The battle lines surrounding Robert Mueller wrapping up his investigation are being drawn.
Mueller insists he must interview the President to close out his probe, but Trump’s lawyers recognize that the special counsel is laying a trap to impeach President Trump.
So Trump sent the one letter that could shut down the special counsel for good.
Mueller is pushing to interview Trump under the guise of it being the final piece in his obstruction investigation.
But Trump’s lawyers see right through him.
Mueller wants an open-ended interview with the President to catch Trump making a mistake so the special counsel can claim he lied, and therefore recommend grounds for impeachment.
A few months ago, Trump’s lawyers put together a 20 page letter outlining all the reasons why Mueller does not need to interview Trump.
It was an epic takedown of Mueller’s case against the President, which hinges on two events.
The first was Trump supposedly hoping former FBI Director James Comey would take it easy on Michael Flynn when it was believed he lied about his conversations with the Russian Ambassador.
Secondly, the Mueller team is trying to build the case that Trump obstructed the Russia investigation when he fired Comey in May of last year.
The New York Times obtained the letter exclusively and published it in full.
The Times reported Trump cannot be charged with obstruction for firing Comey because Article II of the Constitution vests him the authority to fire any executive branch employee and grants him the power as the chief of law enforcement office to stop or start any investigation he wishes.
Trump lawyers argued, “It is unthinkable that a President acting (l) under his Constitutional authority; (2) on the written recommendation and with the overt participation of his Deputy Attorney General; and (3) consistent with the advice of his Attorney General, to fire a subordinate who has been universally condemned by bipartisan leadership48 could then be accused of obstruction for doing so.”
Trump’s lawyers also took apart the meat of Mueller’s case regarding Flynn.
According to the letter, Trump could not have obstructed justice by wondering if Comey could take it easy on Flynn because Flynn was no longer under investigation since the FBI agents who interviewed him did not believe he lied.
Trump’s lawyers wrote, “there was no obvious investigation to obstruct since the FBI had concluded on January 24, 2017, that Lt. Gen. Flynn had not lied, but was merely confused. Director Comey confirmed this in his closed-door Congressional testimony on March 2, 2017.”
The letter also revealed that then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates – an Obama holdover – had indicated in a meeting with White House Counsel Don McGahn on January 27th, 2017 that the Department of Justice would not object to the White House disclosing how the DOJ came into possession of information about Flynn’s conversations with the Russian Ambassador.
FBI agents interviewed Flynn on January 24th and Yates comments indicate that there was no ongoing investigation of Flynn for making false statements to FBI agents.
Trump’s lawyers also detailed how on February 8th and February 10th, Flynn told the President that FBI agents had informed him he would not be charged.
Since Flynn was not being investigated – and was in no danger to be charged – there was nothing for Trump to obstruct and that eliminates any grounds for Mueller to seek his testimony on this matter.
Trump’s attorneys also addressed comments he made in a May 11th interview with Lester Holt.
The interview is seen as “exhibit A” in the obstruction case because many – including James Comey – stated that Trump admitted he fired Comey because of the “Russia thing.”
But Trump’s legal team pointed out that the clip had been taken entirely out of context because of the President’s stream of conscious speaking style and Holt’s interruptions.
When Trump circled back to his main point, he stated that he knew firing Comey would lengthen the investigation and that he wanted it done properly.
Trump told Holt, “As far as I’m concerned, I want that thing [the Russia investigation] to be absolutely done properly. When I did this now, I said I probably maybe will confuse people. Maybe I’ll expand that- you know, I’ll lengthen the time because it should be over with. It should — in my opinion, should’ve been over with a long time ago because it — all it is an excuse. But I said to myself I might even lengthen out the investigation. But I have to do the right thing for the American people. He’s the wrong man for that position.”
This letter makes it clear that Robert Mueller has no case on any front.
Since there is no crime to investigate, Mueller has no business seeking Trump’s testimony.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this story.
