Hey, is that the Rubicon?
So that’s it, then: After 15 months of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling, 15 months of swelling resentment and conspiratorial muttering from President Donald Trump that grew to a roar in the past few weeks, the president has finally pulled the trigger. On Wednesday morning, Trump called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end Mueller’s Russia investigation “right now,” setting the stage for a potential showdown with Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have—until now—insisted almost in unison that Mueller should finish the job he started.
Or maybe he didn’t! Trump’s call for Sessions to take action came as a Twitter aside, snuggled into a multi-part rant about the various supposed calumnies of Mueller and his former flunky Peter Strzok. The Justice Department spent Wednesday morning declining to comment on the tweets, leaving it an open question whether the harsh new posture signals a real strategic change for the president or was simply a sign of him blowing off steam. The fact that the apparent command was directed at Sessions, who long ago recused himself from the Russia investigation, rather than actual shot-caller Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, would seem to indicate the latter. But who can ever say with Trump?
The newest provocation comes during a week of increasing presidential attacks against Mueller. On Sunday, Trump accused the special prosecutor of “conflicts of interest with respect to President Trump, including the fact that we had a very nasty and contentious business relationship.”
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani declined to elaborate on the allegation of such a relationship earlier this week. It was reported by multiple outlets last June, including NPR, that the White House was considering Mueller for the FBI post before he was tapped to lead the Russia investigation.
Dinging the president for every new fabrication and unearned attack on the special counsel seems almost beside the point now. But the direction that each one points is of some interest. Trump’s opinion of Mueller is clear: He tried to fire him almost 14 months ago, shortly after the special counsel was named to his post. So is that of his media enablers, the Hannitys and Lou Dobbses of the world—Dobbs said of Mueller in April that “I would fire the SOB in three seconds if it were me.” But now Trump has joined their chorus. “Sessions should fire the special counsel at once” could work its way into the word bank for Trump’s Mad-Lib outrage tweets, until even that begins to seem unremarkable.
Unless Mueller does get fired. We’d pay attention then.
