“Washington (CNN) Justice Department
special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating President Donald Trump for
obstruction of justice, The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening [June 14].
“Mueller
is interviewing as early as this week three top intelligence officials as part
of the probe, the Post reported, citing ‘five people briefed on the requests.’
“The
three officials the Post says Mueller is interviewing are Director of National
Intelligence Dan Coats, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers and
Richard Ledgett, the recently retired deputy NSA director. Coats will also meet
with members of the Senate intelligence committee Thursday, one week after his
tense grilling by the panel, according to a committee source.
“It
is the most significant sign yet that Mueller's investigation is extending
beyond questions of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The news came
the same week as Trump friend Chris Ruddy floated the possibility that Trump
would fire Mueller, who was appointed to head up the investigation after Trump
fired FBI Director James Comey.
“Mark
Corallo, a spokesman for Trump's private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, immediately
condemned the Post report. ‘The FBI leak of information regarding the President
is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal,’ Corallo told CNN. Trump called the
report ‘phony’ in a Thursday morning tweet. ‘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,’ the President said.
“The
NSA said in a statement that the ‘NSA will fully cooperate with the special
counsel. We are not in a position to comment further.’ A spokesman for the DNI
declined to comment to CNN.
“Trump
wrote in his letter firing Comey that the ousted FBI director had informed him
on three separate occasions he was not under investigation. The President has
stressed he was not under investigation, and has taken to Twitter to dismiss
the entire investigation as a hoax.
“The
report that Trump himself is being scrutinized for obstruction of justice
served to undercut Trump's claims. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who
appointed Mueller, hinted broadly that the special counsel investigation could
be looking at Trump during a House committee hearing on Tuesday. When asked
about a letter he wrote recommending firing Comey, Rosenstein said that Mueller
could be looking into the decision-making process for the firing -- and he was
therefore ‘not at liberty to talk about that now.’
“Mueller
has been tasked with leading the executive branch's investigation into Russian
interference in the 2016 election and any potential collusion between Russia
and Trump associates.
“Mueller
met with Sens. Richard Burr and Mark Warner, the Republican and Democratic
leadership of the Senate intelligence committee Wednesday. Comey testified
before the Senate intelligence committee last week and confirmed that he gave
Mueller the memos he wrote detailing his interactions with Trump ahead of his
firing. In one memo, Comey said Trump tried to direct him to drop an
investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey said
he believed Mueller would look into Trump for obstruction of justice.
“‘I
don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation I had with the President
was an effort to obstruct,’ Comey said. ‘I took it as a very disturbing thing,
very concerning, but that's a conclusion I'm sure the special counsel will work
towards, to try and understand what the intention was there, and whether that's
an offense.’
“Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, wrote a
letter to Chairman Chuck Grassley calling for the judiciary committee to
establish its own investigation into obstruction of justice. Grassley on
Tuesday stopped short of ruling out establishing a congressional investigation
into the question of whether Trump obstructed justice.”
CNN's Jim Acosta, Tom
LoBianco and Manu Raju contributed to this report.
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