Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump team raises doubt on Mueller probe
Republicans urge investigation of review
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller isn’t done with his investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election, but Republicans increasingly are trying to stack up reasons for the American public to doubt whatever he concludes.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s legal team joined a growing chorus of Republicans who want to investigate the prosecutors investigating the White House, calling for another special counsel to examine decisions and personnel at the Department of Justice.
“The conflicts of interest here and the impropriety is a very serious concern,” said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers. “You have to look at all of 2016 and what was going on in the Department of Justice.”
Sekulow cited reports that Bruce Ohr, a senior official at the Justice Department, had a previously undisclosed meeting with Fusion GPS, a private research firm that compiled unverified allegations about Trump and his aides in a now-infamous dossier that emerged last year. Ohr’s wife apparently worked for the firm, although it’s unclear if her work overlapped with last year’s campaign.
The issue was the latest that Trump’s supporters have seized upon to paint investigations of the president as partisan. They cite financial contributions to Democrats by some of Mueller’s team of prosecutors, the transfer of a senior FBI agent who had sent what were said to be anti-Trump texts to a colleague, and other controversies as evidence that the probe is flawed.
At the same time, Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, suggested Tuesday that the Mueller investigation may be nearing an end. He said the special counsel’s office has finished all of its interviews with White House officials.
“I think we’re still on a glide path that will not torture the American people well into next year,” he said.
Trump’s lawyers were careful not to criticize Mueller and said the White House will continue to cooperate with his investigation.
But Sekulow questioned whether research for the dossier, which was funded first by anti-Trump Republicans and subsequently by Democrats, was improperly used to obtain highly classified foreign intelligence surveillance warrants that may have intercepted communications involving some of Trump’s campaign aides, a suggestion repeatedly floated by the president’s allies.
The battle over the investigation is almost certain to come up Wednesday when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testifies before the House Judiciary Committee. Rosenstein is under pressure because he appointed Mueller, oversees him and has authority to fire him. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation in March because of his own contacts with the Russian ambassador.
GOP criticism of the Mueller probe has mounted steadily in recent weeks, a mix of charges and innuendo that fires up conservative media outlets before ricocheting around Washington.
Democrats, and some outside critics, say the Republican counterattack aims to discredit Mueller’s investigation as he pushes deeper into the White House, and perhaps to lay the political groundwork for Trump to order Mueller’s dismissal. They call the complaints a tactic meant to confuse the public.
The Justice Department “cannot simply assign a special counsel to look at things that bother the White House,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, accused Trump’s lawyers of “another attempt to muddy the waters and deflect attention.”