ZeroHedge.com
After we noted earlier this morning that Trump intended to launch a counteroffensive against an investigation he has frequently referred to as a “witch hunt,” Special Counsel Mueller has just fired back with a request that all White House staff preserve all records related to Donald Trump Jr.’s now infamous June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Apparently he wasn’t deterred.
As usual, today’s latest Trump-Russia revelation came from anonymous sources speaking to CNN:
Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked the White House to preserve all documents relating to the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort had with a Russian lawyer and others, according to a source who has seen the letter.
Mueller sent a notice, called a document preservation request, asking White House staff to save “any subjects discussed in the course of the June 2016 meeting” and also “any decisions made regarding the recent disclosures about the June 2016 meeting,” according to the source, who read portions of the letter to CNN.The letter from Mueller began: “As you are aware the Special Counsel’s office is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Donald Trump. Information concerning the June 2016 meeting between Donald J Trump Jr and Natalia Veselnitskaya is relevant to the investigation.”
The preservation request is broad and includes text messages, emails, notes, voicemails and other communications and documentation regarding the June 2016 meeting and any related communication since then.
As you’re undoubtedly aware by now, the meeting in question was setup through a British publicist who reached out to Trump Jr. with the promise of damaging information from the Russian government about then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Along with Trump Jr. and Veselnitskaya, the meeting attendees included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, among others (see: NBC Reports Former Soviet Intelligence Officer Attended Meeting With Don Jr., But There’s A Catch…).
Meanwhile, this is just the latest in a string of escalations in hostilities between Special Counsel Mueller and the White House which seemed to intensify when Mueller announced that he planned to expand his probe to review Trump’s personal business transactions (see: Mueller Expands Probe Into Trump Business Transactions: Dollar Tumbles, Stocks Slammed).
Of course, we all remember how respectful Hillary Clinton was of federal ‘preservation requests’…