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Reactions

Initial bipartisan support

Mueller's appointment to oversee the investigation immediately garnered widespread support from Democrats and from some Republicans in Congress.[1][2] Senator Charles Schumer (D–NY) said, "Former Director Mueller is exactly the right kind of individual for this job. I now have significantly greater confidence that the investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead." Senator Dianne Feinstein (D–CA) stated, "Bob was a fine U.S. attorney, a great FBI director and there's no better person who could be asked to perform this function." She added, "He is respected, he is talented and he has the knowledge and ability to do the right thing." Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R–UT) tweeted that "Mueller is a great selection. Impeccable credentials. Should be widely accepted."[1] Much Republican support in Congress was lukewarm: Rep. Peter T. King (R–NY) said "It's fine. I just don't think there is any need for it."[3] Republican former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tweeted that Mueller is a "superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity,"[4] but less than a month later he tweeted "Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair."[5]

Former United States Attorney Preet Bharara wrote of the team that "Bob Mueller is recruiting the smartest and most seasoned professionals who have a long track record of independence and excellence".[6] Former special prosecutor Ken Starr, who had investigated Bill Clinton during the Clinton administration, said that the team was "a great, great team of complete professionals".[7] Attorney George T. Conway III, husband of Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, wrote an article defending the constitutionality of the Mueller Investigation.[8]

Conservative opposition

Some conservatives, including political commentators Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, stated that Mueller should be dismissed and the investigation closed.[9][10][11] Christopher Ruddy, the founder of the right-leaning Newsmax, and a friend of Trump, stated that the president has considered firing Mueller.[12]

On June 23, 2017, Trump stated that members of Mueller's team were "all Hillary Clinton supporters, some of them worked for Hillary Clinton." PolitiFact rated Trump's claim "Mostly False", noting that only three had made campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton and one had defended the Clinton Foundation in court. One member of the team had made contributions to Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz and Republican Senator George Allen.[13][14] In an interview with The New York Times published on July 19, 2017, Trump stated that he would have not appointed Sessions as Attorney General had he known that he was going to recuse himself from the investigation. Furthermore, Trump confirmed that he would view it as a violation if Mueller investigated his and his family's finances, unrelated to Russia.[15]

On June 25, 2017, it was reported that a pro-Trump group had launched an ad called "Witch Hunt," featuring conservative Tomi Lahren, which attacked Mueller and the investigation.[16]

On July 21, 2017, the Washington Post reported that Trump asked his advisors about his power to pardon those under investigation. Trump and his legal team discussed the possibility of Trump pardoning aides, family members, and himself. No president has ever pardoned himself, so there is no case law on whether it would be legal. Trump attorneys also reportedly created a list of Mueller's potential conflicts of interest. Trump lawyer John Dowd said the story was "nonsense".[17]

On August 3, 2017, at a campaign-style rally in West Virginia, Trump continued to deny any Russian involvement in his campaign or win: "The Russia story is a total fabrication. It's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics, that's all it is." This occurred on the same day as the announcement that another grand jury had been impaneled.[18]

On August 12, 2017, The New York Times published an interview of Republican Senator Richard Burr, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in which he said he was hopeful that the investigation would be complete by the end of the year.[19]

Sean Hannity, a strong supporter of Trump, has been a vocal and persistent critic of the Mueller investigation on his Fox News television show, Hannity, and syndicated radio program, The Sean Hannity Show. He has called the investigation a "witch hunt" and described Mueller as "corrupt, abusively biased and political."[20][21] Hannity has asserted that the investigation arose from an elaborate, corrupt scheme involving Hillary Clinton;[22] the Steele dossier, which he asserts is completely false although parts of it have been reported as verified;[23] former Justice Department officials James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Bruce Ohr, and others; and a wiretap on former Trump aide Carter Page that Hannity asserts was obtained by misrepresentations to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, characterizing the wiretap as an abuse of power that is "far bigger than Watergate" and "the weaponizing of those powerful tools of intelligence and the shredding of our Fourth Amendment, constitutional rights."[20][22]

Jeanine Pirro, a former Westchester County district attorney and currently host of a weekly Fox News program Justice with Judge Jeanine, has been friends with President Trump for decades.[24] On her program, Pirro described Mueller, FBI Director Christopher Wray (a Trump appointee), former FBI Director James Comey and other current/former FBI officials as a "criminal cabal,"[25] saying "There is a cleansing needed in our FBI and Department of Justice—it needs to be cleansed of individuals who should not just be fired, but who need to be taken out in cuffs."[26]

