Instead of winding down his investigation into Russian interference/collusion in the US 2016 election, Robert Mueller is requisitioning additional Department of Justice resources in the latest sign that the probe continues to expand nearly 14 months after Mueller was appointed special counsel. According to Bloomberg, in a sign that Mueller is preparing to hand off more of his investigation to other federal prosecutors - like he did with the investigation into Michael Cohen (which he “delegated” to the southern district of New York) - the DOJ is now spending more on supplemental work for Mueller than it is spending on the special counsel’s own staff.
According to his most recent statement of expenditures, more money is being spent on work done by permanent Department of Justice units than on Mueller’s own dedicated operation. The DOJ units spent $9 million from the investigation’s start in May 2017 through March of this year, compared with $7.7 million spent by Mueller’s team.
Mueller is also increasingly depending on investigators in different areas, including New York, Alexandria, Va. and Pittsburg, Penn. in yet another sign that another handoff could be imminent.
Investigators in New York; Alexandria, Virginia; Pittsburgh and elsewhere have been tapped to supplement the work of Mueller’s team, the officials said. Mueller has already handed off one major investigation - into Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen - to the Southern District of New York.
In an attempt to “normalize” Mueller’s behavior, DOJ officials told Bloomberg that this type of “expansion” was to be expected: “A heavy investigative load” had been anticipated from the start. Plus, they said, Mueller is showing results (though it appears he’s done just enough to justify continuing with the probe).
“I don’t think he’s getting in over his head,” said Solomon Wisenberg, who served as deputy independent counsel investigating President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. “These things have a tendency to balloon. Yes, it may be taxing on them. No, it’s not that unusual.”
Nor is it unusual for Mueller to turn to U.S. attorneys or to Justice Department headquarters, said Wisenberg, who’s now a partner at the law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.
Mueller’s team will likely be particularly busy in the coming months as he wraps up his negotiations with President Trump’s team and gears up for the trial of Paul Manafort - which is set to begin later this month.
“It’s going to be all hands on deck when they go to the Manafort trial,” Wisenberg said.
Earlier this year, the Internet Research Agency opened another front in Mueller’s war by engaging him in a legal battle in federal court as they’ve sought to expose what Mueller has argued are “sensitive investigative materials”. Another court fight started last week when Andrew Miller, a former aide to Roger Stone, filed a sealed motion to fight one of Mueller’s grand jury subpoenas.
Mueller is also expected to soon begin the sentencing phase of his prosecution of Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, both of whom pleaded guilty to lying to investigators, and have offered to cooperate. With so much going on, some experts have quietly urged Mueller to think about cutting back.
“He’s a busy guy,” said Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor.
“There’s certainly multiple fronts going on right now,” said Cramer, who’s now managing director of the international investigation firm Berkeley Research Group LLC. “Some of them are more active than others.”
Cramer doesn’t think Mueller’s in over his head but says he might be taking timing into consideration when it comes to making additional moves.
“You don’t have unlimited resources in a sense that you’ve got an unlimited cadre of prosecutors and agents,” Cramer said. “There does come a time where they can only do so much.”
With all this in mind, it certainly doesn’t sound like Mueller is respecting Rep. Trey Gowdy’s admonition - delivered to Mueller’s ostensible boss, Rod Rosenstein - to “finish it the hell up.” At this point, it seems like even Trump agreeing to sit for an interview - something that Mueller has long said would be the capstone to his investigation - would be enough to entice Mueller to wind down his wide-reaching investigation which, in case you forgot, has moved far beyond its initial mandate to investigate “Russian interference.”
It is time for Mueller to close this witch Hunt down
The President should shut it down, fire Rosenstein and demand the release of all the documents from the FBI. Time for this foolishness to end. It is an affront to the American people!
This sounds like the days of Enron-Andersen Affair (an then on to the banks) and a “prosecution” who could not quit and had to win at any price, finding guilt where there was none, ruining lives and companies (Andersen was not culpable) in the process.
Enron is a great comparison, demanding they plead guilty to “non-crimes.” But they’re so dirty and corrupt, they had to win at any price. Vendetta prosecutions to punish political opponents are not what the Justice dept is supposed to do. EVER.
