President Donald Trump is back in the U.S. after his 12-day tour of Asia. As reported by the Inquisitr yesterday, President Trump used Twitter to proclaim that he would make a major announcement to the media on his return. The content of Trump’s major announcement is not yet known, but speculation suggests that the president could be set to talk about anything from new trade deals to the Mueller investigation.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation team have been quiet since they charged President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Manafort’s business associate Rick Gates, with 12 offenses related to the inquiry into allegations of collusion between Russia and Trump’s presidential election campaign team. Of course, the Mueller investigation may have been quiet, but they have not been idle.
As reported by Politico , the charges laid so far by the Mueller investigation relate to Manafort and Gates’ business dealings in Russia and the Ukraine. Those charges suggest that Mueller’s team is looking closely at the financial dealings of those who were involved in President Trump’s campaign team. The Guardian reports that another Trump operative, General Michael Flynn is being investigated over allegations that he was paid more than $530,000 to dig up information about a Turkish dissident cleric, Fethullah Gülen .
It is also alleged that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an offered Flynn $15 million to “kidnap” Gulen and repatriate him to Turkey. It is also widely reported that the Mueller investigation is looking into Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner’s business dealings with Russia.
It would seem that Mueller’s investigation of financial matters is reaching all the way to president Trump. According to another Politico article, President Trump and his lawyers have warned Mueller to “stay away” from President Trump’s real estate deals. In fact, as long ago as July, President Trump told the New York Times that he would consider it “a violation” if Mueller’s investigators looked into his personal finances .
Just last week, President Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, said that he would lodge formal objections if the Mueller investigation were to look at things like Trump’s real-estate deals. Sekulow said that they would view that as “outside the scope of legitimate inquiry.”
According to The Week , the Mueller investigation team consists of 17 federal prosecutors and is led by three prosecutors who have expertise in “money laundering, fraud, foreign bribery, and organized crime.” It increasingly looks like the Mueller investigation is using the tried and tested investigative technique of “following the money.” If that money trail leads to the Trump White House, we could yet see President Trump impeached or indicted by the Mueller investigation.
[Featured Image by Alex Brandon/AP Images]