Tucker Carlson, host of the Fox News program Tucker Carlson Tonight, said on March 2, 2018, "We've been hearing about Russia non-stop, literally non-stop, for more than a year. Almost no information has come out to justify the obsession, none has come out to justify the claim that there was collusion, and most Americans are no longer interested, if they ever were."[27]

Opposition to the investigation

Throughout 2017 and 2018, Trump and his allies in Congress and the media have promulgated a series of false narratives to assert that the FBI, Justice Department and Mueller investigation have been engaged in an elaborate, corrupt conspiracy against Trump. Among other things, Trump has characterized the Mueller investigation as a "rigged Russia witch hunt," while prominent Trump supporter Sean Hannity has described it as "the biggest corruption scandal in American history."[28] On May 29, 2018, Trump went so far as to assert that the Mueller investigation intended to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections,[29] an accusation Hannity reinforced on his Fox News show that night, saying Mueller "wants to derail many pro-Trump Republicans in the midterms."[28] In a two-minute monologue that same day, Fox News anchorman Shepard Smith flatly debunked that assertion and a number of other Trump narratives, saying "you laugh at them because there's almost nothing else you can do."[30]

Amid concerns that Trump might attempt to halt the investigation by having Mueller dismissed, some members of Congress have supported a bipartisan bill designed to protect Mueller. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on April 17, 2018, that such a bill was not necessary and he would not allow it to come to the Senate floor for a vote. Nevertheless, the chairman of the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley announced on April 19, 2018, that his committee would vote on the measure the following week.[31][32] The bill cleared the committee on April 26, with four Republicans joining all ten Democrats in a 14-7 vote, but McConnell repeated he would not bring the bill to the floor for a vote.[33]

By President Trump

2017

Trump reportedly asked White House Counsel Donald McGahn in April 2017 to call acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente—who was supervising the Russia probe at the time, before Mueller's appointment—and get him to persuade Comey to announce that Trump was not personally under investigation. McGahn made the call but failed to convince Boente that Comey should make the statement.[34]

In June 2017, Trump reportedly tried to fire Mueller, according to several independent accounts published in January 2018. The reports said that Trump told McGahn to fire Mueller; that McGahn refused, saying that to do so would have a catastrophic effect on Trump's presidency; and that Trump then backed off. The New York Times reported that McGahn said he would resign rather than carry out the order, while CNN said McGahn did not directly threaten to resign, and Fox News said Trump was persuaded not to carry out the action by McGahn and other aides.[35][36][37] The New York Times report said that Trump cited three conflicts of interest on Mueller's part to justify the dismissal: a years-old dispute over fees at Trump National Golf Club; the fact that Mueller had most recently worked for the law firm that previously represented Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and the fact that Mueller had been interviewed to return as FBI Director the day before he was appointed special counsel.[35] According to CNN, another reason Trump wanted to fire Mueller was Trump's perception that Mueller was close friends with Comey, although others have described them as professional acquaintances from having simultaneously worked in the Justice Department during the George W. Bush presidency.[38] In August 2017, Trump said he had never thought about firing Mueller, and by December 2017 he had denied it twice more; in that time period his lawyers and advisers also issued five similar denials. By January 2018, Trump and his surrogates had denied that he had considered firing Mueller a total of eight times.[39] Trump dismissed the January 2018 The New York Times story as "fake news".[36] McGahn was interviewed by Mueller's investigators on November 30, 2017.[40]

Also in June 2017, Trump reportedly instructed his aides to start a campaign for his administration and his Republican allies to discredit potential witnesses in the investigation, including FBI officials Andrew McCabe, Jim Rybicki, and James Baker. The three men had been identified by Comey as his confidants. The instruction was reported in January 2018 by Foreign Policy. Trump's lead attorney John Dowd disputed the accuracy of the report.[41]

In early December 2017 Trump sought to fire Mueller, according to an April 2018 report in The New York Times, but stopped after learning the news reports he based his decision on were incorrect.[42]

