Trump sent Mueller private notes
Lawyer says president ‘appreciates’ investigator and has no intention of trying to oust him
President Trump has publicly called the widening federal investigation into Russia’s alleged election meddling a “witch hunt,” but through his lawyer, he has sent private messages of “appreciation” to special counsel Robert Mueller.
“He appreciates what Bob Mueller is doing,” Trump’s chief counsel, John Dowd, told USA TODAY in an interview Tuesday. “He asked me to share that with him, and that’s what I’ve done.”
Trump’s legal team has been in contact with Mueller’s office, and Dowd said he passed along the president’s messages expressing “appreciation and greetings” to the special counsel.
“The president has sent messages back and forth,” Dowd said, declining to elaborate further.
For weeks, Washington political circles have been alert for the possibility the president could try to get rid of Mueller or wrest control of the Russia inquiry he denounces as a “hoax.”
Yet the Trump legal camp cast the communication as a sign that the president is willing to cooperate with Mueller, whose office declined to comment.
Former federal prosecutors said there are no rules that would prevent a president from passing along messages to the special counsel through an attorney.
Even so, Trump’s private com- munication represents a “striking ” contradiction to his public condemnations of the Russia investigation, said Jimmy Gurule, a former assistant attorney general in President George H.W. Bush’s administration.
“It’s an extreme position to go from hateful statements to this,” Gurule said. “What would cause him to change his mind?”
Trump has come under fire for his contacts with FBI Director James Comey, whom he fired in May because of his handling of the Russia matter. In a break with
long-standing precedent to avoid even the appearance of influencing the non-political law enforcement agency’s investigations, Trump spoke privately with Comey on several occasions.
In those conversations, Comey said, Trump tried to convince him to drop parts of the Russia investigation and asked for a pledge of loyalty — accounts that not only led to the appointment of a special counsel but also an expansion of the probe to include possible obstruction of justice.
Dowd said all communication with Mueller has been proper.
“We get along well with Bob Mueller; our communications have been constructive,” the attorney said. “But it is important that our communications remain confidential. It’s important that there not be any breakdown in that trust.”
Officials have moved to tamp down talk of ousting Mueller.
“That’s never been on the table, never,” Dowd said of the possibility Trump might try to remove the special counsel. “It’s a manifestation of the media. My dealings with Bob Mueller have always been cordial, respectful — the way it should be.”
Ron Woods, a former federal prosecutor and FBI agent, said he saw nothing inappropriate about
“That’s never been on the table, never. It’s a manifestation of the media. My dealings with Bob Mueller have always been cordial, respectful — the way it should be.”
John Dowd, President Trump’s chief counsel
Trump’s communication with Mueller through his attorney.
“I think it’s a smart play on Dowd’s part,” Woods said. “They’ve obviously taken the position that the best defense now is to cooperate.”
Though Woods noted that “nothing about this case has been usual,” Dowd and Mueller have a history as friends. “There is nothing wrong with Dowd talking to Mueller,” Woods said.
Other legal experts didn’t find it so straightforward. “This is peculiar,” tweeted Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney fired by Trump this year. “It would be more helpful if he stopped undermining Mueller publicly.”
Trump and his aides have been highly critical of Mueller and his investigation into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russians suspected of seeking to influence the presidential election. Trump said he hasn’t done anything wrong so Mueller’s job is unnecessary, and he accused the former FBI director of unspecified conflicts of interest.
Lawmakers, including Republicans, started sounding the alarm about Mueller after days of concerted attacks by the president against Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The unusual public criticism of a Cabinet official who was one of Trump’s earliest supporters — months after his recusal from the Russia investigation — raised questions about whether the president was trying to get Sessions to quit or would fire him. Trump cannot fire Mueller directly, but he can fire Sessions, and a new, more pliable attorney general — without conflicts in the Russia investigation — could oust the special counsel. Sessions has refused to resign, and Trump hasn’t moved to fire him.
Senators from both parties introduced legislation that would make it harder for the president to dismiss Mueller. A pair of pending proposals would require judges to review any presidential firing and force the president to provide specific legal reasons for taking such action.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said last month that any move against Mueller could be “the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who sponsors one of the proposals designed to protect special counsels, said, “A back-end judicial review process to prevent unmerited removals of special counsels not only helps to ensure their investigatory independence but also reaffirms our nation’s system of checks and balances.”
A recent poll of battleground districts indicated that firing Mueller would be unpopular with voters.
Mueller supervises an inquiry that focuses on suspected Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election through fake news and the hacking of political organizations and Democrats close to nominee Hillary Clinton.
The wide-ranging inquiry includes a meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower where the president’s eldest son, Donald Jr., hosted a Kremlin-linked attorney who he believed had damaging information on Clinton.
Trump Jr. was told the information would be provided by the Russian government. Trump Jr. and the Russian attorney said no information about Clinton was provided at the meeting.