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The Economist December 16th 2017 United States 25
2 press conference Thomas Homan, the act- election. “What we need to determine is newsoutlets, and differentvillainsand sto-
ing director of ICE, put it more bluntly: not whether they did it—we know that,” rylines dominate. Trump-supporting pun-
“There is no prerequisite that you commit said Mr Ryan, a Republican. “It’s what did dits and reporters have spent days talking
yet another crime to enforce immigration theydo,howdidtheydoit,howdowepre- about Peter Strzok, a senior FBI agent who,
law. You know the IRS enforces tax law, we vent it from happening again?” Mr Trump it emerged, was removed from the Mueller
enforce immigration law. That’s ourjob.” played the outlier, repeatedly casting inquiry after the Department ofJustice un-
Despite casting a wider net, Randy doubt on whether Russia had meddled in covered thousands of text messages that
Capps of the Migration Policy Institute, a the poll. That is because the president sees he sent to an FBI lawyer with whom he
think-tank, does not expect DHS to in- such a charge as a personal attack, ques- was having an affair, including many call-
crease deportation numbers unless it can tioning the legitimacy of his win. With ing Mr Trump an “idiot” and “loathsome”
quickly add more ICE officers. The number most Republican and Democratic leaders duringthe election campaign, and express-
of undocumented people arrested each inagreementthatRussiahadbehavedbad- ing fervent hopes that Mrs Clinton would
week in the interior of the country has not lyand thatMrMuellerwasthe chap to find win. On the right that revelation is of a
increased much since February, suggesting out why, they disagreed only on one big piece with reports that Nellie Ohr, a Russia
that the agency may be at capacity. Deten- thing: whether Russia was helped in its analyst married to a senior Department of
tion centres, where populations are over- perfidy by the Trump campaign. You Justice lawyer, Brian Ohr, did some work
flowing, present another limiting factor. In betcha, said Democrats. Not so fast, retort- in 2016 for Fusion GPS, a firm of private in-
October DHS began exploring the pos- ed lots ofRepublicans, no evidence proves vestigatorsthatdrewup a dossierof unver-
sibility of opening five new detention cen- collusion with Team Trump yet—we bet ified dirt on Mr Trump supposedly held by
tres, but such facilities would take time to the president will be exonerated. the Russian government. Now such con-
find or build and congressionally appro- A few grim months on, partisanship servatives as Mr Gingrich thunder that
priated dollars to run. The fact that depor- has reached such feverish heights that Re- “Mueller is corrupt, the senior FBI is cor-
tations are unlikely to increase much is of publicans and Democrats no longer easily rupt”. Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, has
little comfort to the Barrios Mendoza chil- agree whether Mr Mueller’s probe is an called MrMueller“the head ofthe snake”.
dren, whose mother has taken to selling honestattempttofindthetruth.Worse,the On talk radio such figures as Rush Lim-
home-made tamales to pay the rent while bipartisan consensus has broken down baugh have a different Russian scandal in
theirfathersits in detention. 7 when itcomesto the hackingofDemocrat- their sights. Because the Fusion GPS dos-
ic e-mails, and whether that was Russia’s sier was funded by anti-Trump Republi-
worst attackon American democracy. cans and then by the Clinton campaign,
Partisanship Read Trump-sceptic newspapers or and because it drew on tips from Russian
The “fire Mueller” watch such cable networks as MSNBC or intelligence sources recruited by Christo-
pher Steele, a former officer in Britain’s Se-
CNN, and the evidence is stacking up of
chorus Russian collusion with the president. This cret Intelligence Service, Mr Limbaugh
story comes with villains and prime sus-
now presents it as an act of collusion be-
pects. Michael Flynn, a former national se- tween Democratsand Russia, tellinglisten-
curity adviser to Mr Trump, pleaded guilty ers: “Hillary Clinton worked with the Rus-
WASHINGTON, DC on December1st to a charge of lying to FBI sians and paid forthis dossierto be created
Aspecial counsel’s probe into Russian agentsprobingRussiancollusion,aspartof and written.”
election-meddling divides America
a deal to tell Mr Mueller what he knows. Aswellingchorusnowsuggeststhat Mr
N A happier, more innocent age, also Paul Manafort, a former chairman of the Trump should rein in or fire Mr Mueller. A
Iknown as spring 2017, Republicans and Trump campaign, has been charged with Florida congressman has declared that the
Democrats agreed to disagree about the money laundering, in what looks like a bid special counsel may be planning a coup
special counsel, Robert Mueller, and what to flip him, too. d’état. On December 12th Jay Sekulow, a
theymadeofhisinvestigationinto Russian Watch Fox News or read conservative personal lawyer for Mr Trump, called for a
meddlingin the presidential election. special counsel to be appointed to investi-
Grandees from each party competed to gate possible conflicts of interest at the De-
praise Mr Mueller, a craggily severe former partment of Justice, especially involving
FBI director, appointed by George W. Bush Mr Ohr, who was reportedly moved to a
and kept on by BarackObama. Newt Ging- new post after failing to report a pre-elec-
rich, the former Republican Speaker of the tion meetingwith MrSteele ofFusion GPS.
House of Representatives and tireless A day later members ofthe House Judi-
champion of President Donald Trump on ciary Committee squabbled over the im-
cable television, called Mr Mueller a “su- port of Mr Strzok’s anti-Trump text mes-
perb choice” known for “honesty and in- sages. Republicans saw “disgusting,
tegrity”. The Democratic leader in the Sen- unaccountable political bias” that under-
ate, Charles Schumer of New York, called minesTeam Mueller. The committee chair-
Mr Mueller “exactly the right kind of indi- man, Representative Bob Goodlatte of Vir-
vidual forthis job”. ginia, called for a special counsel to
Bigwigs from the two parties were also investigate a now-concluded FBI probe
as one in adopting grave expressions and into Mrs Clinton’s use of a private e-mail
tones of outrage, when pondering evi- server as secretary of state. In contrast
dence that Russian spooks meddled in the Democrats asked the deputy attorney-gen-
election of 2016, notably by stealing and eral, Rod Rosenstein, whether he fears that
leaking embarrassing e-mails from Hillary Mr Trump might fire him or Mr Mueller.
Clinton’s campaign chief and from the No, replied Mr Rosenstein. Meanwhile the
Democratic National Committee. The cur- Mueller probe grinds on, in a country be-
rent Speaker, Paul Ryan, spoke for many ing torn apart by distrust and competing
congressional leaders when he said it was versions of reality. America’s enemies
clearthatRussiahadtriedtointerfereinthe Mueller, the best and the worst must be huggingthemselves with glee. 7