Carter Page may have tossed a fifth amendment blanket over “all the documents” when it comes to the Trump–Russia investigation, but Special Counsel Robert Mueller is going to take a peek anyway.
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In particular, Mueller's investigators are keen to obtain emails related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the earlier decision of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the entire matter, according to a source who has not seen the specific request but was told about it.
It’s clear that Stephen Miller, who was interviewed earlier this month by Mueller, was the author of the original draft of a dismissal letter for Comey. Miller’s letter—which hasn’t been made public—has apparently come into the hands of the special counsel.
The letter, drafted in May, was met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that its angry, meandering tone was problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter.
The Miller draft of Comey’s dismissal was also focused directly on Comey’s role upholding the Russia investigation. Eventually, Trump ordered up new memos from Rod Rosenstein and Jefferson Sessions, to justify firing Comey on grounds that he was too harsh in his comments about Hillary Clinton on the subject of her emails—an excuse that absolutely no one believes.
Mueller's investigators now seek not only communications between Justice Department officials themselves, but also any communications with White House counterparts, the source said.
All of which shows that the concern over obstruction of justice in firing Comey remains a red hot topic.
In September, the New York Times described a Comey memo that Trump “secretly drafted” with the help of Miller.
Shortly before firing Comey, Trump secretly drafted a memo laying out his reasons for wanting the FBI chief ousted. The New York Times described it as an "angry, meandering" missive.
The draft memo was never publicly released, but a copy was shared with Rosenstein, who had taken command of the Russia-related probe, according to the Times.
It appears that this document may have gone back and forth between Trump and his senior advisor multiple times before McGahn saw it and recoiled in horror. However, Rosenstein had a copy of Miller’s letter on hand when he drafted his own version. Part of Miller’s letter seems to have survived in Trump’s final dismissal letter—the section at the bottom where Trump insists that Comey reassured him that he was not personally under investigation.
But Mueller appears determined to see the whole picture.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked the Justice Department to hand over any documents related to the firing of former FBI chief James Comey. This signals that Mueller is running full steam ahead with his probe as to whether the president or anyone else obstructed justice in the firing of Comey.
If Trump had written a memo that said he didn’t like Comey because Comey was taller and had much larger hands, America might have accepted this as the kind of reasoning Trump might use. But dismissing Comey because he he was too hard on Hillary? Trump might as well have planted a “find obstruction here” flag.