On Wednesday, the President aired his grievances with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. election, suggesting to the New York Times that it would be a “violation” if Mueller started looking into his family’s finances.
On Thursday, it came to light that Mueller would, in fact, be taking a look at a number of Russia-related business transactions the President has conducted in recent years.
By Thursday evening, President Donald Trump’s legal team spokesperson resigned — after just two months in the position — confirming reports that there may be some reshuffling on the President’s legal team as the Mueller investigation continues to swirl.
Spokesman Mark Corallo resigned Thursday evening after growing frustrated with the legal team’s operations and concerned about whether he was being told the truth, according to reports from Politico, CNN and the New York Times. Corallo, who has publicly praised Mueller for his credibility, told an unnamed Politico source that there was “too much fighting all the time” and he no longer needed the money.
The resignation follows reports that the President hired veteran Washington lawyer Ty Cobb to handle all media questions on the Russia investigation and that Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz — who has represented Trump for years on a number of issues — may be moving into a diminished role on the legal team.
Last week, the New York Times reported that Trump and Kasowitz have clashed over the Russia probe.
Kasowitz will no longer be leading the team’s legal strategy, according to CNN and Politico. That will now be handled by attorneys John Dowd and Jay Sekulow. Dowd, a veteran D.C. lawyer, will take the lead on the case, according to the Times. Sekulow, a frequent Trump booster in TV interviews, will be Dowd’s No. 2, according to the Times.
The move comes as Kasowitz faces scrutiny over ProPublica reports on his poor behavior outside of work and profane emails he sent to a stranger.
The legal team’s strategy will reportedly now go on the offensive against Mueller and the Russia probe, with plans to look into the backgrounds of Mueller’s team to find conflicts of interest that they could use to discredit or fire the special counsel.
Shit’s starting to get real…
Despite appearances, lawyers are not magicians. If the process works (or in this case, is allowed to work), the facts generally determine the outcome. Which is very, very bad news for Trump & Co.
I wonder if Mueller is trolling Trump with the media announcement that his team is looking into his finances.
Trump IS just dumb enough to start an effort to hide or obfuscate his past Russian dealings from Mueller. This alone, an effort to deny details to Mueller, is a crime in itself.
This reminds me of how big Al Capone, murderer, gun-runner, booze bootlegger, thought he could beat a Federal indictment. He was though only convicted of income tax evasion which sent him to jail. (corrected, he did die later in FL after his release).
So long as Congress is safely in the grasp of the GOP Trump is free to commit any crimes he pleases, and also free to prevent past crimes from being investigated. All this talk of some rash move like arranging the firing of Mueller creating a political firestorm is useless noise. While a firestorm would indeed ensue, impeachment or criminal charges will not. Trump has certainly analyzed this, or someone has done his thinking for him, and basically sized it up as I have above.
No wise elders of the party can approach Trump and demand or cajole his resignation, claiming his continued holding of office stymies anything getting accomplished. He’ll tell them to piss off, and they know that’s the reaction they’ll get. Why bother? Appealing to some sense of civic or party pride, or sense of duty, is a fool’s errand, he hasn’t any.
The country is stuck with Trump, regardless his criminality or inability to perform his Presidential duties. That’s not changing.
This is the story I want to see: “Sources say that Mueller’s team has figured out a ‘silver bullet’ to deal with Presidential pardons. ‘It’s specific to the set of facts and crimes they are dealing with’, said a source with knowledge of the investigation. ‘Bring it on,’ is the attitude of Mueller towards pardons. ‘Yes, they will still die in jail,’ said another source”.