Special counsel Robert Mueller has hired 13 lawyers for his probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 investigation and plans on hiring “several more,” a spokesman for Mueller told Talking Points Memo on Friday.
“In addition to Mr. Mueller, we have 13 attorneys on board, with several more in the pipeline,” Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, told TPM in an email. “The number of people will be determined by the needs of the investigation.”
CNN first reported on the expansion of Mueller’s staff Friday.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Mueller’s investigation included possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. Trump himself wrote on Twitter Friday morning that he was “being investigated for firing the FBI Director.”
Past reports on Mueller’s lawyers have referred to them as an “all-star” team, and a “Murderer’s Row,” references to their experience with high-profile cases.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized the team over the weekend — at least, the handful of lawyers whose names are known — for disproportionately donating money to Democratic groups and candidates in the past.
Mueller is himself a registered Republican — though he is widely described as “apolitical” — who was nominated to lead the FBI in 2001 by then-President George W. Bush.
Can’t tweet your way out of this one Trump
You don’t keep hiring lawyers, let alone the best and the baddest in the business, if you don’t plan on prosecuting a whole slew of people. And you don’t hire the best and the baddest if you think it’ll just be a couple of bit players here and there. Nope, by the time it’s all said and done, we may seriously be saying, “President Hatch”.
Again…I almost lost my coffee on the keyboard!!!
I’m taking great joy in the fact that Mueller is assembling a legal dream team while Turmeric the Terrible is stuck with Kasowitz, who is essentially a thuggish civil litigator who has deep ties to the very people that are at the heart of Micturition Man’s troubles, and a lawyer whose sole claim to fame has been a lifetime of crying religious persecution (Christian) named Jay Sekulow.
When I think of fighting such serious — and about to get a lot more serious — charges, these aren’t the guys to have in your corner.
But hey, what are you going to do when your reputation is “the guy won’t pay and the guy won’t listen”?
ETA: It’s also been pointed out that A-list lawyers are now clamoring to join Mueller’s team. They see it as being part of the “Trial of the Century” capable of burnishing their reputations and ultimately sending their hourly rates into the $1,000+ range.
Who said Drumpf wasn’t a “job creator”?
Oh boy…I’m gonna love this…go Bob go.