Trump Continues His Intervention in the Mueller Probe

First Read notes that President Trump tweet attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller — and there are more this morning — “are just the tip of the iceberg of the ways in which the president of the United States has intervened in, criticized, thwarted, and potentially obstructed an investigation that involves him, his family and his 2016 presidential campaign.”

Consider:

• He’s once again dangling a pardon to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort;
• Manafort’s lawyer was cooperating with Trump’s legal defense team – after Manafort struck a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller;
• Trump dumped his attorney general (because he recused himself from the Russia probe) and inserted a Mueller critic to be acting attorney general;
• When asked why he retweeted an image of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein behind bars, Trump replied, “He should have never picked a special counsel”;
• He admitted firing former FBI Director James Comey over the Russia investigation (“When I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” he told NBC’s Lester Holt);
• And Trump dictated the misleading statement on his son’s Trump Tower meeting with Russians.

“Add up all of these actions — and they’re not an exhaustive list — and you see a president who’s actively intervening in an investigation that involves him.”