SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Trump Was Previously Not Under Investigation. Now He Reportedly Is.
President bristles in wake of latest reporting, but what he calls a "witchhunt," political observers say is really Trump's own doing
Jun 15, 2017
In the letter announcing his former FBI director's termination last month, President Donald Trump went out of his way to thank James Comey for telling him "on three separate occasions" that he was not under investigation.
But according to new reporting by the Washington Post--which says that Special Counsel Robert Mueller III is "interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice"--Trump may no longer be able to cling to those previous assurances.
Citing officials familiar with the move, the Post notes how the widening of the federal probe to include the president's conduct "marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin." The report, largely based on unnamed officials, says that Mueller's team of investigators are also searching for any "evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates."
On Thursday morning, Trump lashed out at the story, tweeting: "They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice." In a subsequent tweet, he characterized the investigation as part of "the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history."
At Vox, Ezra Klein details how the latest developments in the case exemplify how Trump continues to create his own legal troubles. "To Trump," Klein writes, "this is something 'they' did to him. In reality, of course, this is something Trump did to himself."
"Trump's resistance to taking responsibility for his actions is perhaps the single greatest threat facing his presidency," Klein concluded. "If he realized the damage he was doing to himself, he could perhaps stop doing it. But so long as he sees his problems as the product of an unfair 'WITCH HUNT,' he will continue to see his reckless, enraged reactions as a reasonable response, and so will continue destabilizing his presidency."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In the letter announcing his former FBI director's termination last month, President Donald Trump went out of his way to thank James Comey for telling him "on three separate occasions" that he was not under investigation.
But according to new reporting by the Washington Post--which says that Special Counsel Robert Mueller III is "interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice"--Trump may no longer be able to cling to those previous assurances.
Citing officials familiar with the move, the Post notes how the widening of the federal probe to include the president's conduct "marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin." The report, largely based on unnamed officials, says that Mueller's team of investigators are also searching for any "evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates."
On Thursday morning, Trump lashed out at the story, tweeting: "They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice." In a subsequent tweet, he characterized the investigation as part of "the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history."
At Vox, Ezra Klein details how the latest developments in the case exemplify how Trump continues to create his own legal troubles. "To Trump," Klein writes, "this is something 'they' did to him. In reality, of course, this is something Trump did to himself."
"Trump's resistance to taking responsibility for his actions is perhaps the single greatest threat facing his presidency," Klein concluded. "If he realized the damage he was doing to himself, he could perhaps stop doing it. But so long as he sees his problems as the product of an unfair 'WITCH HUNT,' he will continue to see his reckless, enraged reactions as a reasonable response, and so will continue destabilizing his presidency."
In the letter announcing his former FBI director's termination last month, President Donald Trump went out of his way to thank James Comey for telling him "on three separate occasions" that he was not under investigation.
But according to new reporting by the Washington Post--which says that Special Counsel Robert Mueller III is "interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice"--Trump may no longer be able to cling to those previous assurances.
Citing officials familiar with the move, the Post notes how the widening of the federal probe to include the president's conduct "marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin." The report, largely based on unnamed officials, says that Mueller's team of investigators are also searching for any "evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates."
On Thursday morning, Trump lashed out at the story, tweeting: "They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice." In a subsequent tweet, he characterized the investigation as part of "the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history."
At Vox, Ezra Klein details how the latest developments in the case exemplify how Trump continues to create his own legal troubles. "To Trump," Klein writes, "this is something 'they' did to him. In reality, of course, this is something Trump did to himself."
"Trump's resistance to taking responsibility for his actions is perhaps the single greatest threat facing his presidency," Klein concluded. "If he realized the damage he was doing to himself, he could perhaps stop doing it. But so long as he sees his problems as the product of an unfair 'WITCH HUNT,' he will continue to see his reckless, enraged reactions as a reasonable response, and so will continue destabilizing his presidency."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.