The president’s utter incompetence on issues of basic American law and order is coming back to haunt him. Although he’s long claimed innocence in the Russia scandal, in conjunction to his claims of innocence, he’s taken steps to undercut the investigation to the point of attracting credible obstruction of justice allegations that are understood to be being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
On Thursday of this week, as a part of Mueller’s investigation of these allegations, his team is now reported to have interviewed former Trump team legal spokesperson Mark Corallo. Victoria Toensing, who is working as a lawyer for Corallo, confirmed as much to NBC.
Corallo resigned from his position on the Trump team last year after a deceptive statement was released in response to initial reports about the now infamous meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin connected lawyer. That statement has formed part of the backbone of the obstruction of justice case against the president; it claimed that the aforementioned meeting was about adoption policy, although Trump Jr. had gone into it seeking dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Allegedly, Corallo has information about White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, of all people, having sought to possibly keep the truth from getting to federal investigators, becoming guilty of obstruction of justice in the process.
Hicks is alleged to have commented on a conference call including the president himself that emails from Donald Trump Jr. revealing the true nature of the meeting would “never get out.” Although a lawyer for Hicks denied that she ever made such a comment, the allegations would no doubt be of importance to Mueller’s team. Controversy has long focused on that initial deceptive statement, something Corallo has apparent information about.
The controversy surrounding the Trump team’s initial deception when it came to the issue of Trump Jr.’s meeting is only one component to the case against the president for obstruction of justice.
The abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey last year has attracted similar scrutiny, as have Comey’s allegations that, before his firing, the president attempted to pressure him into winding down various components to the Russia investigation.
The president and his team, of course, have claimed innocence through the whole thing, with associates of the president asserting at times that it’s impossible for him to even be guilty of obstruction of justice.
Even still, Mueller’s probe is continuing, and the Special Counsel has reportedly been interested in an interview with the president himself.
That hasn’t happened yet, although the president has said he would be open to the meeting. In the meantime, Mueller’s team has sat down with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who has been, infamously, stonewalling during appearances before Congress.
On Friday, in light of this, the House Intel Committee’s ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff commented that Bannon “must be held in contempt.”
The House Intel Committee investigation as a whole has hit significant obstacles, including that last year of the controversy around Chairman Devin Nunes’ collusion with the White House that forced him to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
Featured Image via AFP/Getty Images
