President Trump said that he would deliver his written responses to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller next week, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “They’re all done.”
Trump Says He’s Answered Mueller’s Questions
President Trump said “he hasn’t submitted his answers yet and emphasized that he wrote them, not his lawyers,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “You always have to be careful answering questions for people who have bad intentions.”
Top Cheney Aide Now In Mueller’s Sights
“Dick Cheney’s former top national security aide has come under scrutiny from special counsel Robert Mueller, two people with knowledge of the probe tell the Daily Beast. It’s the latest sign that Mueller’s probe has expanded beyond the narrow bounds of Russian interference in American politics.”
“Mueller’s team has been looking into the communications and political dealings of John Hannah, the former Cheney adviser who later worked on Trump’s State Department transition team. This includes interactions with Lebanese-American businessman and fixer George Nader, who brokered meetings between foreign dignitaries and team Trump, and Joel Zamel, a self-proclaimed social media guru with deep ties to Israeli intelligence.”
Trump Resumes Attacks on Robert Mueller
President Trump resumed his Twitter attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, calling its “a total mess.”
Said Trump: “The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want.”
In another tweet: “They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side.”
Mueller’s Prosecutors Working on a Holiday
Although it was a federal holiday today, CNN reports that at least eight prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller were in the office today.
Law and Crime: “So while federal courts may be closed and there’s ‘no reason to believe; a grand jury is meeting, it’s still within the realm of possibility that Michael Cohen in D.C. + numerous Mueller prosecutors work = the precursor to something bigger.”
For members: More Mueller Indictments Coming?
More Mueller Indictments Coming?
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Quote of the Day
“The president has said on multiple occasions the Mueller investigation should be completed. He wishes it would happen sooner. But I don’t think there’s any chance that the Mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by CBS News.
Schumer Warns Trump on Interfering with Mueller
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) warned that attempts by President Trump or a successor to Attorney General Jeff Sessions to interfere in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation would spark a “constitutional crisis,” The Hill reports.
Said Schumer: “I’d say this, protecting Mueller and his investigation is paramount. It would create a constitutional crisis if this were a prelude to ending or greatly limiting the Mueller investigation.”
‘I’m Very Worried About Don Jr.’
Vanity Fair: “The bigger threat for Trump than losing control of Congress is Robert Mueller’s looming report. Sources say Trump advisers are girding themselves for Mueller to deliver the results of his investigation to the Justice Department as early as Wednesday, although it’s more likely he’ll wait till later this month. Sources say besides the president, the ones with the most exposure are Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr.”
Said one former White House official: “I’m very worried about Don Jr.”
“The possible exposure would be that Mueller would demonstrate that Don Jr. perjured himself to investigators when he said he didn’t tell his father beforehand about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting to gather ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton.”
“One potential sign of how seriously Trumpworld is treating the Mueller threat has been the near total silence of Rudy Giuliani. A constant presence on cable news over the summer, Giuliani hasn’t been on television in weeks.”
Scheme Targeting Mueller Referred to FBI
“An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation,” The Atlantic reports.
“The special counsel’s attention to this scheme—which was brought to the office by a woman claiming she herself had been offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against Mueller—and its decision to release a rare statement about it to reporters indicates the seriousness with which the office is taking the purported scheme to discredit Mueller in the middle of an ongoing investigation.”
“The special counsel’s office confirmed that the scheme was brought to its attention by several journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman ‘to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.'”
Mueller’s Quiet Period Hasn’t Been Very Quiet
CNN: “September and October at first glance appear to be quiet periods for the investigation, under the Justice Department’s guidelines to avoid public political acts before the midterm elections. But the quiet period has seen a persistent murmur of activity, based on near-daily sightings of Mueller’s prosecutors and sources involved in the investigation.”
“In addition to Manafort, Mueller’s team has kept interviewing witnesses, gathered a grand jury weekly to meet in Washington on most Fridays, and kicked up other still-secret court action. Plus, the discussions between the President’s legal team and the special counsel’s office have intensified in recent weeks, including after the special counsel sent questions about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. The President’s attorneys are expected to reply to the questions in writing.”
“People around Trump and other witnesses believe more criminal indictments will come from Mueller.”
ABC News reports Mueller’s team has been asking cooperating witness Paul Manafort many questions about former Trump adviser Roger Stone.
Mueller’s Report Expected Soon After Midterms
“Special Counsel Robert Mueller is expected to issue findings on core aspects of his Russia probe soon after the November midterm elections as he faces intensifying pressure to produce more indictments or shut down his investigation,” Bloomberg reports.
“Specifically, Mueller is close to rendering judgement on two of the most explosive aspects of his inquiry: whether there were clear incidents of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and whether the president took any actions that constitute obstruction of justice.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean Mueller’s findings would be made public if he doesn’t secure unsealed indictments. The regulations governing Mueller’s probe stipulate that he can present his findings only to his boss, who is currently Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The regulations give a special counsel’s supervisor some discretion in deciding what is relayed to Congress and what is publicly released.”
Sanders Won’t Offer Assurances on Mueller Investigation
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders would not offer any assurances that President Trump will allow the special counsel investigation to continue without delay if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein exits the Justice Department, telling ABC News that she doesn’t want to get ahead of the process.
Who Will Protect Robert Mueller?
Jeffrey Toobin: “Firing Mueller—who has been investigating Trump and his campaign and Administration for a year and a half—would be the very definition of a high crime and misdemeanor, as impeachable offenses are defined in the Constitution. But would the Republicans who control Congress see it that way?”
“Put another way, the real question is whether there is any political will among the Republicans who run the legislative branch of government to check Trump’s power. One of the signal features of the Trump Presidency has been the abject surrender of the Republican Party, especially in Congress, to all of Trump’s demands. Most congressional Republicans have made dutiful statements urging the President not to fire Mueller, but will they really take any action if Trump actually does it? Their history suggests that they will not—and they may soon have the chance to test that hypothesis. Mueller’s fate has never looked more precarious than it does today, and he would be foolish to think that the Republicans in Congress would do anything to protect him.”
Comey Thinks Mueller May Be Close to End
Former FBI Director James Comey told St. Louis Public Radio that he thinks that with the plea deal and cooperation by Paul Manafort, special counsel Robert Mueller may be in “the fourth quarter” of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Said Comey: “The reason I’m hesitant to even say that is because Bob Mueller’s conducted his investigation like a pro — you know nothing about it except through his public filings, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. And so I can’t say with certainty where he is.”
Quote of the Day
“He’s not going to survive Manafort’s testimony… I think there’s a substantial possibility that this evidence that Manafort is offering will implicate somebody up the chain.”
— Former White House ethics lawyer Norman Eisen, in an interview on ABC News, saying that he believes this is “not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning for Donald Trump.”
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