- And then 117 days into Trump’s Presidency we finally got it, Deputy US Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller on May 17th 2017 to be a special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. “In my capacity as acting Attorney General, I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,” Rosenstein said in a statement. “My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.” The White House was not even informed of Rosenstein’s actions until a half hour after Rosenstein was done. Mueller led the FBI for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He is second only to J. Edgar Hoover for longest tenure for an FBI chief. Lawrence O’Donnell talks to a former assistant Watergate special prosecutor and a former FBI agent who served under former FBI Director Robert Mueller. Both Democrats and Republicans alike have approved of the choice of Bob Mueller to be the special counsel to oversee the Trump Russia investigation. Rachel Maddow does have some questions though. A coverup did not work for Nixon and it probably will not work for Trump either but only time will tell. Or they could just go ahead and impeach Trump now but I digress. Rachel Maddow explains the history of Special Counsels.
On June 2nd The Associated Press reported that the special counsel investigating possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, The Associated Press has learned. The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Manafort, who was forced to resign as Trump campaign chairman in August 2016 amid questions over his business dealings years ago in Ukraine, predated the 2016 election and the counterintelligence probe that in July 2016 began investigating possible collusion between Moscow and associates of Trump. The move to consolidate the matters, involving allegations of misuse of Ukrainian government funds, indicates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is assuming a broad mandate in his new role running the investigation. No one familiar with the matter has been willing to discuss the scope of his investigation on the record because it is just getting underway and because revealing details could complicate its progress.
Also On June 2nd Reuters reported that Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between the Trump election campaign and Russia, is expanding his probe to assume control of a grand jury investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, three sources told Reuters. The move means Mueller’s politically charged inquiry will now look into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman in 2016, in addition to contacts between Russian officials and Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the November 8th 2016 presidential election. Federal prosecutors in Virginia are investigating a deal between Flynn and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin as part of a grand jury criminal probe, according to a subpoena seen by Reuters. And here Rachel Maddow reports on some of the prosecutorial accomplishments of Andrew Weissmann, who has left the fraud section of the criminal division of the Justice Department to join Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump-Russia affair.
One of Trump’s friends said he believes the President is considering dismissing special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to lead the FBI investigation into Russia’s potential ties to the 2016 election. Since being appointed special counsel in May, Mueller has built a team of formidable legal minds who’ve worked on everything from Watergate to Enron. He has long been widely respected by many in Washington from both sides of the aisle, with many lawmakers praising Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein’s pick. Trump technically has the authority to remove Mueller, either by ordering Rosenstein to fire him or ordering the regulations that govern his appointment repealed and then firing Mueller himself. Rosenstein noted that the chain of command would have to run through him and said he was confident Mueller would have “sufficient independence.” Later, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) asked Rosenstein point blank: “If President Trump ordered you to fire the special counsel, what would you do?” “I’m not going to follow any orders unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders,” Rosenstein said. He noted he would need “good cause” to fire the special counsel, and added, “I am required to put that cause in writing. If there were good cause I would consider it. If there were not good cause, it wouldn’t matter to me what anybody says.” Earlier, Rosenstein had said he did not see cause to fire Mueller. But Rosenstein may have to recuse himself if he is declared a witness in the investigation, in that case Rachel Brand, the number 3 in the Justice Department, may replace Rosenstein. Here on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Donald Trump tweeted an apparent attack on his Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, another sign the president is more frustrated than ever with the Russia probe, as a new report says he’s yelling at White House TVs over coverage of the investigation.
Mueller is obviously doing his job too well for Trump, just like Comey was. So then the situation would get back to Nixon’s firing of Cox which was called the Saturday Night Massacre, this one is just a slow several-weeks massacre rather than a one night massacre. But Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, tweeted “If President fired Bob Mueller, Congress would immediately re-establish independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller,” the California lawmaker tweeted. “Don’t waste our time.” If Trump does try to order Rosenstein or hires another Deputy Attorney General to fire Mueller that would turn a really bad situation into a catastrophe. And Trump’s staff also thought that firing Mueller would turn a really bad situation into a catastrophe and they managed to talk Trump out of it, for now. But if Trump does fire Mueller, of course, the Congress and Senate should immediately re-establish the independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller. But they should also immediately start the impeachment process too.
Here on The Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel Maddow shows what a rarity it is for an FBI director to be fired and runs through the series of failed explanations for Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey up to today’s refusal by Jeff Sessions to answer questions in the Senate.
On June 14th 2017 the Washington Post reported that the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said. The move by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trump’s conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said. Trump had received private assurances from then-FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.
