Publicity Smear campaign commences

Posted on: December 19, 2017 at 12:12:05 CT

In the past week, investigators on Mueller’s team have been publicly accused of bias against Trump and of violating criminal procedure to get documents related to his transition. The purpose of the onslaught, according to people close to the White House, isn’t to encourage the president to oust the special counsel, a move that could precipitate a crisis in the Justice Department and potentially a move to impeach Trump.

Rather, these people said, the goal is to sow public doubt about Mueller and his prosecutors in advance of upcoming criminal trials — and to give the president political cover if he wants to start issuing pardons to any current or former aides swept up in the Russia scandal.

“It is definitely a smarter strategy than outright firing of Mueller, because that is likely to create a firestorm,” said Elizabeth de la Vega, a former assistant U.S. attorney from the Northern District of California. “It is also entirely consistent with Trump’s modus operandi because he is surprisingly nonconfrontational, preferring to be manipulative and, frankly, sneaky.”

The latest complaints against Mueller are a sharp escalation from earlier this year, when Trump and his allies took their first shots at the former FBI director, questioning his hiring of prosecutors who had predominantly donated to Democratic politicians, including President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Their grievances have taken on an added sense of political urgency as the Russia inquiry creeps closer to the president’s inner circle. Earlier this month, former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his contact with foreign officials. The plea followed a similar deal cut by former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in October, when former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, pleaded not guilty on charges including tax evasion.