Is President Trump under investigation by Special counsel Robert Mueller? The President and his lawyer seemed to have different opinions on that. Yesterday, Trump's lawyer j Suckalo took to the Sunday talk shows to proclaim that Trump is not under investigation for obstruction. This was to counter Trump's own tweet Friday that quote, I am being investigated for firing the FBI director by the man who told me to fire the FBI director, which hunt joining me as former federal
prosecutor Robert Mintz. He's the head of the white collar and government investigations practice at McCarter In English. Bob Suckle put forth several theories, one being that Trump has not been notified by the Special Council that he's a target. Would the Special Council have to notify him at the stage of the investigation. Uh, It's unlikely that the UH Special Council would at this point be notifying anybody, frankly,
that there are a target of the investigation. My suspicion is that they are in the act gathering mode at this point, trying to figure out exactly what happened, and as consequence, they're focused really on facts and conduct rather
than individuals. So the reality is, as much as it is tempting for pundits and for the media to prod to predict where this investigation is headed and who is exactly under investigation, the reality is that only those people that are conducting the investigation know what they are looking at, and it is probably too early at this point for even them to predict where this might be headed. So they're taking a broad view at this point. Wouldn't a
broad view naturally include what Trump did? Did TA come me firing him? If he said he fired him because of the Russian investigation? Absolutely, I think all of that is within the scope of what the Special Council is investigating. Uh So, I agree. I think they're probably casting a BroadNet. They're going to speak with uh many individuals. We've learned that certain high ranking intelligence officials may be coming in
to speak with a Special Counsel. Uh So they will be moving, I think, very quickly to try to to bring this to a conclusion. But at this point it's hard to say where it's headed. And as I mentioned a minute ago, I think even the Special Counsel cannot answer that question at this point. They're really gathering facts. They're going to see where the evidence leads them and
then draw their own conclusions at the end of that process. Now, when Muller was first appointed, he had on both sides of the aisle, everyone just said wonderful things, He had perfect credentials and that he was the best person to do this. Now we see that there are some allegations by the Trump associates that he may be biased because
of the people that he's hiring. And Adam Schiff of California, who's the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that Trump and his associates are trying to take down Mueller before he finishes his investigation. Uh, engaging in a scorched earth litigation strategy that's beginning with trying to discredit
the prosecutor. Is that is that something that could happen? Well, I think that it's safe to say that Robert Mueller, who is a special counsel, does come to this investigation with broad bipartisan support, with an impeccable reputation, and with a broad range of experience as both the prosecutor and as a former director of the FBI. He's going to be viewing this investigation through the lens of a prosecutor
and an investigator, not through the lens of politics. Most of what we hear going on right now are really people who are talking about what the impact of this investigation could ultimately have on the president and on the politics of the of this country. He is not going to be viewing the investigation in that way, so I don't think he's going to be paying much attention to either the right or the left as they talk about
what he's gonna do. He's going to conduct his investigation the way he feels is appropriate, and we'll just have to wait and see what he finds. And when he does find something, will he suggest charges, will he then just give his report in on what kind of role
does he have at that point? Well, it's unclear exactly how this will go forward, but I suspect that he will conclude his investigation and then he will report to the individual within the Department of Justice that is supervising him at this point, that is the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, and it will be up to that individual
to decide what to do with that information. And speaking of speaking of Rod rosen Stein, um, it seems as if there's a lot of pressure on him right now, but not only that, there's a suggestion that he'll have to recuse himself if he and we have about thirty seconds, if he does have to testify too or talk to Malla about that about what happened with the firing of Comey, would that necessarily mean that he would have to recuse himself.
The short answer is it depends. It's possible for him to remain in the supervisory capacity because it's a very loosely structure. He really has given great independence to the Special Council, but there is a possibility, depending on how this progresses, that he might have to step aside, and then the next person in lying, Rachel Brand within the Department Justice, would then be the one supervising the investigation.
I remember when everyone said that once a special Counsel was appointed, everything would be clear and everything would move forward, and it seems like it gets more complicated day by day. Thank you, Bob for helping us sort through some of it. That's from a federal prosecutor. Robert Mint's a partner at Macartter in English