I'm betting Robert Mueller doesn't give a damn about anything UNLESS it hurts Trump.
Mueller is investigating things that have nothing to do with the election. For example, he is investigating Trump’s 2008 sale of a Palm Beach mansion - a mansion sold to a Russian.
Rosenstein’s order authorizing the Special Counsel, Order 3915-2017, is clear:
“The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017...”
Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017:
“I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”
Comey’s March 20 testimony creates this investigative structure:
Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election
1. nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government
2. any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.
The “nature of any links between individuals and Russia” is subordinate or secondary to investigating Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
The target of Mueller’s investigation is supposed to be the campaign. A real estate sale a decade ago is not connected with the election.
Rosenstein’s order: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/967231/download
Comey’s testimony: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/03/20/full-transcript-fbi-director-james-comey-testifies-on-russian-interference-in-2016-election/
h/t to freeper CBoldt http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3571343/posts
Rosenstein’s authorization to Mueller (Order 3915-2017) cites Comey’s testimony:
“The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James 8. Corney in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017”
Comey clearly stated that the investigation is “part of our counterintelligence mission”:
“I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election...”
Rosenstein’s authorization to Mueller (Order 3915-2017) violates 28 CFR 600.1 which requires that the DOJ transfer a criminal investigation. Special Counsel has no place in a counterintelligence mission.
28 CFR 600 - https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/part-600
Rosenstein improperly transferred a counterintelligence investigation to a special counsel.
Mueller has not confined his investigation to the scope specified in Rosenstein’s improper order.