Murray Waas

The Trump Obstruction Mueller Missed?

This episode reinforces the impression that those involved were engaged in a political scheme to provide a post hoc rationale for Trump’s tweets—a scheme that risked interfering with, and potentially obstructing, a federal criminal investigation.

Ukraine Continued: How a Crucial Witness Escaped

A classified State Department assessment concluded that Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko—who is at the center of the impeachment inquiry of President Trump—allowed a vital potential witness for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Konstantin Kilimnik, to escape from Ukraine to Russia, beyond the reach of the United States.

Trump, Giuliani, and Manafort: The Ukraine Scheme

The effort by President Trump to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son had its origins in an earlier endeavor to obtain information that might provide a pretext and political cover for the president to pardon his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

The Timeline of Deceit in Firing Comey

New disclosures of what Trump said in the draft letter terminating James Comey as FBI director highlight the central parts played in the affair by then Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

What Rod Rosenstein Knew

In May 2017, then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein agreed to assist President Trump in an effort to fire James Comey as FBI director despite Rosenstein’s knowing beforehand that the president had devised a false cover story to conceal the fact that he was firing Comey for his oversight of the FBI’s Russia investigation.

Jeff Sessions's Conflict of Interest

Last year, in March 2018, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions enlisted his subordinates to lie on his behalf that he did not know he was under federal investigation when he fired then Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe—an investigation initiated by McCabe and overseen by him until it was taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Mueller Prosecutors: Trump Did Obstruct Justice

Prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded last year that they had sufficient evidence to seek criminal charges against President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice over the president’s alleged pressuring of FBI Director Comey in February 2017 to shut down an FBI investigation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Mueller’s ‘Smoking Gun’ on Obstruction of Justice

For more than nine months, despite my own reporting for the Daily that contradicted its story, the Trump legal team’s version—that Trump did not understand Flynn was under investigation when he leaned on Comey—largely prevailed. Until the Mueller report finally laid to rest this fiction.

Whitaker, Fugitive from Justice

Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker abruptly resigned from a new Justice Department position only two weeks into the job—after he learned that he would likely be fired if he refused to answer questions from the department’s Inspector General.

Matthew Whitaker’s Ethical Mire

If Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker had revealed to Justice ethics officials his discussions with the White House and actions on Trump’s behalf, they would almost certainly have compelled his recusal from oversight of the special counsel. Whitaker may face investigation by the department’s inspector general over his omission.

Mike Pence, Star Witness

If Robert Mueller chooses to question the vice president, Pence could become the most important witness not yet heard from in the special counsel’s investigation of President Trump for possible obstruction of justice.

The Flynn Tapes: A New Tell

Based on Eisenberg’s review of the raw intelligence, McGahn informed Trump what the Flynn intercepts revealed. These new disclosures, building on my July 31 reporting for the Daily, constitute the strongest evidence to date that the president may have obstructed justice.

Flynn, Comey, and Mueller: What Trump Knew

If Trump believed that Flynn was no longer under criminal investigation, the president could not have had “corrupt intent.” But Trump was fully informed that Flynn was still the target of prosecutors.