To add to the drama of the deadly circus being run by special counsel, Robert Mueller, The New York Times recently published a list of leaked questions that special investigator Robert Mueller wants to pose to the President.
When the story broke, Trump was quick to take to Twitter saying:
So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see…you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Since then the mainstream media and commentators on both the left and right speculated who leaked the questions. While that is debatable, the more pressing matter is what do these question reveal about the future of what supposedly began as to an investigation into possible collusion between Trump and Russian agents.
It may surprise some that reputable conservatives and Trump supporters believe that the questions were leaked by Trump’s own legal team.
Speaking on Fox News, Judge Napolitano offered the opinion that if members of the President’s legal team leaked the list of questions it could have been to “sort of sober him up.” The Judge’s reasoning was the type of questioning that Trump could face is very different from an interview on Fox and Friends. In his words:
“These are very difficult questions, they may look easy but each one is a trigger point, a starting point to a dozen or so questions beneath it, and there’s forty different topics.”
One such landmine question seems quite benign on the surface. A summary of that questions is, “are you aware of any assistance that your campaign sought, particularly through Paul Manafort from the Russians.”
‘Assistance’ is a seemingly innocent word but it is the legal equivalent of collusion in the political and media world.
The list of questions published by the New York Times is lengthy and fall into four broad categories: The firing of General Flynn, the firing of James Comey, the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Trump’s knowledge of Russian hacking.
While a search for possible collusion can be found in some of Mueller’s questions the overwhelming majority seem to revolve around possible obstruction of justice, not collusion. No question indicates the investigation has anything to do with an actual crime.
No one on either side has disputed the authenticity of this list of possible questions. What should disturb anyone who believes in the rule of law is that these questions point to the special investigation being more a referendum on who one trusts more, the President or Robert Mueller.
One question asks: “What discussions did you have regarding terminating the special counsel, and what did you do when that consideration was reported in January 2018?”
The New York Times reported in June of last year that President Trump ordered the firing of Mueller. Trump retorted with, “Fake news. A typical New York Times fake story.”
Lost in the discussion is how this special counsel affair is both unfair to President Trump and damaging to the office of the Presidency. Trump was right to take his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, to task for recusing himself from the investigation in the first place. The Justice Department should never allow any President to be interrogated on such a presumptuous body of “evidence” that the Mueller investigation has compiled.
The special counsel’s questions seek to probe the Chief Executive’s thought process and motives for considering exercising his lawful presidential power regardless of what his reasonings might have been. The question shows that after two years of the FBI and one year of Muller’s investigation there is no evidence a legitimate prosecutor would dare ask a judge to consider.
The questions the Times reports underscore that the whole Mueller investigation is built on a faulty foundation. We at American Liberty Report agree with a number of legal scholars that our President should decline to be interviewed.
It isn’t just Donald Trump’s personal capability and credibility that’s at stake. Democrats orchestrated the shape of this special investigation and our country is in danger of being inexorably harmed by limiting an administration’s ability to execute the laws of the United States.
Check out the list of the 44 questions Mueller wants President Trump to answer, broken down into four categories:
Questions about the Firing of General Mike Flynn, former National Security Advisor:
1. What did you know about phone calls that Mr. Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?
2. What was your reaction to news reports on Jan. 12, 2017, and Feb. 8-9, 2017?
3. What did you know about Sally Yates’s meetings about Mr. Flynn?
4. How was the decision made to fire Mr. Flynn on Feb. 13, 2017?
5. After the resignations, what efforts were made to reach out to Mr. Flynn about seeking immunity or possible pardon?
Questions about the Firing of James Comey, former head of the FBI:
1. What was your opinion of Mr. Comey during the transition?
2. What did you think about Mr. Comey’s intelligence briefing on Jan. 6, 2017, about Russian election interference?
3. What was your reaction to Mr. Comey’s briefing that day about other intelligence matters?
4. What was the purpose of your Jan. 27, 2017, dinner with Mr. Comey, and what was said?
5. What was the purpose of your Feb. 14, 2017, meeting with Mr. Comey, and what was said?
6. What did you know about the F.B.I.’s investigation into Mr. Flynn and Russia in the days leading up to Mr. Comey’s testimony on March 20, 2017?
7. What did you do in reaction to the March 20 testimony? Describe your contacts with intelligence officials.
8. What did you think and do in reaction to the news that the special counsel was speaking to Mr. Rogers, Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Coats?
9. What was the purpose of your calls to Mr. Comey on March 30 and April 11, 2017?
10. What was the purpose of your April 11, 2017, statement to Maria Bartiromo?
11. What did you think and do about Mr. Comey’s May 3, 2017, testimony?
12. Regarding the decision to fire Mr. Comey: When was it made? Why? Who played a role?
13. What did you mean when you told Russian diplomats on May 10, 2017, that firing Mr. Comey had taken the pressure off?
14. What did you mean in your interview with Lester Holt about Mr. Comey and Russia?
15. What was the purpose of your May 12, 2017, tweet?
16. What did you think about Mr. Comey’s June 8, 2017, testimony regarding Mr. Flynn, and what did you do about it?
17. What was the purpose of the September and October 2017 statements, including tweets, regarding an investigation of Mr. Comey?
18. What is the reason for your continued criticism of Mr. Comey and his former deputy, Andrew G. McCabe?
Questions about Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
1. What did you think and do regarding the recusal of Mr. Sessions?
2. What efforts did you make to try to get him to change his mind?
3. Did you discuss whether Mr. Sessions would protect you, and reference past attorneys general?
4. What did you think and what did you do in reaction to the news of the appointment of the special counsel?
5. Why did you hold Mr. Sessions’s resignation until May 31, 2017, and with whom did you discuss it?
6. What discussions did you have with Reince Priebus in July 2017 about obtaining the Sessions resignation? With whom did you discuss it?
7. What discussions did you have regarding terminating the special counsel, and what did you do when that consideration was reported in January 2018?
8. What was the purpose of your July 2017 criticism of Mr. Sessions?
Questions about President Trump and his Campaign’s Knowledge of Russian Hacking:
1. When did you become aware of the Trump Tower meeting?
2. What involvement did you have in the communication strategy, including the release of Donald Trump Jr.’s emails?
3. During a 2013 trip to Russia, what communication and relationships did you have with the Agalarovs and Russian government officials?
4. What communication did you have with Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater and others, including foreign nationals, about Russian real estate developments during the campaign?
5. What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding any meeting with Mr. Putin? Did you discuss it with others?
6. What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding Russian sanctions?
7. What involvement did you have concerning platform changes regarding arming Ukraine?
8. During the campaign, what did you know about Russian hacking, use of social media or other acts aimed at the campaign?
9. What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?
10. What did you know about communication between Roger Stone, his associates, Julian Assange or WikiLeaks?
11. What did you know during the transition about an attempt to establish back-channel communication to Russia, and Jared Kushner’s efforts?
12. What do you know about a 2017 meeting in Seychelles involving Erik Prince?
13. What do you know about a Ukrainian peace proposal provided to Mr. Cohen in 2017?
~ American Liberty Report
