Robert Mueller pokes the bear
Technically speaking, Special Counsel Robert Mueller referred the matter to Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney the Southern District of New York, who recused himself, placing the decision in the hands of his underling at the U.S. Attorney’s office, who signed off on the FBI raid of Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s office and residence. But let’s be real here: the raid wouldn’t have happened unless Mueller wanted it to happen. Mueller poked the bear on purpose. Let’s talk about why.
First, it’s pretty clear that Robert Mueller isn’t all that worried about the prospect of Donald Trump firing him. The Cohen raid was a big deal and surely netted some crucial evidence against Trump, but it was not make or break. Mueller could have still built an overwhelming criminal case against Trump without needing this raid. So Mueller either has to have something in place to assure that he can’t or won’t be fired no matter what he does. We don’t know what it is, but if he’s as smart and meticulous as you think he is, then this is a sign that he doesn’t think he’s getting fired. Still, why make a point of forcing the issue on Cohen?
If you find a sleeping bear, you can easily tiptoe past it and walk away without a fight. You only poke the bear if you want the fight. This feels like Robert Mueller punched Donald Trump in the mouth on purpose, even if he did build in just enough technical distance to be able to claim he wasn’t the one behind the raid, because Mueller is ready for it to be “game on.”
This raid serves to accelerate things, both in terms of how much more quickly Robert Mueller can proceed with the evidence against Trump he gained in the raid, and in terms of how much more quickly Donald Trump will carry out his endgame. Best we can tell, Trump doesn’t have any sort of plan; he’s just been winging it. For some reason, known only for sure to him and his team, Mueller seems to want to motivate Trump to start winging it more frantically. Maybe he thinks Trump’s resulting panic from the raid will cause Trump to make mistakes that’ll make it easier to take him down. Click here to support Palmer Report.