On June 14th 2017 the New York Times reported that Mueller has requested interviews with three high-ranking current or former intelligence officials, the latest indication that he will investigate whether Trump obstructed justice, a person briefed on the investigation said on June 14th 2017. Mr. Mueller wants to question Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence; Admiral Michael S. Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency; and Richard Ledgett, the former N.S.A. deputy director. None of the men were involved with Trump’s campaign. But recent news reports have raised questions about whether Trump requested their help in trying to get James B. Comey, then the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into the president’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Last week, Mr. Coats and Admiral Rogers declined to answer questions before Congress about the matter. Mr. Mueller’s office has also asked the N.S.A. for any documents or notes related to the agency’s interactions with the White House as part of the Russia investigation, according to an intelligence official.
A former senior official said Mr. Mueller’s investigation was looking at money laundering by Trump associates. The suspicion is that any cooperation with Russian officials would most likely have been in exchange for some kind of financial payoff, and that there would have been an effort to hide the payments, probably by routing them through offshore banking centers.
Trump had almost certainly never heard the name Aaron Zebley before the announcement that the former FBI agent was joining the special counsel investigation into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia. But to those who have followed the arc of the bureau during the past twenty years, Zebley’s is a name that underscores just how far-reaching and dogged, and potentially long, the probe will likely be. As Mueller begins investigating Russia’s interference in last year’s election and its possible links to Trump’s campaign, he is quietly recruiting lawyers and staff to the team. It’s a team that contains some of the nation’s top investigators and leading experts on seemingly every aspect of the potential investigation, from specific crimes like money laundering and campaign finance violations to understanding how to navigate both sprawling globe-spanning cases and the complex local dynamics of Washington power politics.
From the list of hires, it’s clear, in fact, that Mueller is recruiting perhaps the most high-powered and experienced team of investigators ever assembled by the Justice Department. His team began with three lawyers who also quickly left WilmerHale, the law firm where Mueller has also worked since he left the FBI in 2013, Zebley, James Quarles III, and Jeannie Rhee. The rapid recruitment of Quarles attracted immediate attention: A famed litigator who was an assistant special prosecutor for the Watergate investigation, Quarles specialized in campaign finance research for the Watergate task force, which surely will be an area of focus for Mueller’s investigation. (The FBI has been serving subpoenas regarding the finances of campaign adviser Michael Flynn and campaign chairman Paul Manafort, both of whom have retroactively registered as foreign agents, admitting that they were paid by foreign governments during the period when they were also advising Trump.)
More recently, Mueller has recruited Andrew Weissmann, his one-time general counsel at the FBI and a long-time adviser who once led the Justice Department’s fraud unit. In the early 2000s, Weissmann also oversaw the Enron Task Force, the storied Justice Department unit that investigated the complex machinations of the failed energy giant. Then Mueller added Michael Dreeben, who has worked for years in the Justice Department’s solicitor general’s office, which argues the government’s cases before the Supreme Court. “Dreeben is 1 of the top legal & appellate minds at DOJ in modern times,” tweeted Preet Bharara, the former top Manhattan federal prosecutor. That Mueller has sought his assistance attests both to the seriousness of his effort and the depth of the intellectual bench he is building. Also, while the Special Counsel’s office has yet to make any formal announcements about Mueller’s team, it appears he has recruited an experienced Justice Department trial attorney, Lisa Page, a little-known figure outside the halls of Main Justice but one whose résumé boasts intriguing hints about where Mueller’s Russia investigation might lead. Page has deep experience with money laundering and organized crime cases, including investigations where she’s partnered with an FBI task force in Budapest, Hungary, that focuses on eastern European organized crime. That Budapest task force helped put together the still-unfolding money laundering case against Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, a one-time business partner of Manafort. On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow reviews the people known so far to have been hired by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to work with him on the Trump Russia investigation, and notes what their various qualifications say about the focus of the investigation. Time Magazine has decleared Robert Mueller “The Lie Detector” and asks “Will Robert Mueller Separate Fact From Fiction?”
- August 1st 2017 as reported in Reuters: A former US Justice Department official has become the latest lawyer to join special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, a spokesman for the team confirmed. Greg Andres started on Tuesday (August 1st 2017), becoming the 16th lawyer on the team, said Josh Stueve, a spokesman for the special counsel.
Most recently a white-collar criminal defense lawyer with New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, Andres, 50, served at the Justice Department from 2010 to 2012. He was deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division, where he oversaw the fraud unit and managed the program that targeted illegal foreign bribery.
Mueller, who was appointed special counsel in May, is looking into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the election, among other matters. Congressional committees are also investigating the matter. That Mueller continues to expand his team means the probe is not going to end anytime soon, said Robert Ray, who succeeded Kenneth Starr as independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation during the Clinton administration. “It’s an indication that the investigation is going to extend well into 2018,” said Ray. “Whether it extends beyond 2018 is an open question.”
