Robert Mueller Is Officially Closing in on Trump
The special counsel reportedly sent the White House a broad documents request focused on some of the president’s most controversial actions.
While weeks of steady leaks about the Justice Department’s Russia probe revealed that special prosecutor
Robert Mueller is zeroing in on
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, and
Michael Flynn, his erstwhile national security adviser, two new reports suggest that the former F.B.I. director has begun to train his focus on the president himself.
On Wednesday,
The Washington Post and
The New York Times reported that Mueller has requested an extensive volume of documents related to a series of actions Trump has taken since assuming office as part of his broader investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 election and if he obstructed justice in the firing of
James Comey as F.B.I. director.
Mueller is seeking internal communications and documents related to 13 areas that prosecutors have identified as crucial, particularly those related to the firing of Flynn and Comey, according to both the
Post and
Times. His team has requested any documents related to Flynn’s interview with the F.B.I. earlier this year; his communications with Russian ambassador
Sergey Kislyak; and then acting Deputy Attorney General
Sally Yates’s meeting with White House counsel
Donald McGahn about Flynn and Flynn’s subsequent firing. Similarly, the F.B.I. is seeking any documents related to meetings between Comey and Trump while the former served as F.B.I. director and any discussions about his subsequent dismissal, including those tied to the White House’s initial statements justifying his ouster.
Additionally, Mueller has requested any internal communications or documents about Manafort;
Donald Trump Jr.’s now infamous meeting with a Russian lawyer last June in Trump Tower; and the president’s Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov the day after he dismissed Comey.
“The White House doesn’t comment on any communications between the White House and the Office of Special Counsel out of respect for the Office of Special Counsel and its process,” White House lawyer
Ty Cobb said in a statement to the
Post. “We are committed to cooperating fully. Beyond that I can’t comment.”
Mueller’s new focus on the White House indicates that his investigation continues to accelerate. News of the documents request came hours before the
Post reported that that on July 7 of last year—less than two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination—Manafort is believed to have offered a Russian oligarch closely aligned with the Kremlin,
Oleg Deripaska private briefings of the presidential race through an intermediary. (
Jason Maloni, a spokesperson for Manafort, dismissed the e-mail as “innocuous.” Manafort has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/robert-mueller-donald-trump-white-house-documents
