When the New Republic published their report about Donald Trump laundering money for Russian oligarchs, the details collected came to the conclusion that it could have all been considered coincidental. But as more details about the focus of Robert Mueller's investigation are revealed, the presumption that money-laundering might be the bulk of the crimes committed by Donald Trump appears to be clear with the possibility of Russian collusion being moved to the back burner.
Trump's legal defense 'gunning' for Mueller
One of Trump's attorneys, Jay Sekulow, has made no secret of wanting to yank Mueller back from his focus on Trump's financial dealings, saying that it was not part of their "mandated" focus on Russian collusion.
But Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had reportedly given Mueller the power to conduct a broad investigation if he felt it necessary. President Trump and his surrogates have also carried out a series of public attacks in order to sway public opinion against Mueller. One of the attacks from Trump is the suggestion that the special prosecutor is biased because of donations he's made to Democrats. Newt Gingrich has also led the call to have Mueller removed which has triggered President Trump to threaten to fire the former FBI director.
Specific financial crimes revealed
It's been opined that despite Jay Sekulow's barks about confronting the special prosecutor, that the President's own counsel is simply too flawed and vulnerable to withstand the pressure of the special prosecutor's team.
Nonetheless, the CNN article titled: "One year into the FBI's Russia investigation, Mueller is on the Trump money trail" reported that some of Mueller's prosecutors are also looking to lawyer up should Trump and his aides retaliate. This is on top of the protection the Justice Department already provides them.
The first signs that the special prosecutor's legal team was investigating financial crimes might have been when Paul Manafort's condo was raided last month.
It had already been reported that Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, has been under investigation since last year. The probe on Manafort has revealed what many say is a possible Ponzi scheme through real-estate businesses established by his son-in-law. Thus far, Manafort, Carter Page, Michael Flynn, Donald Trump Jr.
and Jared Kushner have been named as being persons of interest along with Trump.
Russian collusion on the back burner
At the same time, it's unknown what the outcome is in relation to collusion with Russian officials but it's been reported that Mueller's team is looking for Trump Jr's intentions behind how badly he wanted to get incriminating information on Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday, it was reported that a new email from a former campaign aide and now the President's Deputy Chief of Staff, shows another case of a member of the campaign trying to arrange a meeting with Russian officials. The latest reports show that the email was received during the same month that Trump Jr. would have his meeting with Kremlin officials at Trump Tower.