OPINION:
President Trump has responded to the list of questions Special Counsel Robert Mueller allegedly wants to ask related to his investigation into charges of Russian collusion.
The president made his response on Twitter:
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) May 1, 2018
Indeed, the original mandate for Mueller’s investigation as laid out by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein empowers the Special Counsel to investigate:
(i) any links and/or coordination bet ween the Russian government and individualsassociated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a)
Yet the inquiries spelled out in the list of questions published by the New York Times seem to focus on potential obstruction not any direct connection between Trump and the Russian government with only a handful of questions related to the president’s knowledge of meetings between some members of the campaign team and people with sketchy connections to the Kremlin.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.