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Robert Mueller Tag

The Special Council investigation led by James Comey friend and ally and former FBI head Robert Mueller has been in search of a crime since its questionable inception.  In fact, so intent is he on digging up some kind of crime, any kind, that he's amassed a legal team that rivals in size the entire U. S. Attorneys Office for the state of Rhode Island.  Courtesy of your tax dollars. Reports suggest that he's bagging his first head on Monday.  Reports do not, however, state who will be arrested or on what charges.

Be careful for what you wish for because it may go your way, but it may also come back to bite you. The left has pressured for an investigation to find collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia, but now that investigation has brought in one of their own. Mueller's investigation now includes the Podesta Group, headed by Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta...the brother of John Podesta, failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman. The inclusion came after Mueller looked into former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's finances.

It has been relatively quiet lately on the Russian-collusion Democrat-Media leak and rumor mill. "Relatively" is the key word. What once was a sustained campaign of leaks timed to hit every 2-3 days to create a permanent Russia-collusion news cycle, now barely makes a sound. Of course, some Russian collusion is more newsworthy to the media than others, with the Uranium One scandal receiving a tiny fraction of the coverage as completely speculative Trump campaign rumors did.

WiretapGate keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. A couple of days ago there were reports that Team Mueller told Paul Manafort he likely would be indicted, and that Manafort was wiretapped before and after the 2016 election. Today brings a report from CBS News that those wiretaps took place during the campaign. The media reaction focuses heavily on Manafort having spoken with Russians, but there is no indication about what. What is lost in translation in the headlines is that, according to CBS, conversations between Manafort and Trump may have been scooped up in the surveillance:

It has been a short while since we checked in on how the Prosecutors In Search of a Crime, aka Mueller Special Prosecutor, was doing. A 17th attorney was added, inching Team Mueller closer to the size of the entire U.S. Attorney's Office for the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Tonight CNN dropped a bombshell. Of course, CNN bombshell's have been duds in the past, so take that into account.

I woke up to numerous alerts on my phone about an FBI raid on Paul Manafort's home in connection to the investigation into possible Russian interference in our election. At first, it appeared that the raid happened this morning, but a deeper reading showed it occurred on July 26. An even deeper reading showed that authorities didn't make any huge discoveries. But the media can't help itself when it comes RUSSIA. From The Washington Post:

Jeff Sessions, in what so far is the defining event of the Trump administration, recused himself from involvement in the investigation of Russian meddling in the election because of a potential conflict. That recusal set in motion a series of steps that eventually led to the appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Trump, his family and associates, are caught in an ever expanding inquisition, and There’s no good way out for Trump from Special Counsel quicksand:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has launched a grand jury in Washington, D.C., for his investigation into alleged Russian influence into our presidential election. The Wall Street Journal reported:
The grand jury, which began its work in recent weeks, is a sign that Mr. Mueller’s inquiry is ramping up and that it will likely continue for months. Mr. Mueller is investigating Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether President Donald Trump’s campaign or associates colluded with the Kremlin as part of that effort.

I appeared this morning on the Sandy Rios in the Morning on American Family Radio. I've appeared on Sandy's show before, and I appreciate that she gives me plenty of time. The segment is 30 minutes long. We talked about several topics, all surrounding Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Trump's related frustration with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from anything related to Russia. Trump's continuing Twitter dressing down of Sessions and rumors Sessions and/or Mueller would be fired, were discussed. In the course of the discussion we touched on the following posts of mine:

Asked by Fox News' Martha MacCallum whether he's bothered by the fact that some of the lawyers hired by special counsel Robert Mueller made donations to Hillary Clinton's campaign, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein responded:

"At the Department of Justice, we judge by results, and so, my view about that is, we'll see if they do the right thing."

The NY Times has published excerpts of its interview yesterday with Donald Trump. While there were several newsworthy comments, most focus is on the criticism of Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the investigation and the resulting appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Sessions' recusal is the most consequential event of the Trump presidency so far, because it resulted in what appears to be a wide-ranging investigation into Trump. As posted earlier, the Mueller team appears to be larger in size than would be needed for an investigation into Russian meddling in the election, something I pointed out in Mueller legal team approaching size of entire US Attorney’s Office for Rhode Island.

When Robert Mueller was first appointed Special Counsel, I thought, given his generally good reputation, that this might be a streamlined process with fewer leaks, focused on either proving or disproving allegations of Russian interference. But I did acknowledge, for example in this radio interview, that there was a risk that in the wrong hands the powers vested under the Order appointing Mueller could be abused:

I was a guest today on Newsmax TV – America Talks Live with Bill Tucker. The main topic was my post about James Comey's Senate testimony, Robert Mueller should step aside: Friends shouldn’t be investigating friends:
"... the case has dramatically changed since James Comey was outed, or outed himself, as the leaker of a memorandum to the NY Times and testified before the Senate. Remember this case started as an investigation of Russian involvement.

The Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller barely has gotten off the ground, and already there is a stench. That stench was created by former FBI Director James Comey, who admitted in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee that he leaked, through a friend, memoranda purporting to document improper conversations between Donald Trump and Comey. Most important among those conversations was a February 14, 2017, one-on-one meeting in which Trump supposedly told Comey that Trump "hoped" that Comey would see fit to "let go" of the investigation into Michael Flynn. As described in Comey's prepared statement (emphasis added):

Donald Trump has laid down the gauntlet, or maybe taken the bait, on key portions of James Comey's Senate testimony. We'll have a transcript and video when available. Here are the key Trump points: Never told Comey to close Flynn investigation, never asked for loyalty pledge, willing to testify under oath. On the issue of whether he has tapes of his conversations with Comey, Trump said he'll let people know in the near future, and the media won't like it - "You're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don't worry."

Another day, another series of NY Times and WaPo stories based on leaks. The NY Times reports that Trump told the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador that Comey was a "nut job" who had politicized the investigation, and that his firing relieved "great pressure". The report was based on someone reading a memo about the meeting to the Times reporter. Here is the White House's response, issued in Sean Spicer's name: