slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Natasha Bertrand, Business Insider

President Donald Trump told the New York Times that he felt it would cross a line if special counsel Robert Mueller began to examine his business dealings as part of the probe into possible collusion between his campaign team and Russia.

"I think that's a violation," Trump said. "Look, this is about Russia."

In appointing Mueller, however, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave him broad authority not only to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with Trump's campaign, but also to examine "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

Rosenstein also gave Mueller the power to investigate "any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a)" - including perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses.

The mandate's scope is similar to that given by then-Acting Attorney General James Comey to special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in 2003 to investigate who leaked the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Trump has reportedly grown irritated with the follow-the-money approach Mueller has taken to the investigation. But it is easy to imagine why Trump's loans, debts, and business empire - which has benefited from money flowing out of Russia - would warrant Mueller's scrutiny as he tries to trace the origins of Russia's interest in the Trump campaign and determine whether Moscow holds any leverage over Trump or his associates.

"If we got a report that Mueller was investigating, say, the Trump University fraud case, that would signal that this is a roaming investigation with an axe to grind," said Andy Wright, a constitutional law expert and professor at Savannah Law School. "But everything we've seen so far in terms of what Mueller is looking at has had a nexus to the Russia investigation.".

According to Bloomberg, the FBI is examining Russian purchases of Trump properties, Trump's relationship with a real estate company co-founded by a Russian-American businessman (who stands accused of using the firm to commit fraud), and Trump's sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008.

His negotiations to bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013 - and his meeting with a group of Russian oligarchs while he was there - are also under scrutiny, along with the Trump family's bank of choice, Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche Bank was fined earlier this year as part of a Russian money-laundering scheme that involved its Moscow, New York, and London branches. The bank refused in June to hand over documents requested by five Democratic lawmakers related to the bank's relationship with Trump, citing the confidentiality of nonpublic customer information. But the FBI is likely to get ahold of them.

Wright noted that if Mueller wanted to stray widely outside the bounds of the Russia investigation - as Kenneth Starr did with the Whitewater investigation, which eventually turned into a probe of former President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky - he would have to go back and ask Rosenstein to authorize an expansion of the original mandate.

"If the president has objections, he has to raise it with Rosenstein showing chapter and verse why the nexus isn't met" with regard to the path of Mueller's investigation, Wright said.

Mueller has shown no signs of veering outside the terms of his appointment, said Asha Rangappa, an associate dean at Yale Law School and former FBI special agent. But even if Mueller came across something potentially criminal that was beyond his scope, "it's not like he can just walk away from it."

"He would have to hand it off to Wray and the rest of the FBI," Rangappa said, referring to Comey's prospective replacement Christopher Wray. "They can't just ignore these things."

Trump has reportedly become so disturbed by the path Mueller's investigation seems to be going down that he and his legal team are searching for ways to discredit and possibly fire him.

But experts say there is no evidence that Mueller has engaged in any inappropriate behavior that would warrant his removal. And while Trump could order Mueller's dismissal, he could not fire him directly unless he ordered the repeal of the special-counsel regulations adopted in 1999, according to Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general who helped draft them.

That would be an "extravagant" move, Katyal wrote in May. But Matt Miller, a Justice Department spokesman under President Barack Obama, said he realized after Trump fired Comey that "we all need to expand our imagination about what [Trump] might do to stop this investigation."
"I think it's clear that he will not let this investigation run its natural course without interfering in some fashion, and that is going to provoke a massive crisis for his presidency and the country," Miller said. "These leaks are probably the product of a lot of things, but one of them is Trump testing the boundaries of what he can get away with."

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

Special Council Powers are indeed wide reaching and don't have to stay in the scope of the original investigation. They can and will turn this investigation into a fishing expedition if they don't find any Trump/Russian collusion. Washington D.C. doesn't like to spend millions of tax payer dollars out in the open and get no results. When you hire a very prejudiced and highly partisan investigative team led by a Prosecutor whom by law must recuse himself you know they will find something. They have to justify the dog and pony show. The congressional Republicans need to call on Mueller to recuse himself or inforce their own rule. The law governing the special counsel (28 CFR 600.7) specifically prohibits him from serving if he has a conflict of interest in the case. The rule has been interpreted to mean that even the appearance of a conflict is sufficient for disqualification. Mueller and Comey's relationship certainly qualifies. Comey has described Mueller as his mentor.

