Free Republic

Millions of Americans are waiting for Robert Mueller to give them the final word on whether the Trump campaign conspired with the 2016 Russian election interference effort — and whether their president is under the influence of a foreign adversary. Millions of Americans may be sorely disappointed.

RUSH: We had a caller that I didn’t have time for, wanted to know why don’t we ever see Robert Mueller? We don’t see anybody in that office. And the media doesn’t try to track ’em down. They are protected like you can’t believe. The media’s not gonna do one thing to discredit those - I have heard of that Mueller is not even really running the show now that Weissmann is. I’ve actually heard more than that, but I can’t confirm so I don’t want to say any more than that. Not that he’s gone, but that he checked...

A former federal prosecutor has emerged as special counsel Robert Mueller’s most persistent courtroom critic. It’s not Rudy Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and now President Trump’s ubiquitous defender, or any of cable TV’s prosecutors-turned-pundits. He is Eric A. Dubelier, a litigator for the Reed Smith law firm who knows international law and the D.C. playing field. He served eight years prosecuting cases as a Justice Department assistant U.S. attorney in Washington. He refers to his former employer as “the real Justice Department,” implying that Mr. Mueller’s team is something less. His biting remarks have come in months of court...

Still Winning This week the President signed a new trade deal with Mexico, Canada, and Argentina, a deal far more favorable to our interests than the now discarded NAFTA deal. In the same time frame, our master negotiator hosted the first trilateral meeting with Japan and India, which should also boost the economy and which includes defense and military purchases. Merry Christmas, Xi. Comey: Still a Loser On the home front, Mueller and Comey keep looking worse and worse. Previously, former FBI Director James Comey refused to answer 100 questions when he testified before Congress because the hearings were public....

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Thursday that the guilty plea by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen should be the final straw that pushes Congress to vote on legislation to protect the special counsel probe from being ended. Mr. Cohen’s plea included the claim that President Trump’s personal business empire was trying to strike business deals with Russia even during the heart of the 2016 campaign — contradicting Mr. Trump’s own indications of how things played out. ~snip~ Democrats and some Republicans have been fearful Mr. Trump would attempt to fire Mr. Mueller. They’re seeking to approve legislation that...

President Trump on Sunday said he is giving acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker free rein over special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, including limiting or shutting down the investigation. “It’s going to be up to him,” Mr. Trump said in an interview aired on Fox News Sunday.” “I wouldn’t get involved.”

California Democratic Party leaders took a step to the left Saturday night, endorsing liberal state lawmaker Kevin de León for Senate in a stinging rebuke of Democratic icon Sen. Dianne Feinstein. De León’s victory reflected the increasing strength of the state party’s liberal activist core, which was energized by the election of Republican President Trump. The endorsement was an embarrassment for Feinstein, who is running for a fifth full term, and indicates that Democratic activists in California have soured on her reputation for pragmatism and deference to bipartisanship as Trump and a Republican-led Congress are attacking Democratic priorities on immigration,...

A group of Democrats, possibly legislative aides, on Thursday held up large photos of the five individuals who have pleaded guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion probe during FBI agent Peter Strzok’s testimony.

full title - Rod Rosenstein’s Right-Hand-Man Who Oversees Mueller Probe Abruptly Resigning from Justice Department The Justice Department’s senior-most career attorney, Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools, is planning to step down for a job in the private sector, according to a source familiar with the matter. Schools works under Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and has had a significant role helping manage special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. NPR previously reported his departure. As the highest-ranking career official, Schools has served as a key adviser on many sensitive matters within the department, including the firing of former FBI Deputy...

Actor Alec Baldwin has issued a political video for the Mic news site, urging supporters to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Russian collusion in the 2016 election. Baldwin, who frequently parodies President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, did the video for Mic, a liberal web site, which billed it as “opinion. In the video, Baldwin claims the Mueller investigation is under fire and touts activism as the cure to stop it from being shut down. “We need your help to stop Trump,” says one of the images. In the video, Baldwin claims, “There is mounting evidence...

Rudy Giuliani said Friday that the White House wants a classified briefing with the details shared with lawmakers this week on the origin of the FBI's Russia investigation, and hopes to use that information to justify ending Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation. In an interview with The Associated Press, the former New York City mayor said that the White House wants a readout of the information presented to lawmakers, particularly on the FBI's use of Stefan Halper, an informant who contacted several members of the Trump campaign. “If the spying was inappropriate, that means we may have an entirely illegitimate...

Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a combative former prosecutor and longtime ally of President Trump, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he has joined the president’s legal team dealing with the ongoing special counsel probe. “I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani said in an interview. Giuliani, who joins a legal team that has struggled to recruit new members to its ranks, said he has been speaking with Trump for weeks...

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden ripped Facebook in a tweet Saturday after the social media giant suspended Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm which worked worked for President Trump’s campaign. Facebook accused the firm on Friday of not deleting data it had improperly harvested from Facebook users, which number in the tens of millions, but Snowden pinned the blame squarely on Facebook and lumped in other social media companies for being just as reckless. "Businesses that make money by collecting and selling detailed records of private lives were once plainly described as 'surveillance companies,'" Snowden said. "Their rebranding...