Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is back in the news.
New leaks reveal his latest line of inquiry.
And he is hoping it is the smoking gun that will lead to the impeachment of Donald Trump.
Mueller is now grilling witnesses over comments Trump had made on the campaign trail when he jokingly asked Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.
The statements were clearly made in jest, but the anti-Trump media played it up like Trump was publically in cahoots with Moscow to steal the election.
Now Mueller is zeroing in on this line of investigation.
NBC News reports:
“Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is asking witnesses pointed questions about whether Donald Trump was aware that Democratic emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their strategic release, according to multiple people familiar with the probe.
Mueller’s investigators have asked witnesses whether Trump was aware of plans for WikiLeaks to publish the emails. They have also asked about the relationship between GOP operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and why Trump took policy positions favorable to Russia.
The line of questioning suggests the special counsel, who is tasked with examining whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, is looking into possible coordination between WikiLeaks and Trump associates in disseminating the emails, which U.S. intelligence officials say were stolen by Russia…
… In one line of questioning, investigators have focused on Trump’s public comments in July 2016 asking Russia to find emails that were deleted by his then-opponent Hillary Clinton from a private server she maintained while secretary of state. The comments came at a news conference on July 27, 2016, just days after WikiLeaks began publishing the Democratic National Committee emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said.
Witnesses have been asked whether Trump himself knew then that Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, whose emails were released several months later, had already been targeted. They were also asked if Trump was advised to make the statement about Clinton’s emails from someone outside his campaign, and if the witnesses had reason to believe Trump tried to coordinate the release of the DNC emails to do the most damage to Clinton, the people familiar with the matter said.”
This desperate line of questioning shows how little Mueller has come up with in nearly ten months of investigation.
It’s clearly a last ditch effort to come up with something – anything – he can use to recommend that Congress impeach the President.
But it’s likely to come up empty.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this case.
