“No Collusion Whatsoever”
Developments on Day 332 of the Trump Administration:
Trump: “Pretty Sad” That Mueller Has 10,000s of E-Mails
Under growing pressure from the Trump-Russia investigation, Donald Trump says he is not going to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Returning to the White House from a weekend at Maryland’s Camp David, Trump answered questions from reporters, a day after it was revealed that Mueller’s team have tens of thousands of e-mails from Trump’s transition team in late 2016.
The e-mails were obtained in August from the servers of the General Services Administration, which provided office space and computers for the transition. A lawyer for Trump for America, the group organized for the transition, complained to Congressional committees that the e-mails were “private” and therefore Mueller “unlawfully” obtained them.
Legal scholars and high-profile practicing attorneys immediately said there was no justification for the argument, but it was used by Trump’s team and allied media outlets such as Fox to continue their attempts to undermine the Mueller investigation. Rumors circulated that Trump will fire the Special Counsel by Friday, with two high-ranking Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee expressing their concern over the possibility.
See TrumpWatch, Day 331: “Mueller Has 10,000s of Trump Transition E-Mails”
VideoCast with CNN: Frantic Trump (and Fox) Seek a Constitutional Crisis Over Mueller
Asked if he was considering the removal of dismissal, Trump said, “No, I’m not.”
He kept trying to press the argument over the GSA e-mails, covering accounts of 12 of his team, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. He said:
I can’t imagine there’s anything on [the e-mails], frankly, because as we said, there’s no collusion [with Russia]. No collusion whatsoever. But a lot of lawyers thought that was pretty sad.
The timing over the e-mails is significantly because it indicates that Trump’s advisors, including Kushner, were unaware that Mueller had the information when they were questioned this autumn. A claim is circulating that the Trump camp had placed an ally in charge of the GSA, ensuring that the e-mails would not be released; however, he was hospitalized in August when the material was requested by the Special Counsel and had not secured or destroyed the documents.
The Simpsons’ Take on Trump and Mueller
The Simpsons, the long-running US TV hit show, looks at Donald Trump, Robert Mueller, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — and there’s a twist at the end about Puerto Rico, large parts of which are still without power and adequate assistance more than three months after Hurricane Maria:
Robert Mueller meets with President Donald Trump… #TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/h693XgOPFM
— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) December 14, 2017
Putin’s Help for Trump: He Cooperated With Us Over “Terrorism”
President Vladimir Putin tries to help Donald Trump, declaring that the US provided intelligence so Russia could foil a “terrorist” attack by a cell linked to the Islamic State.
The White House released a statement on Sunday that Putin called Trump to thank him for “the advanced warning” by US agencies over a “major terror plot” for a suicide bombing in the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.
Putin said that the “terrorists” had been captured just before carrying out their plan on Sunday and hailed the interception “as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together”. He added that Russian intelligence agencies will pass information about attacks being planned against the US.
The call between Trump and Putin was the second within four days. Last week Trump thanked the Russian leader for a positive statement about the US economy during Putin’s annual press conference in Moscow.