President Donald Trump just expanded his legal team, but one of his lawyers appears to be out of touch with reality. Jay Sekulow, a member of his personal legal team, insisted that the president was not under investigation when he appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”
While Sekulow said the president is not being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller, he contradicted himself on the same show when he said Trump is being investigated. In his Twitter post on Friday, Trump tweeted that he is being investigated and called the probe a witch hunt.
Based on recommendations from AG and DAG
He maintained that the president is not being investigated for obstruction of justice in an exchange with host Chris Wallace because they have not received a notice of investigation. He said Trump’s tweet was based only on The Washington Post report.
At the same time, the lawyer blamed the firing of FBI Director James Comey on several events, including the recommendations from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. His statement, however, contradicts Trump’s tweet that it was Mueller who recommended Comey’s dismissal.
Sekulow said Trump took action based on their recommendation, and as a result, he is being investigated.
It was the constitutional threshold question involved, the lawyer said. When Wallace pointed out to Sekulow that he just said Trump is under investigation, the lawyer said Wallace re-phrased him, The New York Post reported.
The lawyer retorted that Wallace placed words in his mouth when he was crystal clear Trump is not and has not been under investigation.
Brad Simon, an ex-federal prosecutor, clarified that federal agencies never formally tell people they are investigating that they are being investigated. The subjects of the investigation only find out if charges are filed and they get a subpoena.
Taking down Mueller
Trump has not backed down from removing Mueller from the investigation, The New York Daily News reported.
According to Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, the president and his legal team are still open to the possibility.
Schiff told “This Week” on ABC News that Trump and his lawyers want to lay the foundation to discredit whatever the special counsel will come up with. The California congressman said that the president and his associates are engaged in a scorched earth litigation strategy that begins with discrediting Mueller.
He cited former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who told the same ABC show that he has a problem with what the special counsel is doing. Gingrich also cited the friendship between Mueller and Comey, which the Trump supporter described as “weird.” Now, there are also reports that Rosenstein, who has the sole power to remove Mueller from the investigation, is considering recusing himself. If he does that, the power would be placed in the hands of Rachel Lee Brand, the third-highest official in the Department of Justice, according to The Washington Post.
