It’s Robert Mueller’s lucky day
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been doing a smart, professional, and aggressive job in investigating Donald Trump’s historically complex Russia scandal. He’s moving more quickly than most legal experts predicted he’d be able to. He’s already notched two plea deals, one of them with a top Trump confidante. But even the most capable of people sometimes need luck on their side. Today is Mueller’s lucky day, and not just for the obvious reason.
Today we got the details of a new tell-all book about the Donald Trump campaign and administration. It’s full of juicy details, all of which make Trump and his various people look bad. The headlining detail is that Steve Bannon is flat out admitting the Trump-Russia conspiracy was real and – as he phrases it – “treasonous.” It’s not yet clear why Bannon is doing this, or what evidence Bannon may be sitting on. This has to be seen as a lucky break for Mueller, but not simply because Bannon is blabbing.
Bannon’s quotes in this “new” book appear to have been given to the author several months ago. For all we know, Bannon may have since cut a plea deal with Mueller. If not, then Mueller will certainly subpoena Bannon any minute now, demanding that he turn over all relevant documents and evidence. But again, we don’t know if Mueller already has Bannon on board or not. What we do know is that Donald Trump, at least in his own mind, has a new enemy.
Trump released a statement today in which he claimed that Steve Bannon has “lost his mind” among other insults. It’s clear that Bannon has suddenly become the primary target of Trump’s obsessive rage. This is why Robert Mueller got so lucky today. As long as Trump is focused on Bannon, he’s not focused on wanting to fire Mueller. As long as Trump’s handlers and allies are trying to put out the Bannon fire, they’re too focused on trying to sabotage Mueller. This incident just bought Mueller more time, which is all the luck he needs.
