Why Robert Mueller just had the best day ever
Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and Sean Hannity all had very bad days today. Trump and Cohen lost their desperation bid in court to get the seized communications between them thrown out, and in the process Hannity was bizarrely outed as a client of Cohen. But none of that is the reason why Special Counsel Robert Mueller had his best day ever today. Instead it had to do with what Mueller didn’t do today.
Even as today’s court battle played outo, with the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York on one side, Trump and Cohen on the other side, and Stormy Daniels also in attendance because at this point why not just invite everyone, someone was conspicuously missing. Robert Mueller wasn’t anywhere near this court battle, physically or jurisdictionally. Nor was anyone from Mueller’s team. That, of course, was the entire point.
Mueller smartly handed off the Cohen investigation to the SDNY, because it places it in the hands of people who don’t work for him. Let’s say Trump wakes up in a bad mood tomorrow and decides he’s going to try to fire Mueller after all. Even if Trump succeeded in firing him, which would be a long shot to begin with, it wouldn’t stop anything that’s playing out in that courtroom. Is Trump also going to fire the U.S. Attorney for SDNY? He just appointed the guy recently. Even if he did, the Deputy U.S. Attorney would inherit the case, and he’s the one who signed off on the raid in the first place. Trump would have to fire him too.
It’s bad enough for Donald Trump that he might have to fire half the Department of Justice just to find an Acting Attorney General willing to fire Robert Mueller. Now he’d also have to fire a bunch of people at the U.S. Attorney’s office in SDNY. Mueller has spread out the investigation to the point that Trump can’t come close to shutting it down simply by getting rid of any one person. As much as Trump is reeling from his stinging and humiliating loss in court today, Mueller wasn’t even involved. That’s why today was such a great day for Mueller. He’s managed to make this investigation larger than just himself. Support Palmer Report.
