Day of bombshells takes Mueller probe to critical point
(CNN)Finally, inexorably, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has clawed all the way up to Donald Trump himself.
Now a foreboding moment looms for his presidency and for the nation.
A
stunning barrage of revelations on Tuesday suggested that at least one
strand of Mueller's Russia probe is racing toward its end game,
emphasizing the gravity of the situation facing the White House and the
potential vulnerability of the President.
Mueller's request to question Trump,
and news that his team has already interviewed fired FBI Director James
Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, indicate that the special
counsel has a clear picture of where he is headed in what could turn
into an obstruction of justice case, legal experts said.
"It's
possible that Mueller is closing in on his determination about what
obstruction looks like, whether it is a criminal offense in his mind,
whether it is an impeachable offense, or whether it amounts to nothing,"
Michael Zeldin, a former senior aide to Mueller at the Justice
Department, told CNN's Brooke Baldwin.
Tuesday's
bombshells came amid new signs that Trump is still pushing up against
constitutional norms in his conduct toward judicial authorities usually
seen as independent of the President.
The current FBI Director Christopher Wray threatened to quit,
a source familiar with the situation told CNN, after coming under
pressure from Sessions, to clean out senior leadership figures dating
from the Comey era who the President believes are biased against him.
The development was first reported by Axios.
The Washington Post reported that Trump had asked then acting FBI director Andrew McCabe
who he voted for in the 2016 election in an introductory Oval Office
meeting and criticized his wife's Democratic affiliation, in a move that
infringed customary treatment of a civil servant.
And
there are signs Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign staffer who
pleaded not guilty in October to eight charges of money laundering and
failing to register foreign lobbying and other business, may be ready to
cooperate with Mueller, CNN's Katelyn Polantz reported Tuesday night.
And
on a day of intense drama, efforts by Republicans to discredit the
Russia probe gathered pace, as the White House said Trump was ready to
declassify a memo written by GOP committee staff in the House claiming
misconduct by FBI officials investigating the President.
Four
Trump associates have so far been charged in the Mueller investigation,
but there is still neither proof of wrongdoing by the President nor
indications of the special counsel's eventual conclusions.
Yet
the prospect of the President of the United States testifying to the
investigation would lift the intrigue to an unprecedented level, and
would be a spectacle not seen since Bill Clinton's grand jury appearance
20 years ago that led to his eventual impeachment over an affair with
White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The
fact that Mueller's team has already spoken to Comey and Sessions and
now wants to talk to the President suggests the investigation into
whether Trump obstructed justice by asking the former FBI director to go
easy on former national security adviser Michael Flynn and then fired
him when he demurred, is at an advanced stage. CNN also reported last
week that Trump's former top political adviser Steve Bannon had struck a
deal to be interviewed by Mueller's prosecutors.
"It
seems to indicate that the investigation is in its 11th hour," said
Jens David Ohlin, a professor and vice dean at Cornell Law School.
Ohlin
said the seniority of those questioned points to Mueller reaching a
defining moment at least in the obstruction of justice portion of an
investigation that is also considering whether anyone in the Trump
campaign broke the law by cooperating with a Russian election meddling
effort.
"We are at the top of the
heap politically with Steve Bannon. We are at the top of the heap in
terms of law enforcement in terms of the attorney general and the former
head of the FBI," said Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia's former Republican
attorney general.
"It strikes me
they are getting near the end of gathering all their information, and
then ... they are going to have to process that and make some decisions
about how to proceed," Cuccinelli told CNN.
The
interview request suggests that Mueller is proceeding in classic
fashion, working his way from the broadest point of the investigation to
the key figure, with Trump at the tip of the triangle.
WH: Trump 'fully cooperative' on Russia probe 02:00
Trump
has consistently denied any collusion with Russia, has said he did not
obstruct justice in firing Comey and has branded the entire episode a
"hoax" and a "witch hunt" against him.
The
fact that Mueller has come this far does suggest that he believes at
the very least there is "something there" in the possible obstruction
case, Ohlin said: "I don't think it is just out of an abundance of
diligence. He's doing it because he sees something problematic with
Comey's dismissal. If there is truly nothing there, it is very easy to
investigate it because there is just nothing to grasp onto."
The latest reports shed new light on Trump's potential exposure, noting that the special counsel's office has indicated it wants to talk to Trump about Flynn's exit and Comey's dismissal.
The
Washington Post also said Mueller was interested in Trump's efforts to
remove Sessions or to pressure him into quitting, quoting a source
familiar with the investigation as saying the special counsel wanted to
assess whether there was a "pattern" of behavior by the President.
Still,
as Mueller has shown -- for instance in surprise indictments and plea
deals last year -- no one outside his investigation can accurately
assess his intentions or its scope.
"We
also don't know if it will lead to anything at all. Sometimes you get
to the end of an investigation and you have the final interview to check
the box," former US Attorney Preet Bharara said on the "Situation Room"
on Tuesday. "It may be that this will lead to something very
significant and earth-shattering and earth-shaking for the country, it
also could be something they are just putting to bed."
Trump's
lawyers could offer written answers from the President to the special
counsel's questions -- a step many legal analysts suspect will not go
far enough for Mueller. Another option might be a formal interview with
Trump's lawyers present, which would allow them to restrain their star
witness, who is often voluble and imprecise and economical with the
truth in a way that could lead him into jeopardy from Mueller's crack
team of prosecutors.
Refusing
Mueller's request could force the special counsel to subpoena the
President to testify to a grand jury, a step that would put him in an
even more perilous situation.
Tuesday's
developments also shed new light on Trump's potential vulnerability.
Mueller is now armed with the testimony of Comey, Sessions and that of a
cooperating witness Flynn, all of whom could have shed light on crucial
conversations with the President.
He
likely also has a large quantity of evidence from other sources,
including interviews, emails and other testimony and doubtlessly already
knows the answer to many of the questions he will pose to Trump,
putting the President on thin ice if he is not completely truthful.
Mueller
also has the benefit of contemporaneous memos written by Comey after
several meetings with the President in which he detailed what he later
said was an effort by the President to develop a inappropriate
relationship of "patronage" with him.
Trump said last year that he would be "100 percent"
willing to testify to Mueller under oath. CNN has reported that some of
the President's friends and associates have warned him not to put
himself in legal jeopardy by voluntarily submitting to an interviews. Earlier this month, Trump appeared to walk back on the prospect of meeting Mueller.
White
House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that the White House
is "fully cooperative" with Mueller but believes the American people are
ready to move on. But a new CNN poll appeared to counter that assertion, finding that 8 in 10 people said Trump should testify to Mueller if asked, including 59% of Republicans.
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