2018

In January 2018, CNN reported that Trump was unhappy with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Mueller investigation. Trump reportedly talked about wanting to fire Rosenstein and proposed firing him, before being persuaded otherwise by his advisers.[43]

On March 17, 2018, Trump appeared to abandon his attorneys' advice to avoid directly criticizing the Mueller investigation, tweeting that the "Mueller probe should never have been started" and that it was a "WITCH HUNT!" He also claimed that "there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State."[44] The next day, he questioned how "fair" it was that "the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans". Trump did not note that Mueller himself is a Republican, as is the man who appointed him, Rod Rosenstein—who was appointed by Trump.[45] This was the first time he had criticized Mueller by name, alarming many prominent Republicans, who cautioned Trump not to criticize Mueller or give any appearance that he was contemplating having Mueller dismissed; they warned of dire repercussions if he did. Presidential lawyer Ty Cobb later stated that the president "is not considering or discussing" firing Mueller.[46]

In April 2018, following an FBI raid on the office and home of Trump's private attorney Michael Cohen, Trump for the first time spoke openly about firing Mueller, saying that "many people" had advised him to do so and "We'll see what happens."[47] Under Department of Justice regulations, that authority can only be exercised by Rosenstein, the DOJ official in charge of the special counsel investigation, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump believes he has the power to do it directly, although he is not currently acting to do so.[48] Trump also said that the "witch hunt" that began "right after I won the nomination" is "an attack on our country in a true sense. It's an attack on what we all stand for."[49] In May 2018, Trump tweeted that the special counsel probe, led by "13 Angry Democrats", was investigating him on "obstruction for a made up, phony crime". He declared that there was no obstruction, only him "fighting back".[50]

Following the May 2018 disclosure that FBI informant Stefan Halper had spoken with Trump campaign aides Carter Page, George Papadopolous and Sam Clovis, Trump advanced a conspiracy theory dubbed as Spygate that the previous administration under Barack Obama paid to plant a spy inside Trump's 2016 presidential campaign to assist his rival, Hillary Clinton, win the 2016 US presidential election.[51][52] With no actual supporting evidence produced, Trump's allegations were widely described as blatantly false.[51][53][54][55] Trump's allegations prompted the Justice Department and the FBI to provide a classified briefing regarding Halper to several Congressmen, including Republicans Trey Gowdy and Paul Ryan. Gowdy and Ryan concluded that the FBI did not do anything improper, and that Russia, not Trump, was not the target of the FBI.[56][57]

In June 2018, Trump claimed that a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz "totally exonerates" him and that "the Mueller investigation has been totally discredited", despite the report having nothing to do with the special counsel investigation, the Trump campaign or Russia. The report was instead focused on the FBI's 2016 investigation of the Hillary Clinton email controversy.[58][59][60][61]

On August 1, 2018, President Trump said on Twitter that Attorney General Jeff Sessions "should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further."[62] Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani played down the significance of the comment, telling CNN's Dana Bash that Trump was "was expressing his opinion on his favorite medium, Twitter, for asserting his First Amendment rights" and said the tweet was not a presidential order.[62] At a press briefing later that day, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "It's not an order, it's the president's opinion."[63]

According to a Washington Post tally, by August 21 Trump had fired or threatened over half of the officials with leadership roles in the investigation. Speaking to Reuters on that date he said,“I can go in, and I could do whatever — I could run it if I want. But I decided to stay out. I’m totally allowed to be involved if I wanted to be. So far, I haven’t chosen to be involved.”[64]

By Trump's lawyers and allies

On December 16, 2017, Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for Trump for America, sent a letter to Congress alleging that Mueller's team had unlawfully acquired, via the GSA, tens of thousands of emails sent and received by thirteen senior members of the Trump transition team. The communications derived from the official governmental presidential transition team domain, "ptt.gov".[65][66][67] On the following day, GSA Deputy Counsel Lenny Loewentritt stated that Trump's transition team had been explicitly advised at the time of the transition that all material passing through government equipment would be subject to monitoring and auditing, and would not be held back from law enforcement officers.[68][69] A spokesman for Mueller's investigation, Peter Carr, also rejected Langhofer's claims, stating that the Trump transition emails were acquired appropriately through the criminal investigation process.[70]

