For the time being, the White House has been fairly quiet as most of the higher-ranking aides closest to the President -- and Trump himself -- are out of the country on a tour of the Middle East and Europe, which leaves the administration in limbo on domestic issues. At the same time, a special prosecutor was named to take over the Trump-Russia investigation, which is a sign that the investigation is now focused on possible criminal activity. The view now is that President Trump's presidential life is about to become incredibly difficult, as a report by Politico appears to confirm.
Russia meeting revelation could trigger obstruction investigation https://t.co/TLlKDFwMfN via @JoshMeyerDC
— POLITICO (@politico) May 20, 2017
Finding proof of intent
According to current and former officials from the Justice Department, the Politico article said that the discussions in which it was revealed that the President was bragging to Russian officials about him firing FBI Director James Comey for investigating him would "certainly" trigger an Obstruction Of Justice investigation by the new special counsel Robert Mueller. Blasting News reported on the controversy where he said that pressure of the investigation was "taken off" of him when he fired the FBI director. In his private discussion with Russian officials -- who mockingly pretended to be surprised by the news -- President Trump continued to say that as a result of the firing, he was "not under investigation," which could only be seen as him revealing his attempts to obstruction of justice.
It's this conversation that Mueller is apparently going to focus on, according to a former assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago Renato Mariotti. But the article's focus on whether it was obstruction of justice is thrown into doubt when it suggests that the investigators have to find proof of intent. This recalls the controversy of when James Comey had determined that former Secretary Hillary Clinton did not act with intent when she was handling classified information on a private server at her home.
Instead, he determined that she had made a mistake. This did not go well with Republicans who were determined to "hang" her for it anyway.
Closing in on White House aides
It was at this point that even with the FBI having the final say, Comey's conclusion was still seen as an unacceptable outcome of that investigation for Republicans.
In the case of the current investigation on Trump's possible connection with Russian officials, the matter of intent is once again set up as what will eventually initiate any charges. But with Donald Trump's record of incendiary rhetoric, there is no indication that his comments about the investigation could be anything but intent. Nonetheless, as Mariotti explains it, the prosecutor would still have to move quickly to secure the documents and therefore facts before coming to that conclusion.
It is also said that this investigation could take years and that the White House has prepared its own council to defend itself against the allegations. Congressional committees have also taken action with subpoenas and other requests to various Trump campaign aides. Over the past week, it's been reported that there is an active person of interest in the White House, which has been revealed to be President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
