Donald Trump just unwittingly made it a whole lot easier for Robert Mueller to take him down
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is already holding most of the cards over Donald Trump. Mueller has nearly limitless power when it comes to his investigation, and Congress has made clear that it won’t let Trump fire him. Now Trump, in what appears to be a desperation move borne out of delusion, has unwittingly gone and made it a whole lot easier for Mueller to take him down.
Trump is so sure that Mueller will end up clearing him in the end, he’s now instructing his attorneys to give Mueller whatever he wants, according to a New York Times article (link). Trump’s goal is to quickly get the investigation to move as swiftly as possible, so it can more quickly get to a point where Mueller has no choice but to announce that Trump has inevitably been cleared. The trouble for Trump: he will not be cleared, and everyone knows it except him. This move hands Mueller an opportunity to truly stick it to Trump.
When Trump’s attorneys inevitably ask Mueller to publicly declare that Trump is no longer a target of the investigation, it will instead give Mueller an opportunity to publicly declare that Trump is a target. This is crucial, because in the end, Mueller doesn’t get to unilaterally make a decision to prosecute Trump or remove him from office. He only put his findings out there, make it painfully clear to the American people just how guilty Trump is, and then rely on public pressure to force the Republican majority in Congress to move forward with impeachment.
Robert Mueller can go a long way toward that goal if he softens up the ground ahead of time, by announcing in advance that Donald Trump is in fact the target of his criminal investigation. Mueller is too much of a professional to preemptively do that out of thin air. But by asking for announcement that he’s not under investigation, Trump will be handing Mueller the opportunity to publicly confirm that he is under investigation.
