By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
President Trump cautioned last summer that Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference should not include scrutinizing his family’s finances.
“I think it’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia,” Trump said in July 2017.
That red line clearly has been crossed after a series of recent revelations that Mueller is investigating Trump’s business dealings with Russia before his presidential run and whether Moscow had compromising information about him.
Mueller also is investigating whether Trump obstructed justice by firing then-FBI Director James Comey and by threatening to remove Attorney General Sessions and others in the administration.
Trump even reportedly discussed ways to terminate Mueller, who was appointed by the deputy attorney general after Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe.
Mueller must decide whether the president’s goal to remove officials close to the investigation was an attempt to exercise control of the probe, which could amount to obstruction of justice.
This week, NBC reported Mueller was questioning witnesses whether Trump knew about Russian hacking of Democratic emails before the discovery was made public. Trump has claimed that Russia interfering in the election is a “hoax” peddled by the “fake news” and top officials out to get him in the FBI and DOJ.
Also this week, CNN reported that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was unable to obtain a security clearance because of the Russia investigation. A day earlier, CNN reported that Mueller was investigating Kushner over his business dealings during the presidential transitions. Among the inquiries are Kushner’s contacts with Russia, China and Qatari investors.
At the center of the collusion investigation is a meeting between Kushner, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer who pledged to provide “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
Manafort faces trial in September after Mueller charged him with numberous counts of conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering.
The president’s attorneys are trying to prevent him from being interviewed by Mueller for fear that Trump will lie under oath and be charged with perjury.
Trump continues to call the investigation a “witch hunt.”
