Special Counsel Is In Talks With White House To Interview Senior Officials
Robert Mueller is closing in on the White House.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now in discussions with the White House to interview senior Trump administration officials.
The news, first reported by The New York Times, suggests that Mueller’s investigation is ramping up dramatically.
According to The New York Times, “Mueller has asked the White House about specific meetings, who attended them and whether there are any notes, transcripts or documents about them.”
Mueller wants to question Trump administration officials about several matters including the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
“That line of questioning will be important as Mr. Mueller continues to investigate whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice in the dismissal of Mr. Comey,” The New York Times notes.
Among the people that Mueller wants to question is former chief of stat Reince Priebus.
“Mr. Trump’s allies are particularly concerned about Mr. Mueller’s interest in talking to Mr. Priebus, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who worked closely with Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump’s confidants at the White House say Mr. Trump was never fully convinced that Mr. Priebus would be loyal to him,” according to the report.
Here is a key segment of the New York Times report:
Mr. Priebus can potentially answer many questions Mr. Mueller has about what occurred during the campaign and in the White House. Mr. Priebus appears on the calendar of Mr. Manafort on the same day in June 2016 that Mr. Manafort and other campaign officials — including Mr. Trump’s eldest son and son-in-law — attended a meeting with Russians who claimed to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to two people briefed on the matter. It is not clear whether Mr. Priebus and Mr. Manafort did meet that day.
According to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation, Mr. Comey met with Mr. Priebus at the White House on Feb. 8 — a week before Mr. Comey said Mr. Trump cornered him in the Oval Office and asked him to end an investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. In Mr. Comey’s meeting with Mr. Priebus, Mr. Comey told Mr. Priebus about a Justice Department policy that largely bars discussions between White House officials and the F.B.I. about continuing investigations in order to prevent political meddling — or at least the appearance of it — in the bureau’s work, according to the law enforcement official.
Priebus can likely confirm important details of Comey’s testimony including about Trump’s one on one meetings with Comey.
Read the full New York Times report here.