The special counsel last month asked the White House to preserve all of its communications about a June 2016 meeting that included the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Russian officials have denied meddling in the US election, and Trump denies any collusion by his campaign.
Among the cases Andres oversaw at the Justice Department was the prosecution of Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford, who was convicted in 2012 for operating an $8 billion Ponzi scheme.
Before that, Andres was a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn for over a decade, eventually serving as chief of the criminal division in the US attorney’s office there. He prosecuted several members of the Bonanno organized crime family, one of whom was accused of plotting to have Andres killed.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Philip Rucker, Anita Kumar and Mike Allen talk about the new report from Reuters that Robert Mueller hired a former DOJ official who managed the program that targeted illegal foreign bribery.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow reports on the surprising departure of Peter Strzok, a prominent counter-espionage investigator who had been working on Robert Mueller’s Trump Russia investigation.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow pursues reporting on the departure of former FBI counter-espionage chief Peter Strzok from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump Russia investigation team, questioning the reason and what it might mean for Mueller’s effort.
Trump lawyer John Dowd told NBC News the president’s legal team has been “cooperating with Bob Mueller and his staff since the first of June because we’re trying to get this thing over and done with.”
Mueller’s investigation now includes a look at whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James B. Comey, as well as deep dives into financial and other dealings of former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Federal prosecutors had previously been using a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, and even before Mueller was appointed, had increased their activity, issuing subpoenas and taking other investigative steps.
Mueller has largely removed the original prosecutors from the case, replacing them with a formidable collection of legal talent and expertise in prosecuting national security, fraud and public corruption cases, arguing matters before the Supreme Court and assessing complicated legal questions.
In federal cases, a grand jury is not necessarily an indication that an indictment is imminent or even likely. Instead, it is a powerful investigative tool that prosecutors use to compel witnesses to testify or force people or companies to turn over documents.
It’s unclear why Mueller chose to use a panel in the District, although there are practical reasons to do so. The special counsel’s office is located in Southwest D.C. — much closer to the federal courthouse in the city than the one in Alexandria, Virginia. Mueller also had previously worked in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., giving him some familiarity with the courthouse and the judges. Experts said that Washington would be the appropriate place to convene a grand jury to examine actions taken by Trump since he became president and took up residence at the White House. Many of the potential crimes Mueller’s team is investigating would have occurred in the District, such as allegations that Trump aides or advisers made false statements in disclosure records or lied to federal agents. The Post has previously reported that Mueller is investigating whether the president tried to obstruct justice leading up to his firing of Comey.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Paul Butler, former federal prosecutor, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about what Special Counsel Robert Mueller may be looking ahead to in the Trump Russia investigation with his switch to a grand jury in Washington, D.C.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Paul Butler, former federal prosecutor, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about the difference between Robert Mueller using an existing grand jury or impaneling a new one for his own purposes.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly issuing subpoenas through a DC grand jury in the Russia probe. If subpoenaed to testify under oath, will Trump tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Is he even capable? Lawrence O’Donnell examines.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Reporting suggests that the Special Counsel is probing Trump’s financial ties to Russia, a grand jury is issuing subpoenas, and 10 senior FBI officials could testify in Mueller’s obstruction case. Mieke Eoyang, Ron Klain, and Alex Whiting join Lawrence O’Donnell.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Deputy Special Counsel in the Scooter Libby case, Peter Zeidenberg, and NBC National Security Analyst Jeremy Bash discuss how cases like this work and how a grand jury operates.
On All In with Chris Hayes The California Democrat says that ‘drip by drip, people are finding out that there is more’ to the Russia investigation than some people think.
- August 3rd 2017 as reported in The Washington Post: Two bipartisan pairs of senators unveiled legislation Thursday (August 3rd 2017) to prevent President Trump from firing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III without cause — or at least a reason good enough to convince a panel of federal judges.
Senators have raised concerns that the president might try to rearrange his administration to get rid of Mueller, who is spearheading a probe of Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion between the Kremlin and members of the Trump campaign and transition teams.
Mueller’s probe has been advancing, despite the president’s attempts to discredit the probe as an illegitimate “witch hunt.” He impaneled a grand jury in D.C. a few weeks ago, according to a report out Thursday (August 3rd 2017). The case has already produced subpoenas, from a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia that issued them in relation to former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s business and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
While Trump cannot fire Mueller directly, many have raised concerns in recent weeks that he might seek to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from all campaign-related matters, including the Russia probe. Sessions’s deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, said he would not fire Mueller without cause — but a new attorney general could supersede his authority.
