Summary
President Donald Trump’s closest allies are attacking the integrity of those involved in the widening probe of Russian interference in the U.S. election, accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of driving a biased investigation. Trump himself took aim Friday at the senior Justice Department official responsible for appointing Mueller, accusing him on Twitter of leading a “Witch Hunt.”
The rising criticism puts a new focus on the relationships between the president, special counsel and the Justice Department, especially as questions loom over whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will recuse himself from overseeing Mueller’s probe. Some questions and answers about what could happen:
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WHAT ABOUT MUELLER? DOES HE HAVE CONFLICTS?
Trump allies have been questioning whether Mueller can lead an unbiased probe, given that some members of his team have made campaign contributions to Democratic candidates. But Justice Department policy and federal service law bar discrimination in the hiring of career positions on the basis of political affiliation, so Mueller may not have considered those contributions.
There is also no rule barring such donations, said David Alan Sklansky, a criminal procedure professor at Stanford University.
Others have pointed to news that Mueller interviewed with Trump for the FBI director post after Comey’s firing. But that doesn’t appear to violate any ethics rules, either, Slansky said.
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