OPINION: Mueller Investigation Continues to Target Trump

OPINION%3A+Mueller+Investigation+Continues+to+Target+Trump

After the 2016 election, as with every election, talk of foreign policy was prominent with every nation. However, no country was under more scrutiny than Russia, who, multiple times, was accused of having hacked the election. Rumors turned into a full blown investigation which was headed by none other than Robert Mueller.

Mueller served as director of the FBI for twelve years, and a few years after his resignation he was named special counsel to investigate Russian interference into the election. The events leading up to his appointment were rather shifty. In May, FBI Director James Comey was already looking into Russian interference, and looked into Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former National Security Adviser. Reports came out of the White House soon after, that President Trump had urged Comey to “let go” of the investigation, thus prompting Mueller’s appointment.

Mueller wasted no time, and immediately looked into President Trump for “obstruction of justice,” for his comments to Comey. Soon thereafter, President Trump tweeted,

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

Clearly, President Trump has no idea how bad previous presidents had it. For example, Nixon’s watergate scandal, Reagan’s Iran Contra Affair, and Clinton’s Lewinsky Scandal. However much President Trump thought that it an unfounded investigation, a majority of Americans disagreed. Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans say they believe Trump is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation, while about half believe he is not.

A month later in July, Mueller started following the money, looking into Trump finances. This sparked outrage from President Trump who stated that looking into his family’s finances was “crossing a red line” and that it presented a conflict of interest. However he declines to fully explain how. President Trump appears to misunderstand how an investigation is supposed to work. Mueller is supposed to look into anything that might reveal information, and that means finances are included.

The past months had little to reveal, until the end of November when Michael Flynn’s lawyers stepped away from sharing information with President Trump’s lawyers. A few days later on Dec. 1, Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI about the investigation, thus reopening the investigation and pushing President Trump into further scrutiny.

Mueller isn’t done yet however. 2018 will be another year of revelations, with Bannon being scrutinized even more, and now, with an increase in it’s politicization, many Americans are increasingly divided on the investigations fairness. It’s clear that the longer this investigation goes, the more the American public will be involved, which bodes badly for president Trump.