Make him pay the bill for the investigation. Enough is enough!
Muhler needs to be investigated - he & Robstien
Need to be fired they are totally out of control
/ they haven’t investigated one Democrat-
Nor the DNC/ the Clintons/ etc totally
A bias person and against any and all Republicans
Actually Manafort prosecution is for the time period he worked for Podesta. None of it has to do with Trump. These people being prosecuted worked for both administrations. They knew then they were committing crimes and turned a blind eye to it until they decided to work for Trump administration and then they used their crimes to come after Trump. This is the same thing that Scientologists do to their cult followers. They hold something over their heads and use it if they stray from their Plantation.
Mueller has basically taken control of the entire justice system and behaves more like a dictator than anything else. He certainly is not seeking any kind of justice by hounding President Trump and intimidating those around President Trump with financial ruin and loss of freedom. Mueller wants them to lie about President Trump to save themselves and enable his coup. We all know this. Oddly enough I am no longer angry with Mueller; I am angry at those who have the power to stop him and haven’t. Those enabling Mueller to ride roughshod over the POTUS, run amok, and stomp on our Constitution are enemies of we the people.
THE EXPENSE FOR THIS INVESTIGATION SHOULD NOT BE PUT ON THE TAXPAYERS!
The time is LONG overdue to shut “heir meuller” and his taxpayer money wasting FARCE “investigation” down and place HIS butt under arrest for the CRIMES he is guilty of. (uranium one ring a bell??)
This BS MOST BE STOPPED . HIRE MUILLER IS A SCUM SUCKING FOOL
We live in a country where justice is for everybody. If we had no justice then we would be like russia or other dictator countries. We must let Mueller take this investigation to the end. Then there will be no doubt that this country is going in the right direction. Guilty or innocent we should know. Then there will be no doubt.
Mueller cant close it down his hate and unprofessional acts are out of his control! He has gone full leftist in his desire to destroy President Trump for no reason.
We, American citizens, ask for the end of this false investigation that all it does is fill the pockets of traitor FBI agents.
Ginny Ashworth Bailey- What is happening is that the average tax payer is identifying more and more with Trump as this ‘bullying’ goes on from the ‘elites’. Can you imagine what other Americans have gone through over the centuries when certain folks in power decide to ‘take down’ one of us!!! I had never realized how outrageous other Americans can be until my old age and this current - NOT Democrats, but some other breed, has taken over…..
If we had a real AG this could all be over with, Sessions is clearly, obviously compromised, President Trump please fire him or reassign and put in a real AG and end this nonsense.
Mueller, Rosenstein, Muller’s team and Sessions all need to be fired, and they all need to be fired at the same time. The nonsense going on is dangerous, and it will not stop without the President exercising his Article II powers.
“Anthrax” Bob Mueller’s investigation is a fishing expedition. It is a stahl tactic and diversion away from Hillary Rodham Felon cabal and “dead body list.”
Very true. The money being spent on this witch hunt would finance a program to feed and educate poor AMERICAN children. Farces like this should have to be put before Americans for a vote to continue, OR, “shut if the hell down”.
I cannot believe that members of this US government is letting Mueller continue spending wasteful American tax dollars, enough is enough!
The “mule” should not think of “finish it the hell up” as a mere plea, but as an ORDER FROM WE THE PEOPLE - - -finish it NOW and THEN be prepared to be “investigated himself”! He and his coconspirators are almost as BIG A FRAUD as “barry boy and hitlery” themselves!
Do not finance this investigation anymore. If he wants to continue let him pay for it. Just who is providing the money they should step in now.
Just what is the problem with my statement. No freedom of speech on the enternet?
It is high time that Mueller closes this witch hunt down. We as Americans are sick and disgusted with with His wasting time and money trying to find something and he probably don’t know what he is looking for. If I were the President he would have been gone a long time ago along with about 8 more. We as Americans are calling for congress, House & president to rid the swamp of these disgraceful DOJ and spend their time trying to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”.