President Trump has sent private messages to Russia special counsel Robert Mueller

WASHINGTON – President Trump has publicly
called the widening federal investigation into
Russia's election meddling a "witch hunt." But
through his lawyer, Trump has sent private
messages of "appreciation" to special counsel
Robert Mueller.
"He appreciates what Bob Mueller is doing,''
Trump's chief counsel John Dowd told USA TODAY
in an interview Tuesday. "He asked me to share
that with him and that's what I've done.''
Special counsel Robert Mueller and
President Trump
AP
Trump's legal team has been in contact with
Mueller's office, and Dowd says he has passed
along the president's messages expressing
“appreciation and greetings’’ to the special
counsel.
“The president has sent messages back and forth,’’
Dowd said, declining to elaborate further.
Washington political circles for weeks have been on
high alert for the possibility the president could try
to get rid of Mueller or otherwise wrest control of
the federal Russia probe he frequently denounces
as a "hoax."
Yet the Trump legal camp cast the
communications as a sign that the president is
willing to cooperate with Mueller, whose office
declined to comment, and former federal
prosecutors say there are no rules that would
prevent a president from passing along messages
to the special counsel through an attorney.
Even so, Trump's private communications
represent a "striking" contradiction with his public
condemnations of the Russia investigation,
said Jimmy Gurule, a former assistant attorney
general in the George H.W. Bush administration.
"It's an extreme position to go from hateful
statements to this," Gurule said. "What would
cause him to change his mind?"
Trump's effort to communicate with Mueller is also
notable since Trump has come under fire for prior
unconventional contacts related to the
investigation into possible collusion between Trump
associates and Russia.
In a break with longstanding precedent to avoid
even the appearance of influencing the nonpolitical
law enforcement agency's investigations, Trump
spoke privately with former FBI Director James
Comey on several occasions before firing him in
May because of his handling of the Russia matter.
In those conversations, Comey said, Trump tried to
convince him to drop parts of the Russia
investigation and asked for a pledge of loyalty –
accounts that not only led to the appointment of a
special counsel, but also an expansion of the
inquiry to include possible obstruction of justice.
Related:
Dowd has said all communications with Mueller
have been proper.
“We get along well with Bob Mueller; our
communications have been constructive,’’ the
attorney said. “But it is important that our
communications remain confidential. It’s important
that there not be any breakdown in that trust.’’
In a sign that forcing out the former FBI director
overseeing the federal Russia investigation is also
untenable from a political perspective, government
officials have moved to tamp down any talk of
ousting Mueller – including, apparently Trump
himself.
"That’s never been on the table, never,’’ Dowd said
of the possibility Trump might try to remove the
special counsel. “It’s a manifestation of the media.
My dealings with Bob Mueller have always been
cordial, respectful — the way it should be."
Ron Woods, a former federal prosecutor and FBI
agent, said he saw nothing inappropriate about
Trump’s communications to Mueller through his
attorney.
"I think it’s a smart play on Dowd’s part," Woods
said. “They’ve obviously taken the position that the
best defense now is to cooperate."
While Woods notes that "nothing about this case
has been usual," both Dowd and Mueller have a
history as friends. "There is nothing wrong with
Dowd talking to Mueller," Woods said.
Not all legal experts agreed it was so
straightforward.
"This is peculiar," tweeted Preet Bharara, a former
U.S. attorney who was fired by Trump earlier this
year. "It would be more helpful if he stopped
undermining Mueller publicly and fomenting attacks
on him by surrogates like Newt (Gingrich)."
Trump and his aides have been highly critical of
Mueller and his widening investigation. Trump has
said Mueller's job is unnecessary because he
hasn't done anything wrong, and has accused
the former FBI director of having unspecified
conflicts of interest.
Lawmakers, including Republicans, started sounding
the alarm about Mueller after days of concerted
attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The
unusual public criticism of a cabinet official who
was one of Trump's earliest supporters – months
after his recusal from the Russia investigation –
raised questions about whether the president was
trying to get Sessions to quit or would fire him.
Trump cannot fire Mueller directly, but he can fire
Sessions. And a new, more pliable attorney general
– without conflicts in the Russia investigation –
could oust the special counsel.
Yet the two men appear to be at a stalemate:
Sessions has has refused to resign in the face of
attacks by Trump, and so far, Trump has not
moved to fire Sessions.
And senators from both parties have since
introduced legislation that would make it harder for
the president to dismiss Mueller. A pair of pending
proposals would require judges to to review any
presidential firing, and force the president to
provide specific legal reasons for taking such
action.
What's more, with the public now aware that
Mueller has tapped a grand jury for his inquiry into
possible collusion between Trump associates and
Russians who sought to influence the election,
getting rid of the top prosecutor seems like a near
impossibility.
One Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, said late last month any move against
Mueller could be "the beginning of the end of the
Trump presidency."
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who
is sponsoring one of the proposals designed to
protect a special counsel, said that "a back-end
judicial review process to prevent unmerited
removals of special counsels not only helps to
ensure their investigatory independence, but also
reaffirms our nation’s system of checks and
balances.”
A recent poll of battleground districts indicated
that firing Mueller would be unpopular with voters
as well .
Mueller is supervising a long-running inquiry that
focuses on Russian efforts to influence the 2016
election through fake news and hacking political
organizations and Democrats close to nominee
Hillary Clinton.
The wide-ranging inquiry now includes a June 2016
meeting at Trump Tower where the president’s
eldest son, Donald Jr., hosted a Kremlin-linked
attorney whom he believed had damaging
information on Clinton.
Trump Jr. was told that that information would be
provided by the Russian government. Trump's son-
in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman
Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.
Trump Jr. and the Russian attorney both said no
actual information about Clinton was provided at
the meeting. The special counsel’s team also is
reviewing financial transactions involving campaign
officials.
As the probe continues to mount, Trump and his
aides have complained that some of Mueller's staff
members have given political contributions to
Democrats. Trump has also objected to the idea of
having Mueller investigate his personal finances.
"No, I think that’s a violation," he told The New York
Times. "Look, this is about Russia."
But this has not deterred Mueller, who is now using
at least two grand juries — in Virginia and
Washington, D.C. — to advance the investigation.
The use of the grand jury located in Washington,
first disclosed last week, is potentially significant,
as it likely means investigators are examining
activities that happened within that jurisdiction.
Those actions include former National Security
Adviser Michael Flynn’s pre-inaugural contacts with
Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Shortly after his appointment in May, Mueller also
took control of an existing federal grand jury in
Alexandria, Va., that had been examining Flynn's
prior lobbying business involving Turkey.
While Trump and some of his aides have criticized
Mueller and his operation, they also said there is
no sign that the president himself is under
investigation.
Dowd said he knew of no immediate request for
Trump’s testimony, and he declined to comment on
any request for documents related to the president.

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