What the Trump attorney general said about the investigation in Russia

For more than a year, President Donald Trump has lamented Jeff Sessions' decision to no longer oversee Special Advocate Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's interference during the 2016 campaign.

But after the departure of Sessions from the Justice Department, the president has the opportunity to appoint a prosecutor-general to oversee Mueller's controversial and politically polarized investigation, which Trump regularly calls a "witch hunt".

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Mueller and his team of prosecutors are already drafting a final report, according to several sources, as reported by ABC News this week. However, as Trump's growing list of potential candidates appeared, ABC News took a closer look at what the post pioneers had said about Robert Mueller and his investigation.

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Matthew Whitaker, Acting Attorney General of the United States

Since his appointment as Acting Attorney General earlier this week, Whitaker's criticisms of the Russian investigation have been widely commented upon and reviewed.

A former CNN legal badyst, Matthew Whitaker has publicly and repeatedly expressed concern over Mueller's broad mandate of investigating members of Trump's inner circle and questioning alleged Trump campaigning.

"I have pursued several financial crimes at the federal level and I have also defended many of them in my private practice, and from this unique perspective, I can understand how a motivated prosecutor, in the context of a broad investigation of cases. individuals, can become overzealous about the targets of such probes – with catastrophic results, "wrote Whitaker in an editorial for CNN in August 2017." Although no one is above the law, in In such situations, any experienced prosecutor must exercise discretion wisely and expertly. "

"It is time for Rosenstein, who is Acting Attorney General for the purposes of this inquiry, to order Mueller to limit the scope of his investigation to the four corners of his special advocate's appointment order," Whitaker added. .

In June 2017, less than a month after Mueller's appointment as a special advocate, Whitaker went further in a radio interview with the Wilkow Majority Show.

"The truth is that there was no collusion with the Russians and the Trump campaign," Whitaker told the show.

Whitaker's appointment as Acting Attorney General prompted congressional Democrats at all levels – and even some moderate Republicans – to challenge him because of the oversight of the investigation. These calls have so far been ignored.

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President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani

As the personal advisor to Trump's investigative chair, the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, played a leading role in the investigation of Russia.

Since joining Trump's legal team in April, Giuliani has been a staunch supporter of the besieged president, echoing Trump's description of Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt" and "the most corrupted "he has ever seen. Giuliani repeatedly claimed that there was no collusion.

"All that has been made public up to now shows that the president is absolutely innocent, he has done nothing wrong," Giuliani told Fox and Friends in July.

Giuliani led the charge by calling for the speedy closure of Mueller's investigation.

"If it does not do it here two or three weeks, we will unload it like a ton of bricks," Giuliani said during an interview with Bloomberg News in August. "Write this damn report so we can see it and refute it."

As part of his role on Trump's legal team, Giuliani is contributing to the development of written responses to questions from the Mueller team, sources told ABC News.

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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

As the leading presidential rival and then one of the first supporters and substitutes of the Trump campaign, the former New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, who now contributes to ABC News, has had some ups and downs with the president.

Christie's public praise for Mueller, however, has been consistent.

"Mueller, himself, is not a supporter – he's an honest guy, who works hard," said Christie at a conference at the University of Chicago at the beginning of l & # 39; year. "He is smart and you can not say that the investigation has not been effective so far."

Conversely, Christie began to criticize Trump's repeated attacks on Mueller.

"I gave [Trump] this advice from the beginning: in a survey like this, there is no way to shorten it, but there are many ways to extend it – and to extend it is to keep talking, "said Christie at ABC News. This week "in August. "Just stop talking, just stop."

Christie met Thursday at the White House Trump and his advisers, sources said, during a planned meeting on prison reform with Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner.

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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-C, Should take the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the new Congress. Instead, the Trump confidant emerged as a legitimate candidate to take over at the Department of Justice. For months, Graham has called for the appointment of a second special council to investigate the Justice Department and the FBI.

Graham raised ethical questions about Justice Department representative Bruce Ohr, who had investigated the president while his wife, Nellie Ohr, was working for an opposition research company that had produced a case. controversial about the Trump candidate of the time. Bruce and Nellie Ohr have been called to testify before congressional committees that continue to investigate allegations of bias in the FBI and DOJ.

In August, Graham said at an event organized by the Greenville County Republican Party that he had told the President that he had found "no evidence" of the collusion of Trump with Russia, reported NBC News.

However, Graham has repeatedly advised Trump not to end the investigation, saying the decision would hurt the Republican Party mid-term.

"I told the President this: I promise you that you will be treated fairly – I promise you that the people who put the Clinton inquiry in the tank will also have their day," Graham said. .

On Friday, Graham told CBS affiliate Columbia, WLTX, that he had no interest in being Attorney General and that he was eagerly awaiting support for a "highly qualified substitute" that would be available to him. he expects the president to appoint soon. Graham added that there was no need to worry about Mueller's investigation and that he "would be allowed to finish his job".

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Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi

Bondi, a longtime ally with Trump, has been selected for a position with the Justice Department during the transition, sources told ABC News. And as her tenure as Florida's attorney general ends in January, she may be poised to become the country's next police chief.

Following revelations that former FBI investigator Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page exchanged anti-Trump text messages during the election campaign, Bondi suggested that Mueller's investigation was tainted. partisan reasons.

"[Mueller’s team] Bondi told Fox News' Sean Hannity at the end of 2017. "This team needs to be eliminated."

Strzok was fired from Mueller's team after the SMS was discovered.

At the end of this article on Fox News, Bondi agreed with Hannity's sentiment that Mueller's investigation "would be worse than Watergate".

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Congressman John Ratcliffe

President Trump often relies on House Republicans to defend him at Capitol Hill, and Rep. John Ratcliffe was a loyal infantryman on the front lines.

Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican sitting on the House's Judiciary Committee, did not hide his scruples with Mueller's appointment, often airing them on Fox News and other cable companies.

"Bob Mueller does not run the Justice Department," Ratcliffe told Fox News in May. "He reports to the Deputy Attorney General, not the reverse."

Ratcliffe also questioned Mueller's broad mandate, saying the investigation had "been a bit removed from what Bob Mueller was accused of doing."

Despite his frequent criticism of the special council, Ratcliffe did not call for the removal of Mueller.

"I would not recommend that [Trump] dismiss Bob Mueller as a special counsel, although I was not in favor of appointing a special counsel at that time, "Ratcliffe told CNN in April. Mueller must be allowed to respect the mandate entrusted to him. I hope it's not as broad as it is, but I think at this point the American people have enough confidence in Bob Mueller.

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William Barr, former Attorney General of the United States

The presidents' aides spoke of the idea that the former attorney general will resume his post at the Justice Ministry, sources told ABC News this week.

Although William Barr often wrote about the people involved in the investigation, he remained neutral about the legitimacy of Mueller's investigation.

At one point, Barr disputed the political affiliations of Mueller's team members, reporting to the Washington Post in July 2017 that "prosecutors who make political contributions identify fairly strongly with a political party" .

Barr was referring to reports in the Post that eight Mueller prosecutors had already donated to democrats.