Robert Mueller just scored a huge victory over Donald Trump
Thanks to the sheer circus-act nature of Donald Trump’s response to any given situation, the real upshot of what’s transpired is often lost in the bombast. Trump interviewed a series of potential new attorneys to represent him in the Trump-Russia scandal, and even as none of them decided to come on board, his existing head lawyer John Dowd resigned. Somewhere in there, Robert Mueller scored a massive victory that’s largely gone unnoticed in the chaos.
Mueller has spent weeks attempting to convince Trump to grant him an interview about his role in the Trump-Russia scandal and coverup. Such an interview would be a nearly automatic win for Mueller. If Trump tries to impress him by telling the truth, he’ll be confessing to felony obstruction of justice (and worse) in the process. If Trump tries lying, Mueller is sitting on enough evidence and testimony to nail Trump for lying to a federal investigator, which is a felony. So what does this have to do with Trump’s lawyer shakeup?
In a word, everything. By all accounts, John Dowd was the member of Donald Trump’s legal team who was (understandably) most opposed to the idea of Trump granting an interview to Mueller. His exit now makes it probable that Trump will indeed give Mueller an interview. Trump seems to be too far gone from reality to understand what a tactical mistake this would be, and how it could be the linchpin for ending his presidency and his freedom.
With Donald Trump having announced this morning via Twitter that he won’t be hiring any new Trump-Russia attorneys after all, and with no one on his current legal team having the ability or impetus to stop him, Trump is now set to give the interview that Robert Mueller has been so eagerly seeking. Dowd’s resignation, and Trump’s decision not to replace him with anyone who might be able to talk him out of doing the interview, is a huge victory for Mueller.
