Robert Mueller puts the squeeze on Donald Trump Jr to get to Donald Trump
There has been so much chaos coming out of Donald Trump’s White House this past week that it’s been difficult to tell what’s been distracting from what. Trump alienated the American mainstream by siding with the white supremacists in Charlottesville, and then he risked alienating his base by firing white supremacist Steve Bannon. But it turns out the probe into Trump’s Russia scandal has been chugging along full speed in the background all along – and now Trump Jr is deep, deep trouble.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team have concluded that Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian government representatives is key to the investigation, and they’re zeroing in on him, according to a new report from BuzzFeed (link). The report says that they’re attempting to determine Junior’s “intent.” While the article doesn’t spell it out, “intent” is typically code word for establishing guilt.
This appears to mean that the Special Counsel is determining precisely how to hit Donald Trump Jr. with charges that’ll stick. That’ll put Junior in a position where he either has to give up information on his father in the hope of cutting a deal, or he has to convince his father to pardon him, which would wreck what little is left of his presidency. And there are legal scholars who believe Trump can’t pardon his son because he’s an alleged co-conspirator. So this could back Junior into the kind of corner where he only has one way out.
Getting to the kingpin in a conspiracy nearly always comes down to squeezing those under him so they’ll give him up. Robert Mueller appears to be following this strategy to a tee, squeezing everyone from Michael Flynn to Paul Manafort along the way. And now Mueller is even going so far as to squeeze Donald Trump’s own son in order to get to him.