On March 17, 2018, Trump's personal attorney, John Dowd, urged Rod Rosenstein to follow the "courageous example" of Sessions in dismissing Andrew McCabe and "bring an end" to the Mueller investigation. Dowd originally told the Daily Beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president, but later told CNN he was speaking only for himself. A source told CNN that Trump had not authorized the statement,[71] but two sources told The New York Times that Dowd was speaking at Trump's urging.[72]

During the week of March 19, 2018, Trump hired the law firm diGenova & Toensing, headed by Joseph diGenova and his wife and law partner Victoria Toensing. Both are longtime Republican activists, having appeared on Fox News on numerous occasions to criticize Democrats, most notably Bill and Hillary Clinton. In recent weeks diGenova has advanced the narrative that a "deep state" conspiracy is attempting to subvert Trump. In January 2018, diGenova said on Fox News, "There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn't win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime. Make no mistake about it: A group of FBI and DOJ people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime." Fox News reported that Toensing had recently represented Trump associates Mark Corallo, Sam Clovis, and Erik Prince, and that Corallo, Clovis, and Trump signed waivers of any potential conflicts of interest.[73][74] The White House announced later that week that diGenova and Toensing would not be hired as part of the special counsel legal team, but might assist Trump in other legal matters. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow cited conflicts of interest, while two sources told The New York Times that Trump hadn't established personal rapport with diGenova and Toensing.[75]

Several conservative sources sided with Trump to embrace and promote the Spygate conspiracy theory, including the Fox & Friends talk show and political commentators Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity for Fox News, the website Breitbart, and also radio show host Rush Limbaugh. Meanwhile, Infowars host Alex Jones took credit for coining the "Spygate" term.[76] Asked on whether the promotion of the conspiracy Spygate theory is meant to discredit the special counsel investigation, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said on May 27 that the investigators "are giving us the material to do it. Of course, we have to do it in defending the president ... it is for public opinion" on whether to "impeach or not impeach" Trump.[77]

The New York Times reported on July 12, 2018, that the White House had ordered that classified information about informant Stephan Halper be given to all members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, beyond the tight access that had previously been granted to the Gang of Eight. The directors of national intelligence and the FBI both opposed the move. House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, a staunch Trump ally, had requested the expanded access for weeks, while Democrats asserted it was an effort by Republicans to gain information they could use to undermine the Mueller investigation.[78]

It was reported in early September that Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said that the White House could and likely would prevent the special counsel investigation from making public certain information in its final report which would be covered by executive privilege. Also according to Giuliani, Trump's personal legal team is already preparing a "counter-report" to refute the potential special counsel investigation's report.[79]

By Congress

On July 26, 2017, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz introduced a congressional resolution calling for a special counsel investigation into the handling of the Hillary Clinton email controversy by James Comey, undue interference of Attorney General Loretta Lynch in that investigation, and the acquisition of Uranium One by the Russian state corporation Rosatom during Mueller's time as FBI director.[80][81] Gaetz stated that he did not trust Mueller to lead the investigation because of his alleged involvement in approval of the Uranium One deal and his allegedly close relationship with Comey, a probable person of interest in the proposed investigation.[81] The resolution was referred to two House committees where it has remained as of February 21, 2018.[82]

On August 24, 2017, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) added a rider to the proposed fiscal 2018 spending bill package that would block funding from being used "for the investigation under that order of matters occurring before June 2015" (the month Trump announced he was running for president) immediately and terminated funding for the special counsel investigation 180 days after passage of the bill.[83] Rep. DeSantis said that the DOJ order of May 17, 2017, "didn't identify a crime to be investigated and practically invites a fishing expedition."[84] House Republican leaders did not allow the amendment to proceed to the floor for a vote.[85]

On November 3, 2017, Gaetz introduced another resolution demanding Mueller's resignation as special counsel due to conflicts of interest, this resolution was co-sponsored by U.S. Representative from Arizona Andy Biggs and U.S. Representative from Texas Louie Gohmert; Arizona Representative Trent Franks co-sponsored the resolution on November 8, 2017.[86][87] The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee where it has remained as of February 21, 2018.[88] As a "sense of the House" resolution, its approval would not be legally binding upon Mueller.[89]

