mr. Mueller’s fraud prosecution of Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager. The judge, T.S. Ellis III, said it appeared aimed at getting Mr. Manafort to provide evidence against the president.
But it was unclear what legal action Mr. Trump was referring to that would touch on “unrevealed” conflicts of interest.
Mr. Mueller is a longtime Republican, but some members of his team have made political contributions to Democrats, including to Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent in the 2016 election.
Mr. Mueller could not have barred them from serving on the team based solely on their political contributions. Federal regulations and Justice Department policy prohibit the consideration of political affiliation in hiring and other personnel actions involving career attorneys.
In another tweet on Monday, Mr. Trump said the Russia investigation is “rapidly losing credibility” and referred to the Republican findings of the House Intelligence Committee — specifically that in a yearlong investigation, Republicans on the committee found there was no collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Democrats on the committee issued a dissenting document.
At the same time, Mr. Giuliani said the president and his legal team are pursuing a more public and aggressive strategy toward Mr. Mueller’s investigation as they try to pressure the special counsel to wrap up quickly.
“We have to speak out now, we have no other remedy,” Mr. Giuliani said Monday in an interview. “The president is being harmed in his ability to conduct the business of his presidency.”
Mr. Giuliani said that Mr. Trump and Jay Sekulow, Mr. Trump’s other main lawyer in the inquiry, agreed on the new strategy recently.
“We will no longer be a punching bag for the liberal media, for people who created crimes in their own fantastical mind and out of anger they lost the election,” he said. “We are at the point where we are saying: ‘Let’s get to the end. We are coming up on the one-year anniversary. You have nothing.’”
In congressional testimony, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has defended Mr. Mueller’s team against criticism that it was politically tainted.
“We recognize we have employees with political opinions. And it’s our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions,” Mr. Rosenstein said, adding: “I believe that Director Mueller understands that and that he is running that office appropriately.”
Mr. Mueller’s investigation has operated largely in secrecy with the public only getting glimpses into its operation through witnesses who are questioned or when indictments and guilty pleas are publicly unsealed.
It’s unclear when the investigation will conclude, a fact that Mr. Trump seized on as he worried that it could affect Republican chances in the November midterm elections.
“Is this Phony Witch Hunt going to go on even longer so it wrongfully impacts the Mid-Term Elections, which is what the Democrats always intended?” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Republicans better get tough and smart before it is too late.”
Democratic majorities in either the House or Senate would give the president’s political opponents subpoena power to investigate the administration. And White House officials have privately expressed concerns that Republicans may lose the House in November.
Asked about the tweet on Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanderssaid Mr. Trump was referring to “the fact that we’re still talking about it.”
Ms. Sanders said, “I think the point he’s making is how ridiculous it is that we’re still having this conversation and the depths to which this research has gone on and investigation has been conducted and still produced nothing.”