Approval of Russia probe slips as Trump’s attacks solidify base against it
WASHINGTON – One year into the Russia investigation, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III works away, mostly silent. Yet President Donald Trump and his allies have been anything but, and they’ve had some success in undermining public confidence in the sprawling inquiry.
Though the investigation has reached deeper into his inner circle, Trump’s approval ratings lately have ticked slightly higher, despite remaining at historic lows for a president serving during a time of economic growth.
Also, more Americans seem skeptical of the investigation into Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign’s possible involvement, according to a CBS News poll conducted this month. A slim majority of 53 percent said the case is politically motivated, up from 48 percent in December.
That shift in sentiment mainly owes to growing skepticism among Republicans, reflecting their receptivity to Trump’s repeated attacks on what he calls the Mueller “witch hunt” that are regularly echoed by conservative Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, front, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, leaves the Capitol building after meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in June 2017 in Washington, D.C.
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As the president faces a possible subpoena to testify, more Republicans see no reason for him to cooperate with prosecutors. And with the prospect of a long fight ahead, perhaps even a constitutional crisis, Trump’s solidifying of his base would give him the political armor he needs.
“There is no question that the continued barrage from the White House, and the depiction of it as a witch hunt, is beginning to resonate among Republicans,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. “They want it over with because that
will allow the president to get back to his agenda.”
Trump, viewing himself as his best spokesman, has taken an unprecedented lead role in combating the Russia investigation, even at the risk of appearing to obstruct it. He began criticizing the special counsel by name in March after months of comparative restraint, tweeting that “the Mueller probe should never have been started.” The fusillade continued Thursday as Trump marked the anniversary of Mueller’s appointment.
“Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History,” he tweeted. He called the investigation “disgusting, illegal and unwarranted.”
To amplify his attacks, Trump recently added to his legal team brash former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has since waged an air war against the FBI, the Justice Department and Mueller in frequent television interviews, and made unrealized boasts about getting the special counsel to close the case within weeks.
“We’re going to have to look into whether we can challenge the legitimacy of the entire investigation,” Giuliani told “Fox & Friends,” Trump’s favorite morning show, on Thursday.
Yet no one can speak to the base like Trump himself, and his strategy of portraying himself as the victim of persecution befits a president who stokes the same sense of grievance among his voters. The risks, however, are that the investigation could deliver more bombshells beyond the indictments and guilty pleas to date, leaving the president’s defenders – in particular, Republican politicians – embarrassed.