Robert Mueller, the newly named special counsel investigating potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, may find himself in the extraordinary position of questioning President Donald Trump.
There is precedent for this. John Danforth, the only other person to be named a special counsel under the same statute as Mueller, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that he conducted a phone interview with Bill Clinton as part of his investigation into the Waco siege. He said it was the only contact he had with anyone in the White House during the investigation, and he did it “in the name of thoroughness.”
Mueller may need to be similarly thorough.
“That’s investigative procedure 101,” said Julian Sanchez, an expert in national security law for the libertarian Cato Institute. “Unless it’s a secret investigation, if you’re conducting an investigation, you interview its subject.”
“He would need to interview anyone who’s a subject of the investigation,” Sanchez added. “That’s Trump, and, at minimum, personnel associated with the campaign.”
“I can’t imagine he would not be interviewed,” said Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer.
Mueller has been charged to investigate “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” that the FBI has been conducting into alleged collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian government officials. That would likely include the allegations from James Comey, who reportedly wrote in a memo that Trump asked him to curtail part of that investigation before firing him.
Like Comey, Mueller knows a thing or two about memos.
Mueller, who became FBI director a week before 9/11, was a colleague of James Comey during the Bush administration. And one of the most consequential moments in that relationship involves note-taking––a skill Comey has clearly adopted.
And, like any good FBI hand, Mueller took notes.
In 2007, when Alberto Gonzales was attorney general, he testified before Congress that Ashcroft was lucid and talkative on the night of the hospital visit. Comey later gave testimony countering what Gonzales said, saying Ashcroft was clearly sick and distressed. And Mueller’s notes became a pivotal piece of evidence to clear up the disparity, as the Washington Post reported at the time.
A decade later, Mueller and Comey are again embroiled in a conflict with major consequences for the country. Rod Rosenstein, who has Comey’s old job as Deputy Attorney General, announced Wednesday that Mueller would take over the investigation, writing that the special counsel could investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.”
“Naming somebody like Bob Mueller suggests that they’re serious about this,” said Ron Hosko, who was assistant FBI director for a year under Mueller.
And John Pistole, who also served as an Assistant FBI Director under Mueller, said Mueller and Comey respect each other’s work.
“I think Jim admires Director Mueller,” he said. “It’s a formidable combination, if you have Bob Mueller and Jim Comey on an issue.”
“In many respects, Bob has been a mentor to Jim in terms of being a federal prosecutor and then FBI director,” Pistole added.
Retired FBI agents who spoke to The Daily Beast also praised the move.
“A lot of old-school agents were not fans of Mueller because we felt like he didn’t respect the work that we had done,” said John Terry, a retired FBI agent who supervised an organized crime squad. “The feeling was that, after 9/11––‘You guys don’t know what you’re doing, you guys didn’t connect the dots.’ We felt that he disrespected us. But having said that, I think that his integrity and his willingness to make tough decisions speaks for itself, and I think that’s exactly the type of guy to come in. As far as I know, nobody’s going to influence him.”
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