One thing we know about Bob Mueller is this: he is very thorough. And although everything he and his team are doing has not been made public, we can be pretty sure that they are leaving no stone unturned in the Trump Russia investigation. Something they did a few weeks ago was made public yesterday, and it could be an indication that the FBI probe has moved from looking at Russia collusion to looking at financial transactions which might potentially give the president, his companies, and his children some legal problems they have been hoping to avoid.
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The New York Times reported on Thursday that special counsel Mueller has issued a subpoena for all of the Trump Organization records that in any way deal with Russia. His request reads like a shopping list of everything that anybody in the Trump Organization has that could relate to Russia.
So what does this mean for Trump? Simple answer: it’s not good news. Mueller’s team could be looking in places that Trump and his people thought were private and would never have to be made public.
Because the Trump Organization is a privately owned business the financial and tax records have never been subject to public scrutiny. So we don’t really know for sure what Mueller will find out when he receives all these documents he has requested from Trump. When he starts turning over stones many ugly things could be crawling out.
The speculation is running wild, and many experts, such as former assistant special Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman think this action by Mueller could directly lead to new legal jeopardy for Trump and possibly his family. In an interview on MSNBC last night Akerman said, “You probably could almost indict them before you look at the books, basically.”
One thing we know about the subpoena is that it indicates that Mueller is gathering steam in his investigation. Trump and his supporters want this probe to be over quickly but when a special counsel issues a broad subpoena which could yield the federal investigators thousands and thousands of documents you know it won’t be over soon.
White House special counsel Ty Cobb has made no comment on the New York Times report, probably because he hasn’t seen the subpoena. He is a lawyer for the White House and not for the Trump businesses.
Alan Futerfas, who is a Trump business attorney, issued a statement that said: “Thursday’s reports are old news and our assistance and cooperation with the various investigations remains the same today.”
Also on Thursday White House press secretary Sarah Sanders refused to make any statement concerning the reported subpoena. She did, however, say, for approximately the thousandth time, that there was “no collusion” between the Trump campaign or Trump businesses and Russia.
The big news is that Mueller is getting closer to looking at the Trump financial (and tax) dealings that many people believe could put him in very serious legal jeopardy. If the Manafort indictments are any indication, there could potentially be dozens of crimes that Mueller could uncover in his investigation after receiving the documents requested in the subpoena. But of course we won’t know for sure until the next round of special counsel indictments are unsealed and made public, and millions of people are anxiously waiting for that to happen.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
