CNN host Jake Tapper took presidential son and White House adviser Donald Trump Jr. to task on Monday over his claims that special prosecutor Robert Mueller has yet to uncover any “actual crimes” committed in connection with President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
According to a HuffPost piece, Trump Jr. appeared on Fox and Friends to claim that he’s unconcerned about the ongoing Mueller investigation, saying that the process is simply a means for Trump’s political opponents on the Democratic side of the aisle to drum up support from their base.
“This is as political as it gets,” Trump Jr. said. “Their dream in life is to try to find something to get Trump. I mean, it’s that old Stalinist tactic, you know? ‘Show me the men, and I’ll show you the crime.’”
Trump Jr. went on to claim that no crime had been committed by any member of the Trump campaign team and that no crimes had been committed in relation to any of their businesses.
However, on CNN’s The Lead on Monday, that was just too much for Jake Tapper to take. With numerous Trump aides and long-time associates already either under indictment or sitting in jail, Tapper was quick to point out that according to any reasonable definition of the rule of law, crimes had indeed been committed.
“Lying to Congress…is a crime,” Tapper said. “Criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States by interfering in the U.S. election which Mueller is charging with having done.”
“Conspiracy to commit wire fraud is a crime. Bank fraud is a crime. As far as we know, Mueller is not even done.”
But Trump Jr. wasn’t even done. He went on to claim that the Mueller investigation targeted “a bunch of regular guys” who couldn’t afford big-time lawyers and hefty legal fees to help protect them. He also implied that the special prosecutor’s office engaged in trickery, pretending to be on their side to get them “to slip up and say something incorrectly.”
Tapper was quick to point out that those “regular guys” who have been indicted and pleaded guilty to various crimes include millionaires and prominent players in the inner circle of power surrounding the Trump campaign and businesses. Names like Paul Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign manager, his personal attorney Michael Cohen, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn are among those who have either taken a deal or are sitting in a cell.
“Just a bunch of regular guys,” Tapper noted.
Tapper went on to lay out the numbers that team Mueller has already put up with regard to criminal charges, saying that thus far, 199 counts of criminal counts have been filed against 37 individuals or entities, putting four people behind bars already, with potentially many more to come.
