Displaying items by tag: russia

(New York)

One of the big overarching questions regarding the Mueller probe over the last few weeks has been two-part: will Trump try to fire Mueller, and will the Senate step in to protect Mueller from said firing. Well, one half of the answer is now clear. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has made clear that the Senate will take no action to protect Mueller from whatever moves Trump might make. McConnell said “I am the one who decides what we take to the floor … That’s my responsibility as majority leader. And we will not be having this on the floor of the Senate”.

FINSUM: The one Caveat here is that McConnell thought he said protecting Mueller was unnecessary because he did not believe Trump would try to fire him, which slightly leaves the door open to a change of position.

(New York)

There is a lot of excitement and anxiety about the investigation into Michael Cohen, president Trump’s personal lawyer. Many fear that investigators may get him to spill all details about his dealings with Trump. The media has been hyping the idea, with magazines like Esquire saying “We can safely speculate that Cohen knows everything: the money, the scams, the women, the Russians. All of it”. However, Bloomberg reports that Cohen is not the biggest fish investigators could catch and that there are many close to Trump who know much more about his affairs than Cohen. In reality, another lawyer named Jason Greenblatt, who worked as in-house counsel for the Trump organization for almost 20 years, probably knows much more.

FINSUM: He may not know the most, but it seems like Cohen probably knows enough to get Trump in even hotter water.

(Washington)

The public spat between the president and the former director of the FBI went very public yesterday as a Comey interview about his firing was aired on national television last night. In the interview, Comey called Trump morally unfit to be president and said that Russia may be holding something over Trump that is affecting his behavior. Comey would not say whether he thought Trump firing him amounted to obstruction of justice, saying that would be up to investigators to decide. Trump fired back at Comey through a series of tweets.

FINSUM: Hard to say if this spat will amount to anything, but one thing is clear—it will not lessen the pressure Trump is under in regards to this investigation.

(Washington)

The standoff between the president and special counsel Robert Mueller is heating up once again. On Monday, federal agents raided the offices of Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, which Trump vehemently protested in the media. This has led to speculation Trump may now move to fire Mueller. In response, the White House officially said yesterday that they felt doing so was within the president’s authority. GOP lawmakers have warned Trump not to do so, but say they will not protect Mueller.

FINSUM: Whether or not Trump is allowed to fire Mueller, we think it would cause an unprecedented political firestorm if he were to do so. Just look at what happened to Nixon after he fired a special counsel.

(Washington)

Though he had remained silent on the issue for three days, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has finally spoken out on the Trump-Mueller tension. McConnell held a press conference yesterday to commend the job Robert Mueller is doing and to admonish the President to let him finish his investigation. McConnell said Mueller “should be allowed to finish his job”, and that “I don’t think Bob Mueller is going anywhere … I have a lot of confidence in him”. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said that if Trump tried to fire Mueller without cause than it would be an impeachable offense.

FINSUM: We think Trump is sharp enough not to try to fire Mueller as it would create an absolute political nightmare.