Robert muller, the special prosecutor of the United States "TongRumen"
Recently, robert muller, the US special prosecutor in charge of the investigation of "TongRumen", filed criminal proceedings against two members of Trump's former campaign team, and another member made a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The investigation of "TongRumen" has been comprehensively upgraded.
On the one hand, Mueller's investigation provides the strongest evidence to prove the possible relationship between Trump team and Russia, and also opens a new stage for the ongoing investigation.
Muller's investigation has just entered the initial stage and may drop a blockbuster in the future. Where will the future investigation go? What kind of threat will it pose to Trump? Although Muller did not publicly disclose the direction of future investigation, the media managed to find some clues.
Trump faces legal threats?
Some analysts believe that Mueller's criminal charges may be a relief for Trump. In the indictment against Paul Manafort, former campaign chairman of Trump, and Rick Gates, his long-term business partner, Trump and his campaign team were not mentioned. Georgios papadopoulos, who chose to plead guilty, was just a junior consultant in his team, far away from Trump's inner circle, and many senior officials didn't know him at all.
Still, some people think that the investigation may burn the war to the White House. In fact, Trump may also have such concerns. According to people familiar with the matter, on Monday morning, after the news of criminal charges came out, Trump was uncharacteristically absent from the Oval Office. Instead, he stayed at the White House residence, turned on the TV to watch live reports, studied relevant media comments, legal analysis and crisis communication strategies, and kept calling his lawyer.
However, it is said that Trump's lawyer has assured him that Muller's investigation will not pose a threat to him at present and will eventually prove his innocence. Trump's lawyer Ty Cobb has urged the White House to submit all documents to the prosecution as soon as possible, hoping to end the investigation before the end of this year.
Therefore, so far, Mueller's investigation is safe for Trump.
Can Mueller keep his job?
After the criminal charges against Manafort and Gates were revealed, congressional Democrats quickly demanded that Mueller's investigation be independent and that he and his team be protected, because they were worried that Trump would interfere in the investigation by firing Mueller. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader of the Senate, said that nothing is above the law, and "the president must not interfere with the investigation of the special prosecutor in any way under any circumstances".
In this regard, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the White House has no intention or plan to make any changes to the special prosecutor. Trump's lawyer also insisted that the president had never discussed or considered firing Mueller.
Of course, with the further development of the Mueller investigation, more people in the Trump team may be accused. With the increasing pressure on him, it is not ruled out that Trump will change his mind and try to get rid of Muller.
How will Manafort fight back?
Although the federal investigation searched Mana Ford's house in July and collected other evidence, Mana Ford refused to plead guilty.
According to insiders, Manafort didn't have any useful information for Mueller, but federal investigators didn't give up getting more information from him. The authorities even tried to confiscate his property in new york and Virginia. In addition, the indictment also mentioned the business dealings between Manafort's daughter and son-in-law, but they were not publicly prosecuted.
Some people speculated that Trump might plead for Mana Ford, but this speculation was denied by Trump's lawyer. Jay Sekulow, his lawyer, said in an interview with CNN that Trump and he had never discussed granting amnesty to people under investigation, such as Mana Ford.
But legal experts say that if Trump uses his power to pardon these people to interfere with Mueller's investigation, they don't know what will happen.
What will Papadopoulos bring when he pleads guilty?
As a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, Papadopoulos, 30, provided investigators with details of his contacts with people close to the Russian government. According to court documents, Papadopoulos reported their conversations to campaign leaders and senior officials.
Papadopoulos was interrogated several times after being secretly arrested in July, which means that he may have provided evidence against other respondents. It is said that almost at the same time that Papadopoulos was appointed as a foreign policy adviser, other members of the Trump campaign team also received an olive branch from Russia, and one of them went to Moscow at least twice.
Although Trump called Papadopoulos a "liar" and just a "volunteer", his confession may mean more troubles for the White House and former campaign team members in the future.