New revelations tonight about Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions. According to the New York Times, Trump asked Sessions to remain in charge of the Russian investigation even after the Attorney General recused himself. As the Times reports, the story begins at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort where Sessions was meeting with the president in March 2017.
- “The president objected to his [Sessions’] decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Mr. Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the inquiry, berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request.”
- “Mr. Sessions refused.”
- “The confrontation, which has not been previously reported, is being investigated by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as are the president’s public and private attacks on Mr. Sessions and efforts to get him to resign. Mr. Trump dwelled on the recusal for months, according to confidants and current and former administration officials who described his behavior toward the attorney general.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about the special counsel. We’re now well into the second year of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and from time to time we read stories like the one above and wonder, when will we know more? How long will this take? Perhaps we should instead ask what have we learned?
Despite President Trump’s efforts to convince the public that little of real consequence has been uncovered (efforts that have had some considerable success) the facts are that Mueller has uncovered much.
Just how much we do not know. Most of what Mueller has established and/or is hot on the trail of has yet to be disclosed. Mueller obviously knows much more than has been made public.
We do know that Mueller has done the following:
- Indicted on criminal charges 19 individuals, plus 3 companies. Also, three guilty pleas.
- Proven that there were at least 70 or more contacts and at least 22 meetings between persons with ties to Russia and the Trump campaign, most of them at a time when the Trump campaign was struggling.
- Proven that high Trump campaign operatives had meetings with Russians who said they had hurtful information about Hillary Clinton.
- Proven that a secret line of communications between the Russian government and Team Trump was proposed by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
- Proven that Russia billionaires gave millions to Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
- Proven that within days of becoming President, Trump tried to ease U.S. economic sanctions against Russia.
This is a short list, just a few of the highlights (and lowlights) of a much broader and deep trove of discoveries.
Mueller is a life-long Republican and former chief of the FBI. His record of public service is impeccable. His pursuit of facts has moved with all deliberate speed and is relentless. All of which explains why Trump keeps attacking Mueller and his team so fiercely and continually, seeking to destroy them and the whole investigation.