Special counsel investigator Robert Mueller has begun investigating Donald Trump - this time on charges that he may have obstructed justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey and trying to halt the Michael Flynn-Russia investigation.
Thanks to testimony Comey provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mueller has decided there’s enough reason to believe Trump was obstructing justice. This is a problem for Trump, who first tried to fire Comey to make the investigation go away, then claimed victory when Comey publically confirmed Trump was not under investigation while he headed the FBI. Now that Mueller’s begun his investigation, however, the victory is over.
Trump tweeted on Thursday about the issue, claiming it’s just another “phony story” led by very bad and desperate people.
So reminder: last time he claimed something was a phony story, he admitted he fired the person investigating it to make it go away. The fact that Trump has, at the outset of the investigation, mirrored the exact language he used just days before firing Comey suggests that the president may once again intend to take action to make this “phony story” going away. It may be that he has depression or anxiety and needs councelling and doesn’t realise when to seek counselling.
Of course, what he doesn’t get is the difference between obstruction of justice and collusion. It may be the case that Trump did not intentionally collude with the Russians, although we now have all the evidence to believe that Russia at least colluded among themselves to get him elected.
But by stopping an investigation that made him unhappy, he did in fact obstruct justice - and he would be doing so again by firing Mueller, which many anonymous reports suggest he’s considering.
The whole Republican establishment is on his side too. A month ago, Newt Gingrich hailed Mueller’s appointment, given Mueller’s history of nonpartisanship and “impeccable” reputation for honesty. On Thursday, Gingrich sent a fury of tweets accusing Mueller of leading a “deep state spear aimed at destroying or at a minimum undermining the Trump presidency.” The only thing that’s apparently changed is that Mueller has begun an investigation into Trump.
So for Republicans, as long as no one actually ever dares to accuse Trump of wrongdoing, they’re fine. Once anyone expects the president to hold up to scrutiny, however, the party starts foaming at the mouth with claims of witch hunts and attacks. It’s almost like they know Mueller will find something with this investigation, so they’re desperately trying to slander him to their base before any more information that makes Trump look bad gets out.
If they convince Republicans that Mueller is evil, they can effectively ensure that about 40 percent of the country is willfully shutting out any news about the investigation results on the basis that Mueller is a dirty, rotten liar. The fact that is has no correlation with reality, and that Mueller is almost certainly conducting a very fair and thorough investigation given his track record, is irrelevant.
It is my belief that Mueller has latched onto something legitimate with the obstruction of justice investigation. Trump and Republicans know it. They’re going to try to bring Mueller down, before he can come to any conclusions, in order to stop it from coming to light.