Robert Mueller knows Donald Trump can’t fire him

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Despite ongoing pleas of “please hurry” from the public, it would not be Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s best move to try to proceed with haste. He only gets one shot at taking down Donald Trump, and if he swings and misses too early before he has all his ducks lined up, then it’s all over and Trump remains in power forever. But there would be one solid reason for Mueller to hurry: if he believed Trump might fire him. Based on Mueller’s actions, he knows he won’t be fired.

Don’t ask how Robert Mueller knows this, but he does. Perhaps he has assurances from his fellow Republicans in Congress that he’ll be reappointed as a more powerful Independent Counsel if Trump tries to fire him as Special Counsel. Perhaps there’s a dead man switch in place that only Mueller and Trump and James Comey know about, which would trigger far more dire consequences for Trump if Mueller is fired. But take a look at the recent actions of Mueller, who’s too smart and savvy to make assumptions about his own job security without good reason.

Today Robert Mueller hired his sixteenth prosecuting attorney for his Special Counsel team, according to Reuters (link). This time it’s Greg Andres, whose specialty at the Department of Justice was illegal foreign bribery. Mueller is hiring prosecutors, not investigators, and each new hire has a different area of expertise. That points to just how many Trump associates and underlings he plans to prosecute, in order to get them to flip on Trump. Because after all, when going after a kingpin, it’s nearly always the testimony of the underlings that seals the deal, rather than the transactional evidence.

But the upshot here is that Robert Mueller is proceeding at the steady and muscle-building pace that gives him the best odds of being able to crack Donald Trump in the end. That means that, regardless of how he knows it, Mueller knows his job is secure. If he were expecting to be fired, he’d be taking a swifter and lower-percentage approach in the hope of taking a weak and desperate swing at Trump before the plug gets pulled. It may not be what the Resistance wants to hear, but Mueller’s decision to take his time and get this right is a good sign for everyone but Donald Trump. The deeper Mueller digs, the deeper he can bury Trump. If you find Palmer Report valuable, make a donation.