White House on edge over Russia probe
FOR two months, Robert Mueller – the lanky, 72-year-old independent prosecutor investigating the Russia scandal – has worked in virtual silence in a nondescript government office building in downtown Washington.
But the former FBI director and nononsense prosecutor has deeply unnerved the occupants of the White House, especially President Donald Trump, over where his probe is going.
Mueller has built a team of more than a dozen tough-as-nails investigators, including one expert in flipping mafia witnesses, a money laundering specialist who chased down a corrupt billionaire, and one of the country’s most experienced supreme court litigators.
Since May, they have been quietly interviewing witnesses and collecting documents to establish whether there are links between top aides from Trump’s campaign, members of his family, and possibly the president himself and Russian interference in the 2016 election.
After dismissing the probe for months as “ridiculous” and “fake news”, Trump laid bare his concerns this week, lashing out at the justice department, from his handpicked attorney general Jeff Sessions, over the probe. He took special aim at Mueller, making clear he intends to try to undercut and discredit the man who could bring down his presidency – and possibly eventually remove him.
But if anyone should be able to handle that, it would be Mueller.
Mueller, a former Marine wounded in fighting in Vietnam, is also a veteran of tough prosecutions, including taking on former Panama president Manuel Noriega and mafia don John Gotti. He took the helm of the FBI one week before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
According to reports, Mueller is looking into Trump’s past real estate business and his tax returns, possible money laundering by campaign aides, perjury and obstruction of justice. — AFP DONALD Trump’s new communications chief has deleted tweets in which he shared views contrary to the US president’s own, saying they were a distraction.
The day after he started his new job on Friday, Anthony Scaramucci, a New York financier, cleared up his Twitter trail of remarks in which he differed from Trump on illegal immigration, climate change, Islam and even gun control.
“Full transparency: I’m deleting old tweets. Past views & shouldn’t be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that’s all that matters,” the new man on the White House job announced on Twitter.
In a 2012 comment he tweeted, he appeared to back many causes long championed by Democrats, describing himself as “for Gay Marriage, against the death penalty, and Pro Choice.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer abruptly resigned on Friday in protest at Scaramucci’s hiring.
Spicer’s departure marked rising tensions in an administration that has seen its legislative agenda falter at the same time it has been buffeted by an investigation into alleged collusion with Russia. — AFP