Trump and Mueller

What to expect from the Special Counsel’s Investigation

FBI raids. Fire and fury. A broken fixer and dirty money nondisclosure agreements. Possible collusion. Welcome to the Trump White House, where a weekend in which the United States bombs Syria isn’t even the biggest story.

This President has attracted more news, more of the national conscious and yes- more ratings than probably anyone before him. What does all that mean going forward though? It could be more clarity, more courtroom battles or simply more chaos.

It all started in May 2017. Donald Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in a shocking announcement. This preceded the appoint of Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling and possible collusion during the 2016 Presidential Election. What followed has been more or less a tornado of information which could fill several volumes. Most of which consists of the President calling the investigation a “witch hunt” with the opposing Democrats in many cases calling the President guilty. They accuse him not not necessarily of colluding, but more so not taking the Russian threat seriously enough.

There have been early calls from fringe groups (Bill Maher, Michael Moore, etc.) on the left calling for impeachment, saying the President has been treasonous. However, there still is no evidence of that, and the traditional segment of the party such as Nancy Pelosi have been much more conservative, wanting to rely off the Special Counsel’s findings when they’re released.

Complications have arisen in addition to the collusion case. The FEC and FBI are looking into if Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, payed off adult film star, Stormy Daniels, using campaign money. That is a federal crime, which spells trouble for the President and his lawyer.

The American people may be finding out more soon, though, as Michael Cohen’s home and office were raided by FBI agents. Trump is trying to use attorney-client privilege to protect the seized documents, but this defense seems unlikely to succeed because the privilege doesn’t cover discussions of business and personal matters.

Caught up in these raids was a prominent RNC deputy finance chair and Fox News personality Sean Hannity. The finance chair has resigned while Hannity is in deep water for not disclosing Cohen was his lawyer (Hannity denies he was despite the fact that he was named).

New information should be forthcoming in days as court proceedings go underway and Cohen tries to censor what the FBI can view under court order. Furthermore, this investigation isn’t related to the Special Counsel so far as far as the general public knows. It soon could be, though. Mueller has been ordering more subpoenas lately. He has evidence Michael Cohen travelled to Prague to speak to Russian diplomats during the election. This is far from good news for Trump’s defense.

It’s possible that Mueller tries to use leverage of a lighter sentence for Cohen, using him against the President or those who may be guilty of collusion. That’s the possible synthesis of these investigations. But what actually happens is anyone’s guess.