By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign to interfere with the 2016 election has expanded to include a probe into whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.
Just days after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9 in the midst of the bureau’s Russia probe, federal authorities began investigating whether the president terminated Comey over concerns of the probe.
The Washington Post, citing officials, reported that Mueller plans to examine whether the termination amounted to obstruction of justice.
To dig deeper, Mueller also scheduled interviews as early as this week with Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and Rogers’s recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett.
After Trump originally said Comey was fired for his handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation, the president later conceded: “When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.”
At a Senate hearing last week, Comey said he believed Trump fired him for refusing to end the Russia investigation and a related probe into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
“It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Comey said. “I was fired, in some way, to change — or the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.”
A spokesman for Trump’s personal attorney lambasted the FBI, but not on the substance of the allegations.
“The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal,” said Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Kasowitz.
