One Year In, Mueller Probe Is Circling The White House

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published May 16, 2018 | 09:49 PM

One year into his investigation of links between the Trump campaign and Russia, special counsel Robert Mueller has snared several top lieutenants of the president

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th May, 2018 ) :One year into his investigation of links between the Trump campaign and Russia, special counsel Robert Mueller has snared several top lieutenants of the president.

Now his probe looms threateningly over Donald Trump himself. The president has called the inquiry by Mueller's staff of top-notch investigators and lawyers a "$10,000,000 Witch Hunt," repeatedly proclaiming his innocence and denying any collusion between Team Trump and Moscow.

Since his appointment on May 17, 2017, Mueller -- a veteran prosecutor and former FBI director -- has not said a word about his work. But after racking up 22 indictments, including those of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, there is little doubt where the probe is headed.

The White House is clearly worried about what Mueller might know.

Nearly everyone around Trump, including family members, has retained personal lawyers. Trump's inner circle and Republicans also worry that, if the probe doesn't conclude soon, their insurance policy against his possible impeachment, the Republican-controlled Congress, could be lost if Democrats prevail in November elections.

Vice President Mike Pence told NBC last week that after one year, the probe should come to a close. "We've fully cooperated in it, and in the interest of the country, I think it's time to wrap it up," Pence said.

That impatience, analysts say, belies the real concerns in the White House. "This isn't about 'the law' anymore," said Bradley Moss, a Washington national security lawyer at the office of Mark S. Zaid, P.C. "The president seems well aware that his political future rests in holding the line in the Senate and avoiding conviction by that body in the context of impeachment."