Robert Mueller goes all-in, and Donald Trump goes out of his mind
Well, we’re in it now. Robert Mueller is formally seeking an interview with Donald Trump about his criminal scandals, and he’s offering to negotiate the terms of that interview, meaning that Trump is backed into a corner. Accordingly, Trump is posting his most jarring, illegal, threatening, and pathetic tweets to date. Whatever it is we’ve just entered, there’s no going back for anyone involved – and it’s all accelerating from here.
Donald Trump must now decide – perhaps within days – whether to agree to sit down for a limited-scope interview with Robert Mueller. If Trump says no, or fails to respond, Mueller can hit him with a subpoena. In fact, if that’s the road Mueller is going down, he likely already has such a subpoena in hand. Or Mueller could simply move on without an interview, feeling comfortable that he gave Trump every chance to testify in his own defense, and that his case is already rock solid as it is. But then what?
Mueller’s formal request for an interview means that he’s completed his criminal case against Donald Trump, on at least one of his criminal cases against Trump. So whether the interview happens or not, Mueller is about to make his big move. This is the part where he goes all-in. He can file an impeachment recommendation with the GOP-controlled Congress. If it’s ignored, he can make the report public, in order to help convince the American people of Trump’s guilt. Mueller can also attempt to indict Trump himself and put him on trial while he’s still in office, a constitutionally murky tactic which would have to be ruled upon by the courts.
We don’t know what Robert Mueller’s endgame is going to look like. That’s important, because it means Donald Trump doesn’t know what’s about to happen to him, or how to prepare a defense against it. But what we do know is that at this point, Robert Mueller is all-in, and Donald Trump is more out of his mind than ever – and it’s only Wednesday.
