As Mueller Gets Closer, We'll See More Signs of Trump's Obstruction

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

07 January 18

eadline: As special counsel Robert Mueller gets closer to revealing Trump's ties to Russia, Trump is encouraging House Republicans and Fox News to intensify their anti-Mueller campaign. This is causing a major rift in the GOP between Trump loyalists, and Republicans who are ready to turn on Trump now that they got the tax cuts their rich patrons demanded.

Connect the dots:

1. Several Trump loyalists in the House today demanded that Attorney General Jeff Sessions resign. Sessions' resignation would allow Trump to appoint a new attorney general who is not recused from the Russia probe, and could fire Mueller.

2. House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes is stepping up his attacks on Mueller's team and the law enforcement agencies around it, including convening a group of Republicans to draft a report on "corruption" among the investigators working for Mueller. But other senior House Republicans, like Trey Gowdy, are urging Nunes to tone down his criticisms and not pursue the corruption report.

3. Paul Manafort has commenced a civil lawsuit against Mueller for exceeding his authority. The suit is rubbish. It’s well established that prosecutors can use whatever evidence they lawfully uncover as a basis for further criminal investigations. Manafort chose to file this civil lawsuit instead of filing a motion in the criminal case because he's counting on his conservative allies (including Fox News) to further rile up the GOP base against Mueller.

4. Meanwhile, Trump is loading up the government agencies that would investigate his possible Russia financial crimes -- the IRS, Treasury’s financial crimes unit, and both U.S. Attorneys that cover New York City -- with “acting” cronies who are serving without senate confirmation.

As Mueller gets closer, we'll see more signs of Trump's attempted obstruction of our system of justice.

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