Day Of Bombshells Takes Mueller Probe To Critical Point
Finally, inexorably, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has clawed all the way up to Donald Trump himself.
A stunning barrage of revelations on Tuesday suggested that at least one strand of Mueller’s Russia probe is racing toward its end game, emphasizing the gravity of the situation facing the White House and the potential vulnerability of the President.
Mueller’s request to question Trump, and news that his team has already interviewed fired FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, indicate that the special counsel has a clear picture of where he is headed in what could turn into an obstruction of justice case, legal experts said.
The revelations came at a time when there were new signs that Trump is still pushing up against constitutional norms in his conduct toward judicial authorities usually seen as independent of the President.
First, the current FBI Director Christopher Wray threatened to quit, a source familiar with the situation told CNN, after coming under pressure from Sessions, to clean out senior leadership figures dating from the Comey era who the President believes are biased against him.
Following this, the Washington Post reported that Trump had asked then acting FBI director Andrew McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 election in an introductory Oval Office meeting and criticized his wife’s Democratic affiliation, in a move that infringed customary treatment of a civil servant.
And there are signs Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign staffer who pleaded not guilty in October to eight charges of money laundering and failing to register foreign lobbying and other business, may be ready to cooperate with Mueller.
