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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 9 November 2018
Indictments? Final report? White House braces for Mueller

By ERIC TUCKER, JONATHAN door to Mueller's appoint- sociates. But the work is not peals court in Washington immunity, have been scru-
LEMIRE and CHAD DAY ment. done. heard a challenge to Muel- tinized.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The To this point, Trump has A clear focus concerns ler's authority brought by But it's unclear what ad-
White House is bracing heeded advice not to di- Stone, a longtime political Stone aide Andrew Miller, ditional charges prosecu-
for the probe of Donald rectly interfere, though a dirty trickster. The special who defied a grand jury tors are pursuing and how
Trump's presidential cam- new chapter in the rela- counsel's team has been subpoena last summer and much of it pertains to the
paign to fire up again. tionship with the probe investigating Stone's con- was held in contempt by a president personally. Fed-
Trump's advisers are pri- eral prosecutors have said
vately expressing worries in court papers that the
that the special counsel, case involves numerous
who's been out of the "uncharged" third parties
news for the past month, and have argued against
has been stealthily compil- disclosing search warrants
ing information and could and other documents that
soon issue new indictments would "certainly result in a
or a damning final report. very public guessing game"
Trump abruptly altered the about their identities.
chain of command above Overseeing it all is Whitaker,
Mueller on Wednesday, a former college football
putting his work under the player and United States
supervision of a Republi- attorney from Iowa who
can loyalist who has been was brought into the Jus-
openly skeptical of the tice Department last year
special counsel's author- to serve as Sessions' chief of
ity and has mused about staff. In the months before,
ways to curtail his power. Whitaker was a familiar
But Trump and his aides are presence on CNN, where
concerned about Mueller's he questioned Mueller's
next move with the work scope and reach.
that is complete, accord- In one appearance, he de-
ing to a White House offi- fended a June 2016 Trump
cial and a Republican with Protestors gather in front of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, as part of a Tower meeting between
close ties to the administra- nationwide "Protect Mueller" campaign demanding that acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-
Whitaker recuse himself from overseeing the ongoing special counsel investigation.
tion. Associated Press connected Russian lawyer,
They insisted on anonymity saying, "You would always
to comment on conversa- take that meeting."
tions they were not autho- may have begun with the nection to WikiLeaks during judge. He also once tweeted a
rized to describe. appointment of Matthew the 2016 campaign and In the president's orbit, prosecutor's opinion piece
Mueller lay low for the past Whitaker as new acting whether he had advance there remains some con- that described the Muel-
month as voters were mull- attorney general. Even if knowledge of the group's cern about his eldest son, ler team as a "lynch mob,"
ing their choices for this Whitaker, Sessions' former plans to release hacked Donald Trump Jr., though and wrote his own op-ed
week's elections. chief of staff, does not cur- material damaging to there are no outward indi- saying Mueller would be
But a flurry of activity during tail the investigation, Trump Democrat Hillary Clinton. cations that charges are outside his authority if he
his quiet period, including could direct him to take a Stone has said he did not, imminent, according to a investigated Trump's family
weeks of grand jury testi- more aggressive stance in but emails, Twitter messag- Republican close to the finances.
mony about Trump confi- declassifying documents es and his own public state- White House not authorized Trump had enjoyed Whita-
dant Roger Stone and ne- that could further under- ments show he portrayed to speak publicly about pri- ker's cable TV appear-
gotiations over an interview mine or muddle the probe, himself as plugged into vate conversations. ances — including one on
with the president, hinted the White House aide and the WikiLeaks orbit. That Beyond Mueller, but also CNN in which he suggest-
at public developments Republican official said. includes implying he had within the Justice Depart- ed that the Mueller probe
ahead as investigators The investigation until now inside knowledge in sepa- ment's oversight, is a feder- be starved of resources
move closer to addressing has been overseen by Dep- rate email exchanges with al investigation into Trump's — and the two men soon
key questions underpinning uty Attorney General Rod a Breitbart editor and Steve longtime legal fixer, Mi- struck a bond. Trump told
the special counsel inquiry: Rosenstein, who appointed Bannon, the then-Trump chael Cohen, who admit- associates that he felt that
Did Trump illegally obstruct Mueller last year and grant- campaign chairman, just ted as part of a guilty plea Whitaker would be "loyal"
the investigation? And did ed him fairly broad author- days before WikiLeaks be- in August to coordinat- and would not have re-
his campaign have ad- ity. gan releasing thousands of ing with Trump on a hush- cused himself from the Rus-
vance knowledge of ille- "It's very significant be- emails stolen from Clinton money scheme to silence sia probe as Sessions had
gally hacked Democratic cause Whitaker's position campaign chairman John a porn actress and an ex- done, according to two
emails? on indictments or future Podesta. Playboy model who say Republicans close to the
Trump has told confidants indictments may be dif- Bannon and other Stone they had affairs with Trump. White House not authorized
he remains deeply an- ferent than Rosenstein's, associates have been The president hasn't been to speak publicly about pri-
noyed by the 18-month-old and Rosenstein had given questioned, and multiple charged with any wrong- vate conversations.
Mueller probe, believing it Mueller a broad mandate witnesses have appeared doing, but federal prosecu- Despite demands from
is not just a "witch hunt" but to pursue various crimes," before the grand jury. One tors have said that a grand Democrats and ethics
an expensive and lengthy said Washington criminal associate, Jerome Corsi, jury investigation is ongoing watchdogs that he recuse
negative distraction. The defense lawyer Jeffrey Ja- said in a video recording and it targets unspecified because of his past com-
latest indication of the fury cobovitz. Monday that he's "been in- "others." Court papers show ments, Whitaker showed
came Wednesday when The Mueller investigation volved in a really constant Trump's conduct and that no signs Thursday that he
he forced out his attor- has so far produced 32 basis" for two months with of top executives at the intended to do so. And not
ney general, Jeff Sessions, criminal charges and four Mueller's investigation. Trump Organization, some everyone is convinced he
whose recusal opened the guilty pleas from Trump as- On Thursday, a federal ap- of whom have received needs to.q