January 24, 2018 10:24 AM UTC

Robert Mueller Closing in on Trump

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As CNN reports, special counsel Robert Mueller appears to be closing in on President Trump in his investigation related to potential collusion with Russia and possible obstruction of justice charges:

Finally, inexorably, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has clawed all the way up to Donald Trump himself.

Now a foreboding moment looms for his presidency and for the nation.

A stunning barrage of revelations on Tuesday suggested that at least one strand of Mueller’s Russia probe is racing toward its end game, emphasizing the gravity of the situation facing the White House and the potential vulnerability of the President.

Mueller’s request to question Trump, and news that his team has already interviewed fired FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, indicate that the special counsel has a clear picture of where he is headed in what could turn into an obstruction of justice case, legal experts said.

Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin comes to a similar conclusion for the Washington Post:

Person by person, Mueller is reaching into Trump’s inner circle and the parties who may have been involved in or have knowledge of an obstruction scheme (e.g., Hope Hicks). One supposes that at some point he’ll want to question Trump Jr., who took the June 2016 meeting, and Jared Kushner, who reportedly urged Trump to fire Comey and had meetings during the transition, one with the head of a sanctioned Russian bank and another to discuss a possible “back channel” to Russia.

Two things stand out that should make Trump’s legal team very nervous: The number of people who can describe alleged efforts to stymie the Russia probe and the number of people with Russia contacts, some of whom had to be prompted to reveal them (e.g., Sessions to the Judiciary Committee, Kushner’s multiple revisions on his security clearance paperwork).

All of this news comes along with reports that Trump asked then-FBI Director Andrew McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 election (another case of Trump pressing for personal loyalty from law enforcement officials) as well as a new revelation from CNN that former Trump campaign staffer Rick Gates may be prepared to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.