Speaker 1: Is President Trump under investigation by Special counsel Robert Mueller?
Speaker 1: The President and his lawyer seemed to have different opinions
Speaker 1: on that. Yesterday, Trump's lawyer j Suckalo took to the
Speaker 1: Sunday talk shows to proclaim that Trump is not under
Speaker 1: investigation for obstruction. This was to counter Trump's own tweet
Speaker 1: Friday that quote, I am being investigated for firing the
Speaker 1: FBI director by the man who told me to fire
Speaker 1: the FBI director, which hunt joining me as former federal
Speaker 1: prosecutor Robert Mintz. He's the head of the white collar
Speaker 1: and government investigations practice at McCarter In English. Bob Suckle
Speaker 1: put forth several theories, one being that Trump has not
Speaker 1: been notified by the Special Council that he's a target.
Speaker 1: Would the Special Council have to notify him at the
Speaker 1: stage of the investigation. Uh, It's unlikely that the UH
Speaker 1: Special Council would at this point be notifying anybody, frankly,
Speaker 1: that there are a target of the investigation. My suspicion
Speaker 1: is that they are in the act gathering mode at
Speaker 1: this point, trying to figure out exactly what happened, and
Speaker 1: as consequence, they're focused really on facts and conduct rather
Speaker 1: than individuals. So the reality is, as much as it
Speaker 1: is tempting for pundits and for the media to prod
Speaker 1: to predict where this investigation is headed and who is
Speaker 1: exactly under investigation, the reality is that only those people
Speaker 1: that are conducting the investigation know what they are looking at,
Speaker 1: and it is probably too early at this point for
Speaker 1: even them to predict where this might be headed. So
Speaker 1: they're taking a broad view at this point. Wouldn't a
Speaker 1: broad view naturally include what Trump did? Did TA come
Speaker 1: me firing him? If he said he fired him because
Speaker 1: of the Russian investigation? Absolutely, I think all of that
Speaker 1: is within the scope of what the Special Council is investigating.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I agree. I think they're probably casting a BroadNet.
Speaker 1: They're going to speak with uh many individuals. We've learned
Speaker 1: that certain high ranking intelligence officials may be coming in
Speaker 1: to speak with a Special Counsel. Uh So they will
Speaker 1: be moving, I think, very quickly to try to to
Speaker 1: bring this to a conclusion. But at this point it's
Speaker 1: hard to say where it's headed. And as I mentioned
Speaker 1: a minute ago, I think even the Special Counsel cannot
Speaker 1: answer that question at this point. They're really gathering facts.
Speaker 1: They're going to see where the evidence leads them and
Speaker 1: then draw their own conclusions at the end of that process. Now,
Speaker 1: when Muller was first appointed, he had on both sides
Speaker 1: of the aisle, everyone just said wonderful things, He had
Speaker 1: perfect credentials and that he was the best person to
Speaker 1: do this. Now we see that there are some allegations
Speaker 1: by the Trump associates that he may be biased because
Speaker 1: of the people that he's hiring. And Adam Schiff of California,
Speaker 1: who's the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said
Speaker 1: that Trump and his associates are trying to take down
Speaker 1: Mueller before he finishes his investigation. Uh, engaging in a
Speaker 1: scorched earth litigation strategy that's beginning with trying to discredit
Speaker 1: the prosecutor. Is that is that something that could happen? Well,
Speaker 1: I think that it's safe to say that Robert Mueller,
Speaker 1: who is a special counsel, does come to this investigation
Speaker 1: with broad bipartisan support, with an impeccable reputation, and with
Speaker 1: a broad range of experience as both the prosecutor and
Speaker 1: as a former director of the FBI. He's going to
Speaker 1: be viewing this investigation through the lens of a prosecutor
Speaker 1: and an investigator, not through the lens of politics. Most
Speaker 1: of what we hear going on right now are really
Speaker 1: people who are talking about what the impact of this
Speaker 1: investigation could ultimately have on the president and on the
Speaker 1: politics of the of this country. He is not going
Speaker 1: to be viewing the investigation in that way, so I
Speaker 1: don't think he's going to be paying much attention to
Speaker 1: either the right or the left as they talk about
Speaker 1: what he's gonna do. He's going to conduct his investigation
Speaker 1: the way he feels is appropriate, and we'll just have
Speaker 1: to wait and see what he finds. And when he
Speaker 1: does find something, will he suggest charges, will he then
Speaker 1: just give his report in on what kind of role
Speaker 1: does he have at that point? Well, it's unclear exactly
Speaker 1: how this will go forward, but I suspect that he
Speaker 1: will conclude his investigation and then he will report to
Speaker 1: the individual within the Department of Justice that is supervising
Speaker 1: him at this point, that is the Deputy Attorney General,
Speaker 1: Rod Rosenstein, and it will be up to that individual
Speaker 1: to decide what to do with that information. And speaking
Speaker 1: of speaking of Rod rosen Stein, um, it seems as
Speaker 1: if there's a lot of pressure on him right now,
Speaker 1: but not only that, there's a suggestion that he'll have
Speaker 1: to recuse himself if he and we have about thirty seconds,
Speaker 1: if he does have to testify too or talk to
Speaker 1: Malla about that about what happened with the firing of Comey,
Speaker 1: would that necessarily mean that he would have to recuse himself.
Speaker 1: The short answer is it depends. It's possible for him
Speaker 1: to remain in the supervisory capacity because it's a very
Speaker 1: loosely structure. He really has given great independence to the
Speaker 1: Special Council, but there is a possibility, depending on how
Speaker 1: this progresses, that he might have to step aside, and
Speaker 1: then the next person in lying, Rachel Brand within the
Speaker 1: Department Justice, would then be the one supervising the investigation.
Speaker 1: I remember when everyone said that once a special Counsel
Speaker 1: was appointed, everything would be clear and everything would move forward,
Speaker 1: and it seems like it gets more complicated day by day.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Bob for helping us sort through some of it.
Speaker 1: That's from a federal prosecutor. Robert Mint's a partner at
Speaker 1: Macartter in English