On February 2, 2018, the House Intelligence Committee with Trump's authorization released a memo written by committee chair Devin Nunes and staff. The Nunes memo,[90] based on classified information, alleged that the FBI and Department of Justice "may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources" in October 2016 in seeking authorization for a wiretap on Carter Page, a former adviser to Trump's campaign.[91] Before the memo's release, Trump told associates that it would discredit the investigation,[92] and after its release, Trump claimed in a tweet that the memo "totally vindicates" him.[93] On February 24, 2018, the House Intelligence Committee with Trump's authorization released a redacted version of a memo from Adam Schiff, ranking Democratic member of the committee, as a response to the Nunes memo. The response contended the wiretaps were properly obtained and were warranted because Page had been assessed by intelligence agencies as "an agent of the Russian government," adding that "Our extensive review of the initial FISA application and three subsequent renewals failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement and instead revealed that both the FBI and DOJ made extensive showings to justify all four requests."[94][90]

By others

The New York Times reported on March 28, 2018, that the Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz would investigate accusations of wrongdoing surrounding the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, "amid a stream of attacks in recent months from the White House and Republican lawmakers seeking to undermine the special counsel's investigation."[95] The announcement fell short of the demands of several Republican politicians and prominent Trump supporters such as Sean Hannity for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate.[96][97] CNN reported on March 29, 2018, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had appointed John W. Huber, the United States Attorney for the District of Utah, to investigate this and other matters. In a letter to three Republican Congressional committee chairmen, Sessions said he would rely on Huber's findings to decide if a special counsel needed to be appointed. Huber had been investigating the matter for a time, but his involvement had not previously been disclosed. CNN reported that Huber is investigating "a cluster of Republican-driven accusations against the FBI," which includes allegations that the FBI acted inappropriately in two matters involving Hillary Clinton, including her emails and the sale of Uranium One to a Russian-owned company.[98]

Polling

2017

A May 2017 Politico/Morning Consult poll showed that 81% of U.S. voters supported the special prosecutor's investigation.[99] A June 2017 Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll asked U.S. adults whether the special counsel investigation could be fair and impartial: 26% were "extremely confident" or "very confident"; 36% were "moderately confident" and 36% were "not very confident" or "not at all confident."[100] The poll indicated that 68% of Americans were at least "moderately concerned" about inappropriate connections between the Trump campaign and the Russians.[101]

A poll published in November 2017 by ABC News and The Washington Post found that 58% of Americans approved of Mueller's handling of his investigation, while 28% disapproved. It also indicated that half of Americans believed that President Trump was not co-operating with the investigation.[102] A Quinnipiac poll published on November 15, 2017, suggested that 60% of Americans believed that Mueller's investigation was proceeding fairly, with 27% believing that it was not. The poll also found that 47% of respondents said that President Trump ought to be impeached if he were to dismiss Mueller.[103]

A December poll by Associated Press–NORC indicated that four out of ten Americans believed that Trump had committed a crime in connection with Russia, with an additional three out of ten beyond that believing that he had acted unethically. It found that 62% of Democrats and 5% of Republicans believe that Trump acted illegally. It found that 68% of Americans believed that Trump was obstructing the investigation. 57% of respondents said that they were "extremely confident" or "moderately confident" that Mueller's investigation is fair.[104]

In another December poll from The Hill, 54% of respondents believe Mueller has a conflict of interest due to his relationship with James Comey. The poll also found 36% agreed Trump and his allies are getting harsher treatment from the special counsel than Clinton and her allies did during the FBI investigation into her handling of classified material."[105] The same poll found that 60 percent of voters say that "a comment to the FBI director that he should consider letting Flynn off the hook" is not enough to constitute obstruction of justice.

2018

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on February 26, 2018, showed that a 58% majority of registered voters say they have a lot or some trust in Mueller's investigation, while a 57% majority say they have little or no trust in Trump's denials. Further, 75% say they take the charges filed by Mueller seriously; most of them say they take them "very" seriously. That represents some shift in views over the past year. In a USA Today/Suffolk Poll in March 2017, 63% called it very or somewhat serious.[106]

A CBS poll released in May 2018 found that a majority of Americans, 53%, believe the investigation is politically motivated, although most agreed it should continue.[107] The poll indicated most Republicans believe that Congress should take steps to end the investigation, while most independents and nearly all Democrats feel the investigation should be allowed to continue.[108]

See also

References

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Category:2017 in American politics Category:Aftermath of the United States presidential election, 2016 Category:2018 in American politics

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