I see zero chance of that. The charge read:
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, including:(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump;
The way Mueller and Rosenstein took that charge, the first prong is "individuals associated with the campaign," followed by some connection, at any time, with Russia.
I think that is a misread or misapplication or reversal of the intended order of investigation. The way i see it, the first prong is connection between the campaign and Russia.
To put it in another form, Mueller should be handling --only-- what Sessions is recused from. Sessions is recused from investigating the campaign. But he is not recused from investigating or prosecuting Manafort or Gates for earlier tax or FARA violations, and he (Sessions) is not recused from investigating and prosecuting 13 Russian trolls.
Of course Mueller should be able to prosecute process crimes if he is lied to or deliberately misled on his mission of investigating the campaign.
As for the motive for Rosenstein to put the misread of the charge into writing, addressed to Mueller - I see it as to facilitate Mueller's prosecution of Manafort and Gates. Timing fits perfect for that. The "scope clarification" letter to Mueller has zero helpful value in the context of FISA applications.
Sundance never mentions the motions in the Manafort case, which is where this "scope clarification" memorandum surfaced. I don;t blame him, there is much going on. But I don't buy the reasoning or speculation he offers in this article.
Yes, but as I recall, either point (ii) or (iii) authorized him to investigate anything that came up as a part of his investigation into point (i). In other words, it was a very open ended investigative charge.
The new charge letter, as indicated by the last paragraph, limited that charge and required Mueller to clear any other avenues with Rosenstein before pursuing them.
He already had the authorization to investigate Manafort and Gates, as indicated by the fact he was already doing so. But the new letter, unless one of the redacted items dealt with the FISA court, would have restricted him from getting into the FISA matter, which would make sense since Horowitz and associated prosecutors are assigned to that.