Robert Mueller's Latest Strategic Move Is a Game-C
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It's on.
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By Charles P. Pierce
Aug 31, 2017
Mr. Robert Mueller Requests the Honor of Your Presence At a Barbecue Held In Honor Of The Current Administration.
It's pretty much on, I'd say. From Politico:
The cooperation is the latest indication that the federal probe into President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman is intensifying. It also could potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trump's campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes.
The two teams have shared evidence and talked frequently in recent weeks about a potential case, these people said. One of the people familiar with progress on the case said both Mueller's and Schneiderman's teams have collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering.
Manafort seems to be a pile of bones by the side of the road at this point. He'll flip, or he already has. His testimony would open a lot of doors that a lot of people would prefer stay shut.
But the alliance between Mueller and New York AG Eric Schneiderman is the most important news in this story. As has been pointed out by practically everyone, the presidential pardon power does not extend to state crimes, and Schneiderman has been after Camp Runamuck since before the voters installed it in the White House last November.
He's already won a $25 million settlement on behalf of the marks who were scammed by the president* through his Trump University long con.
The president* already has yapped about Schneiderman in public, a sure sign that he's worried about what else Schneiderman might have. Whatever Schneiderman does, there isn't a damn thing the president* can do about it. And, of course, Mueller knows this as well as Schneiderman does.
The move is a shrewd one; for all Mueller's incorruptibility, nobody ever accused him of not knowing his way around Beltway politics. He knows what power is and how to use it far better than do the people he's investigating.
It was also revealed on Wednesday that Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian lobbyist who'd been present at the now famous meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump, Jr., had given testimony two weeks ago to Mueller's grand jury. At this point, I imagine that the White House is slowly turning into Baskerville Hall, and there's baying in the distance that's keeping people up nights