Trump Russia Probe: Mueller Questions The President’s Inner Circle, Likely Exploring If He Obstructed Justice
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations that Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians to undermine last year’s election intensified yesterday with CNN reporting that the prosecutor’s team interviewed one of the President’s closest aides, Stephen Miller, likely exploring the “obstruction of justice” angle in addition to the collusion angle.
Although Mueller’s team has interviewed former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus, Miller’s interview marks a significant development because he now becomes the highest-level aide still working with Trump known to have talked to investigators.
Sources speaking to CNN claimed that Mueller’s team are on the lookout for attendees of the now (in)famous meeting where former Trump National Security adviser, George Papadopoulos, informed campaign staff members about his contact with Russian officials and their request to have a meeting arranged between Trump and Putin in Russia. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who also presided over the meeting along with Donald Trump, is already in troubled waters for testifying in front of Congress that he had no idea about any contacts with Russia during the campaign, a statement he appeared to retract from only days after Papadopulos’ confession sent shock waves in the White House.
Mueller’s team expected Miller to cast more light on this matter since he was also present in the meeting.
White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller has been interviewed in special counsel’s Russia investigation, bringing the probe into Donald Trump’s inner circle https://t.co/MTgi9sqQSH pic.twitter.com/pL5BY5rh0w
— CNN (@CNN) November 9, 2017
Even more alarmingly, though, sources told CNN that Mueller’s team also interviewed Stephen Miller for his role in writing the memo that outlined the reason for the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Miller assisted Trump in writing the memo, which was later rejected by White House counsel Don McGahn because of its “problematic” content. The New York Times reported that the memo was drafted in May at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump’s son-in-law and right-hand man, Jared Kushner, was also present in New Jersey at the time, and reportedly approved the memo. Mueller is interested in knowing more about Kushner’s role in Comey’s firing, and if he obstructed justice by doing so. The same also applies to Trump himself, significantly widening the gambit of Mueller’s investigation.
It was earlier reported that the Special Counsel is not only investigating Trump for the collusion angle, but also investigating whether he obstructed justice, and the latest interview appears to confirm those reports.
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
