Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last Friday. Photo / AP
Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last Friday. Photo / AP
By Amber Phillips
The Washington Post reports that Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, is investigating whether US President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice.
Mueller is reportedly interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe, officials told the Post.
A spokesman for Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz told CNN: "The FBI leak of information regarding the President is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal".
Investigating Trump's own conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation.
It is changing from focusing on Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential campaign and whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Aside from Trump's conduct, investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates.
Earlier this week, a report surfaced that Trump was considering firing Mueller. A New York Times report said aides managed to dissuade the President.
Trump had received private assurances from former FBI Director James Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey's firing, the Post reports.
Last week's testimony by Comey was also key. What we learned:
1) The FBI Director ousted by Trump seems pretty sure the President tried to obstruct justice.
In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey did everything but directly accuse the President of this: "My impression was, something big is about to happen. I need to remember every single word that is spoken," Comey said.
"I was honestly concerned that he might lie about what happened, and I needed to document it," he said at another point.
However, when asked directly whether he thought Trump was trying to obstruct justice, he said Mueller would have to make that determination.
Why this is new: Until this point, we had never heard from Comey directly about his conversations with the President.
US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
2) The President is going to deny two key Comey accusations. Immediately after Comey's testimony, Trump's personal lawyer for all things Russia, Kasowitz, denied two key accusations:
- That Trump suggested in any way that Comey stop investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, or anyone else
- If Trump asked top intelligence officials to push back or intervene on the FBI's probe.
4) Trump may have asked other intelligence chiefs to interfere, too.
In testimony last week, both Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence, and Admiral Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, left open the possibility that Trump asked them to push back or intervene in the FBI investigation - although they did say they didn't feel pressured to do anything about it.
Why this is new: The Washington Post had reported that Coats, Rogers and CIA Director Mike Pompeo told associates that Trump asked them to weigh in on the FBI Russia probe or to get the FBI to back off it entirely.
Given multiple opportunities to deny those reports, neither Coats nor Rogers did. (Pompeo wasn't testifying.) They weren't forthcoming, either. The fact they wouldn't answer senators' questions about their conversations with Trump is a growing controversy in Congress.
Russia probe special counsel Robert Mueller. Photo / AP
5) The intelligence community is as certain as it can be that Russia tried to interfere in the presidential election.
I'll let Comey, who led the investigation into this, take it from here:
"The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle," he testified. "They did with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. It was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government. There is no fuzz on that."
Why this is new: Well, it's not. The US intelligence agencies signed onto a report before Trump's inauguration saying as much. But some - including, at times, Trump - have questioned whether this happened. Comey did underscore that there is no evidence that any votes cast were altered by Russian hackers after the fact, though it's very possible that people changed the way they were going to vote thanks to Russia's fake news and hacking of Democratic emails.
The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end? - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
When will the Fake Media ask about the Dems dealings with Russia & why the DNC wouldn't allow the FBI to check their server or investigate? - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2017
1) Whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. The FBI, working with a special counsel, and at least two committees in Congress are still looking into this.
2) Whether Trump actually obstructed justice. Again, too soon to say. Mueller has wide latitude to investigate whatever he wants. And the power to prosecute for crimes, if necessary.
3) Whether investigations will shift from collusion to obstruction. It's possible, given Comey's remarkably candid and lucid testimony, that investigators in Congress and the FBI will think this is the more pressing matter. But the work of those investigations is being done behind closed doors, so we don't know for sure.
4) Why Trump fired Comey. Trump told NBC's Lester Holt in May that he fired Comey because of "this Russia thing". But it wasn't quite the smoking gun Democrats had hoped to prove obstruction of justice; Trump appeared to be saying that he thought Comey was investigating a fake connection between Trump and Russia.
As usual with Trump, there's some plausible deniability there: Did Trump fire Comey because he thought he was doing a bad job as FBI Director (which is the President's prerogative)? Or did Trump fire Comey because Comey was investigating something he didn't like?
The answer to that could determine whether Trump did, indeed, obstruct justice - and where all these investigations go after this remarkable week.