The blowback from Congress to Trump’s public criticism of Sessions was sharp and substantial, and his allies in the GOP told the president to back off. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) even indicated that he would not make time in the Senate schedule to consider a new attorney general nominee. This week, there have been reports that new White House chief of staff John F. Kelly told Sessions he would not have to worry about losing his job.
But that has not quieted the concerns of the Democrats and Republicans behind the latest efforts to safeguard Mueller — and, by extension, his Russia probe — from presidential interference. “The Mueller situation really gave rise to our thinking about how we can address this, address the current situation,” said Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the co-author of one of the proposals. He called the effort “a great opportunity, in perpetuity, for us to be able to communicate to the American people that actions were appropriate — or if not, then not,” if an administration ever attempts to terminate a special counsel’s term.
The two proposals — one from Tillis and Senator Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and the other from Senators Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) — each seek to check the executive branch’s ability to fire a special counsel, by putting the question to a three-judge panel from the federal courts. They differ in when that panel gets to weigh in on the decision.
Graham and Booker’s proposal, which also has backing from Judiciary Committee Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), would require the judges panel to review any attorney general’s decision to fire a special counsel before that firing could take effect. Tillis and Coons’ proposal would let the firing proceed according to current regulations, which they codify in the bill — but the fired special counsel would have the right to contest the administration’s decision in court. In that scenario, the judges panel would have two weeks from the day the special counsel’s case is filed to complete their review and determine whether the termination was acceptable. Tillis and Coons, who pulled their bill together over the past two days, explained the difference as one to ensure that the legislation does not run afoul of constitutional separation of powers. Both senators, as well as Graham, said they expect they may merge their efforts after lawmakers return to Washington in September. “I think we maybe can have a meeting of the minds. I really appreciate them doing it,” Graham said Thursday (August 3rd 2017) of Tillis and Coons’s bill. “I just have a different way of doing it.”
In either guise, the bill effectively would limit the president’s authority to hire and fire special counsels — a privilege that fell more squarely under the executive’s purview after Congress let an independent-counsel law, established in the wake of the Watergate scandal, expire in 1999, following Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton. The lawmakers are not expecting that the president will like or support either proposal to protect the special counsel from being fired without cause. But they say they are convinced that there is enough support to pass such a law, even over Trump’s objections, because of the number of Republicans and Democrats speaking out in defense of Mueller and his probe.
On All In with Chris Hayes There are now two bipartisan bills in the Senate aiming to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from any action by President Trump or his subordinates to fire him.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Trump has repeatedly called the Russia investigation a ‘witch hunt.’ But the second in command at the Justice Department is defending that investigation’s Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Report: Trump’s communicating with Mueller through his lawyers. A new USA Today report says Trump is communicating with Russia probe Special Counsel Robert Mueller through his legal team. Just how unprecedented would that be? Our panel reacts.
- August 12th 2017 as reported in The New York Times: In a sign that the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election will remain a continuing distraction for the White House, the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is in talks with the West Wing about interviewing current and former senior administration officials, including the recently ousted White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, according to three people briefed on the discussions.
Mr. Mueller has asked the White House about specific meetings, who attended them and whether there are any notes, transcripts or documents about them, two of the people said. Among the matters Mr. Mueller wants to ask the officials about is President Trump’s decision in May to fire the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, the two people said. That line of questioning will be important as Mr. Mueller continues to investigate whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice in the dismissal of Mr. Comey.
No interviews have been scheduled, but in recent weeks Mr. Mueller’s investigation has appeared to intensify. Late last month, he took the aggressive step of executing a search warrant at the Alexandria, Virginia, home of Paul J. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman. Legal experts say Mr. Mueller may be trying to put pressure on Mr. Manafort to cooperate with the investigation.
Although it has been clear for months that Mr. Mueller would interview Mr. Trump’s closest advisers, the recent inquiries come as the president is heading into the fall pushing his priorities in Congress, including a tax overhaul, with the constant distraction of a federal investigation.
On All In with Chris Hayes Special Counsel Robert Mueller is ‘in talks with the West Wing about interviewing current and former senior administration officials,’ including Reince Priebus, reports the New York Times.
Trump was so stupid as to claim he was completely vindicated after Comey testified that Trump was not under investigation at the time when Comey was in the FBI, as though the fact that Trump was not under investigation at that time could not change. Well, now it has changed and Trump is now under criminal investigation, one can not get any more under investigation than Trump is right now. So what does Trump have to say now, all they can talk about are illegal leaks, which are not actually illegal because they are not classified information, so they are just leaks and not the main issue. Trump brought this on himself, so obviously the more Trump tries to get rid of the situation, the more he threatens to fire people, the more he tweets, the worse he makes it for himself and the faster he will be impeached, so have at it Trump. The president of the United States is not above the law. Are you tired of winning yet, Trump?
