Trump and Russia: What to expect from Mueller in 2019 : NBC News

WASHINGTON — In the weeks after Donald Trump became the Republican nominee in late July 2016, the FBI warned him that foreign adversaries, including Russia, would attempt to spy on and infiltrate his campaign.

It was a standard briefing, the kind routinely given to presidential candidates, capped with an admonition that Trump should call the FBI if he learned of any unusual approaches from foreigners.

But there was something the FBI didn’t tell him.

The bureau just recently had opened counterintelligence investigations into four Trump advisers suspected of improper interactions with Russians — a fact, then-secret, that emerged much later in Congressional testimony.

 

Source: Trump and Russia: What to expect from Mueller in 2019 : NBC News

Dems race to protect Mueller probe | TheHill

House Democrats are racing to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, and they’re not waiting until they assume the majority to do so.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) organized an emergency conference call on Thursday between rank-and-file Democrats and the top members on investigative committees to discuss President Trump’s decision to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replace him with an official who has repeatedly criticized the Mueller probe.

On the call, Democrats contemplated their next steps, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) warned members they are facing a “crisis moment.”

After the call, Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, announced on CNN that Democrats may insist on including protections for the Russia probe in the next government funding bill, though such a demand could trigger a shutdown fight if they follow through.

“We can urge — and we will — that the bill I introduced that would protect the independence of the special counsel, saying he can only be dismissed for [due] cause … We can insist that that be a condition of passage of the remaining legislation to fund the government,” Nadler said.

Calls for the GOP to hold emergency hearings and demands for the acting attorney general to recuse himself have so far gone unanswered, underscoring a harsh reality for Democrats: they are still in the minority for another two months and have little power.

Still, their efforts send a clear signal that Democrats are gearing up to make the issue a top investigative priority starting in January.

In an interview with The Hill, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the Democrat likely to lead the House Intelligence Committee during the next Congress, is already signaling an interest in interviewing Sessions about his firing.

“On this particular question of what led up to his firing or what information he may have in terms of obstruction to justice, I think that will be of interest to not only our committee but the Judiciary Committee and others as well,” Schiff said.

Democrats are vowing to conduct rigorous oversight and hold the administration accountable, something they say the GOP failed to do.

“We have watched the Republican Majority abdicate it’s role of providing a check to abuses of power, and we must start holding people accountable for their actions,” a Judiciary Committee spokesman told The Hill in a statement when asked about Trump’s firing of Sessions.

Trump has repeatedly bashed Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt,” and his appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general has renewed fears that he wants to quash the investigation.

Trump has denied this, and called a question Friday about whether he wanted to rein in the probe a “stupid question.”

 

Source: Dems race to protect Mueller probe | TheHill

Justice Department appoints former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special prosecutor for Russia probe – Chicago Tribune

The Justice Department on Wednesday appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

The appointment came amid a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the Justice Department to handle the politically charged investigation.

Source: Justice Department appoints former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special prosecutor for Russia probe – Chicago Tribune