New Mueller Documents Are Coming, and Trump Is Already Panicking
President Trump awoke Friday morning once again displeased with the state of Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into his campaign’s relationship with Russia. In what may have been his most full-throated condemnation of the probe and those involved yet, the president structured his early-morning tirade around the absurd question of whether Mueller plans to disclose his “conflicts of interest” when he files his final report. Name-checked were Mueller; Leakin’ Lyin’ James Comey; Andrew Weissman, a prosecutor on Mueller’s team; Crooked Hillary; “conflicted” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr; Ohr’s “lovely wife Molly” (actual name Nellie); former CIA director John Brennan; and former intelligence director James Clapper. Not mentioned were former FBI agent Peter Strzok and his “lover” Lisa Page, who have to feel jilted.
Robert Mueller and Leakin’ Lyin’ James Comey are Best Friends, just one of many Mueller Conflicts of Interest. And bye the way, wasn’t the woman in charge of prosecuting Jerome Corsi (who I do not know) in charge of “legal” at the corrupt Clinton Foundation? A total Witch Hunt…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
….Will Robert Mueller’s big time conflicts of interest be listed at the top of his Republicans only Report. Will Andrew Weissman’s horrible and vicious prosecutorial past be listed in the Report. He wrongly destroyed people’s lives, took down great companies, only to be……..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
…..overturned, 9-0, in the United States Supreme Court. Doing same thing to people now. Will all of the substantial & many contributions made by the 17 Angry Democrats to the Campaign of Crooked Hillary be listed in top of Report. Will the people that worked for the Clinton….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
….Foundation be listed at the top of the Report? Will the scathing document written about Lyin’ James Comey, by the man in charge of the case, Rod Rosenstein (who also signed the FISA Warrant), be a big part of the Report? Isn’t Rod therefore totally conflicted? Will all of….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
…the lying and leaking by the people doing the Report, & also Bruce Ohr (and his lovely wife Molly), Comey, Brennan, Clapper, & all of the many fired people of the FBI, be listed in the Report? Will the corruption within the DNC & Clinton Campaign be exposed?..And so much more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
Trump’s meltdown may have something to do with the expected Friday release of memos regarding his former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen. The special counsel’s office released a sentencing memo Tuesday night for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who in December 2017 was charged with lying to federal agents about his contacts with Russian officials during Trump’s transition into office. Though most of the memo was redacted, it made clear that Flynn, who met with investigators 19 times, provided “substantial” assistance to Mueller’s probe, offering “valuable” information regarding “a range of issues, including interactions between individuals in the Presidential Transition Team and Russia.” Mueller recommended Flynn not serve any prison time. Trump’s legal team didn’t take kindly to the news. “Wow big crime for a SPECIAL WHATEVER maybe a group of Angry Bitter Hillary Supporters who are justifying themselves by the goal justifies the means….Over the top In ethical behavior,” the president’s counsel wrote to Politico in a text message.
The Cohen memo expected on Friday will also offer a sentencing recommendation, and like Flynn, the president’s former fixer has been cooperating with the special counsel’s office. In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple campaign finance violations, claiming in court that Trump directed him to pay off two women with whom the future president allegedly had affairs, Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal. It was revealed a few weeks later that Cohen had participated in multiple interview sessions with Mueller’s investigators, and he began fashioning himself a noble champion of American values, registering as a Democrat and tweeting praise of liberal figures. Late last month, he appeared in Manhattan federal court to plead guilty again, this time to lying to Congress about the details of a potential deal to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow. Once again, Cohen claimed that Trump directed him to commit the crime. The president responded to the plea by calling Cohen “a very weak person” who was lying to trying to “get his sentence reduced.” A day later, however, Trump essentially admitted that what Cohen said in court about discussions surrounding the project extending into the campaign was true, tweeting that it was “very cool & very legal” for him to pursue a real estate development in Russia while simultaneously running for president.
The same week Cohen entered his second guilty plea, Manafort was charged with lying to the FBI and the special counsel’s office, breaking a plea deal he signed in September after having been found guilty of a litany of financial crimes. The memo the special counsel’s office will release on Friday is expected to detail the nature of those lies, which could spell trouble for Trump. Mueller did not make public the fact that Manafort had lied until after the president submitted written answers to questions from the special counsel. If Trump’s answers align with whatever falsehoods Manafort fed to Mueller, it will be clear that the president lied to federal investigators, as well. Trump responded to the charges by melting down on Twitter. “The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite,” the president tweeted, going on to write that the “Witch Hunt” had “nothing but ruined lives.”
But It wasn’t all bad news from Trump on Friday morning. After unleashing a five-tweet tirade against Mueller’s investigation, he provided a concise update on his administration’s progress working out a new trade deal with China.
China talks are going very well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
But less than 30 minutes later he was back on Mueller, tweeting that Giuliani and the rest of his crack team of legal minds is working on a report to counter to whatever report Mueller eventually files. After a quick break to honor the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, he confirmed that a rebuttal is in order. “We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report,” Trump wrote. “This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!”