Day 680: Trump team worried they’ve been outsmarted by Mueller
The Robert Mueller probe has been surgical. It has been eerily quiet until the thud of an indictment lands on someone’s head. There have been few leaks, even as reporters have doggedly tried to pry the doors open for a look for well over a year.
Donald Trump and his team’s responses to investigation developments have generally been belligerent. His lawyers have been forced to scramble answers as to why things looks so bleak. That means referring to a former campaign manager as hardly involved in the campaign and a foreign advisory panel member as a coffee boy. Previous lies are explained with more lies. Memories become faulty.
Unfortunately for Trump, it appears that he may have munched on some deliberately left-exposed cheese and a trap has been sprung.
As soon as Trump’s team sent sworn answers to many of Mueller’s questions, the Mueller camp stonewalled the Trump defense team and Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress.
This development took Trump’s team entirely by surprise and led directly to Trump’s especially surly mood. Now, his lawyers are worried about his legal exposure.
The fear in Trumpworld is that Mueller may have laid a perjury trap for the president, the former staffer said. Mueller waited until after Trump submitted written answers under oath to the special counsel’s office — some of which reportedly included responses to questions about Trump Tower Moscow — before revealing the evidence prosecutors had gathered to secure Cohen’s plea. “Trump was totally caught off guard by the Cohen plea,” the source said.
Donald Trump Jr. is also in legal jeopardy following Cohen’s plea.
Cohen’s plea also re-ignited fears that the president’s son, Don Jr., will be next to be indicted. “Don’s been telling people he’s very worried after today,” a source said. (Don Jr.’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Mueller now appears to be driving the West Wing agenda, with the principals in a reactive crouch; there’s a sense of loss of control. “It’s an untethered situation,” a person close to the president said.
As for concerns of a “perjury trap,”the best way to not fall into one is to not commit perjury to begin with.
If Trump actually believes that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt and there is nothing to hide, his team certainly wouldn’t be so concerned about his sworn answers having legal consequences.
680 days in, 782 to go
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