It's Time for Mueller to Put Up or Call it Quits
By Joe diGenova & Victoria Toensing
May 23, 2018
USAToday.com
The FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane, a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign, on July 31, 2016. Ten months later, Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein passed the counterintelligence baton to special counsel Robert Mueller to continue the inquiry. Thus, the question of whether there was “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” has dragged on for 22 months.
To quote former FBI director James Comey when defending the drafting of an exoneration of Hillary Clinton in May 2016, 11 months into her email investigation and before interviewing her, “If you’ve been investigating something for almost a year, and you don’t have a general sense of where it’s likely to end up, you should be fired because you’re incompetent.”
Thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian companies were charged with conspiracy and identity theft involving a Russian propaganda campaign. Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were charged with financial crimes occurring years before Donald Trump even announced his presidential candidacy. Gen. Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos were charged with making false statements to the FBI about matters that were not criminal if they had admitted to them. Not one document implicates a single person from the Trump campaign linked with the Russian government to effect the 2016 election.
Two Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinions hold that a sitting president is constitutionally immune from indictment. Mueller, appointed under executive authority, is obliged to follow them. Why, then, does he seek the president’s testimony? It can only be to provide it to Congress for impeachment proceedings.
The House can impeach the president for refusing to testify, but Mueller violates separation of powers if he uses the weaponry of a grand jury subpoena to gather evidence for another government branch.
If Mueller does not have evidence of collusion after 22 months, he should not be fired. He should call it quits.
Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, and Victoria Toensing are founding partners of diGenova & Toensing, LLP in Washington. Conflicts recently prevented them from joining the president’s legal team.