A conflict of interest is a situation in which an individual has competing interests or loyalties. The conflict itself creates a clash between that individual’s self-interest or bias and his professional or public interest. It calls into question whether he can discharge his responsibilities in a fair, objective and impartial manner.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Trumps main concern may be exposing the fact that he was not actually rich - until AFTER the e******n. I could own a million dollars worth of property, but if they are leveraged at 150%, I am broke and owe a hell of a lot of money.

For all of Trumps claim that he was "self financing" his campaign, he was not, as he borrowed money against his holdings, then paid himself back out of campaign funds, charging interest and exorbitant fees to his campaign. Example: after winning the GOP nomination - he tripled the rent he was charging his campaign for Trump tower space. In addition, after his inauguration, he raised the rent he charged the US Treasury for his Penthouse ( where his family stayed ), another floor for the First Lady's staff, and another floor for secret service. He claims tobethe greatest negotiator the world has ever seen, but when negotiating rent for the US Government - he was a total pushover.

vernon

Muller has now gone back to 2008 and now he is going to the grand jury for for what.I have to think after hiring all the demorat lawyers
and clinton supporters he is doing a demorat attack just to stir confusion and trying to make trump fail.the sick part of this is the ex poser
of the so called party of the working class are nothing but power grabbing thugs.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

What in the hell does any of that have to do with the Special Prospector?

vernon

Now tell us about the millions Obama has put in foreign banks.the last i heard it was up to 65 million.you guys h**e Trump but can't even look at what obama, (the most corrupt president in history)did.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

This is the definition of a witch hunt. I can't believe a country as great as ours even impanels Grand Juries. Only one other country in the world has them. Liberia. Wow great company. Grand Juries as a matter of Law are inherently unconstitutional. If they find no Russian collusion they will move on to something else until something is found. Whether it be Trump, a friend of his or a family member.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Your observations are reasonable, and I do believe "two wrongs don't make a right." But, your belief that "Washington D.C. doesn't like to spend millions of tax payer dollars out in the open and get no results" didn't seem to matter in the numerous B******i investigations without obtaining their desired results. As a matter of fact, what were those house investigations (after the first, perhaps) but a "very prejudiced and highly partisan investigative team" that didn't justify their "dog and pony show."

As I stated, even though "two wrongs don't make a right," perhaps both the B******i investigations and the Mueller probe were/are partisan witch-hunts. I, for one, would like to see such nonsense stop...right after Mueller completes his. Neither of us believe that is going to happen.

archie bunker Loc: Texas

Oh, they'll find something on someone alright. Someone's head needs to roll to satisfy the witch burners. We've seen it before.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Arch, I am envisioning AuntiE breaking out her lopping blades.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

I do disagree about the B******i investigation. Americans died. Including an Ambassador. We should know, what they were doing there in the first place and why no help was forth coming when help was hours away and the battle lasted all day. I believe the reason we didn't get any public answers is there were people on both sides of the aisle involved in this fiasco. I would like to know why the administration lied about the video.
What was their purpose. As far as what was obtained from the B******i investigation and disseminated to the public you are correct,
a waste of money.

archie bunker Loc: Texas

Or her nine iron!

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

It shouldn't have taken nine (?) investigations leading to the same inconclusive results to finally accept the insanity of it all.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

Shouldn't have. Shows the level of CYA mode the politicians were in.

pafret Loc: Northeast

The video was a red herring to cover the asses of those who knew the dangers in advance (H. Clinton & Obama) and took no steps to protect our people on the ground. I would prefer to know why Hillary did not respond to the early morning calls for help and who shut off the rescue teams with the stand down order. It definitely smells like a pre-manufactured incident and the intent was that they should die as an excuse for some other atrocity.