Last Call For It's Mueller Time

Panic mode is now settling in at the White House as Mueller is closing in on Trump and his family, and Trump's people know damn well their necks are on the block too. Trump's legal eagles are in way over their heads.

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team of a dozen-plus lawyers and investigators have proven stealthy in their wide-ranging Russia probe. They have surprised the White House with one indictment after another, and summoned President Trump’s confidants for lengthy interviews. In the case of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort alone, court filings show, they have collected more than 400,000 documents and 36 electronic devices. 

Mueller and his deputies are, in the fearful word of some Trump loyalists, “killers.” 

Trump’s response, by contrast, is being directed by John M. Dowd, the president’s personal lawyer retired from a large firm who works essentially as a one-man band, and Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer who works out of a small office in the West Wing basement, near the cafeteria where staffers get lunch. 

Dowd and Cobb, along with attorney Jay Sekulow, serve not only as Trump’s lawyers but also as his strategists, publicists, therapists — and, based on Dowd’s claim that he wrote a controversial presidential tweet, ghostwriters. 

When Mueller requests documents, they provide them. When Trump reacts to new twists in the Russia saga, they seek to calm him down. When he has questions about the law, such as the Logan Act or Magnitsky Act, they explain it. And when the president frets that Mueller may be getting too close to him, they assure him he has done nothing wrong, urge him to resist attacking the special counsel and insist that the investigation is wrapping up — first, they said, by Thanksgiving, then by Christmas and now by early next year. 

As counsel for the world’s highest-profile client, every move and utterance by Dowd and Cobb has been scrutinized — and the criticism has been harsh. 

Many in the Washington legal community chide them as being indiscreet, error-prone and outmatched. They say public blunders — such as Dowd and Cobb casually chatting about their legal strategy on the patio of a downtown Washington steakhouse in September within earshot of a reporter — suggest a lack of discipline. 

Critics also question why, seven months into Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, they have not assembled a battalion of lawyers as former president Bill Clinton had when he was being investigated by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. And some Trump loyalists, spoiling for a fight, say the president’s lawyers should be combative rather than cooperative with Mueller. 

“There certainly have been gaffes,” said Alan Dershowitz, a criminal defense attorney and Harvard Law School professor who has won praise from Trump for his television appearances defending a president’s constitutional prerogative to fire his FBI director.

“These are not the kinds of things that one would expect from the most powerful man in America, who has a choice of anybody to be his defense counsel,” Dershowitz said. “Well — almost anybody,” he added, saying that he is not interested in the job.

Nobody wants to come in to quarterback the 0-10 franchise, guys.   But Trump wants better lawyers, so he's going to get them from the Justice Department.

Not ready to fire Mueller outright just yet, Trump's lawyers are settling for the next best thing: a new special counsel appointed to investigate the Mueller probe...and Hillary Clinton. It looks like this will be Trump's move against Mueller, with GOP blessing. Politico 2.0's Mike Allen (also 2.0 revision):

Trump officials outlined their new line of thinking to me last night.

The new demand was prompted by a Fox News article last evening by James Rosen and Jake Gibson: "A senior Justice Department official [Bruce Ohr] demoted last week for concealing his meetings with the men behind the anti-Trump 'dossier' had even closer ties to Fusion GPS, the firm responsible for the incendiary document, than have been disclosed: ... The official's wife [Nellie Ohr] worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 election." 

Jay Sekulow, a member of the President's legal team, tells me: "The Department of Justice and FBI cannot ignore the multiple problems that have been created by these obvious conflicts of interests. These new revelations require the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate." 

Unlike some other vocal Republicans, Trump's lawyers say they respect Mueller and trust him, and want to get to the finish line with him. 

In November, the WashPost reported: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions is entertaining the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate a host of Republican concerns — including alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation and the controversial sale of a uranium company to Russia." 

Trump lawyers' strategy: Cooperate with Mueller, and insist publicly they have nothing to hide, and expect the president to be fully cleared early in the new year. 

Behind the curtain: Trump's non-legal aides seem way more nervous, and some tell me that they assume the end will be neither near nor pleasant. 

Be smart: Among Republicans, the argument that the investigation is tainted is picking up steam, including comments by Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) on Friday: "I will be challenging Rs and Ds on Senate Judiciary Committee to support a Special Counsel to investigate ALL THINGS 2016 — not just Trump and Russia."

With Trump's lawyers now calling for that second special counsel, I expect it will be appointed soon in order to try to muddy the waters.  It was one thing for rumors about another special counsel and for Lindsey Graham to grouse about it on Twitter, but for the President's lawyers to officially take that legal position means that this will most likely be going forward, and Republicans will applaud it. Lord knows Trump's current legal team is headed for destruction.

Luckily for Trump, if he does go through with this, he can rely on allies he can easily manipulate. Expect "both sides are now under investigation" stories and screaming by Trump that the FAKE NEWS isn't covering the second special counsel enough.  "Lock her up!" will be back in a big way in 2018 if what I suspect will happen does indeed materialize.

Most importantly, Republicans will say that Congress cannot act on Mueller's coming recommendations involving Trump/Russia until the second special counsel investigation is complete, and that will of course be long after the 2018 midterms next year.  It may not be done until after the 2020 election, even.  That's the best-case scenario for Trump under this.

It's very easy to imagine the Mueller probe relegated to political irrelevance in this fashion, especially if Trump manages to get his shooting war in Iran or North Korea next year, too.

Mueller doesn't have to be fired for the investigation to essentially disappear into the BOTH SIDES DO IT void of history.  Our press will most likely do it for us.