Four sources are cited by a Pro Publica article this morning as asserting that Trump’s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz is boasting “that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.”
As Trump’s legal team prepares for war, we can expect more of the same “stacking-the-deck” tactics from Kasowitz. Kasowitz didn’t hesitate to publicly accuse former FBI Director James Comey of perjury after Comey’s Senate testimony last week. What Kasowitz most likely reacted to was Comey’s statement that he has turned over all his notes to the investigating team of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The news that the Special Counsel team now includes Justice Department deputy solicitor general Michael Dreeben — one of the most effective criminal law experts in the country — has not gone unnoticed by Kasowitz. In response, there is now a concerted effort by the right wing to demonize Mueller and the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian collusion — an investigation that now may include obstruction of justice by Trump and his minions.
Marc Kasowitz has his own personal and professional reasons to demonize a Special Counsel investigating Russian malfeasance and collusion. This is the same Marc Kasowitz who represents one of Vladimir Putin’s closest friends - Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Marc Kasowitz also represents Russia's largest state-owned bank, Sberbank and has had business dealings with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Within the past 48 hours, the Internet and the national media have become flooded with the narrative that the Special Counsel team is tainted by partisanship and that Mueller should be dismissed and the investigation closed.
Trump’s personal attorney may well understand that should it come to a courtroom contest, his client is in dire trouble. The only tactic that may forestall or prevent that trouble is a win in the court of public opinion. That’s the court that politicians and lawyers turn to when they know they have a losing case on their hands. That’s the court they turn to when they have something to hide.
There will be more and more smearing of Robert Mueller and his Special Counsel team from the right.
And there may well be more and more firings as Marc Kasowitz continues to whisper in the ear of his client.