All eyes on Mueller, Trump as Russia probe charges expected: reports

WASHINGTON — Will today be the day that the simmering investigation into Russian meddling into the presidential election comes to a boil?

President Donald Trump expressed renewed frustration Sunday over the investigations into alleged ties between his campaign associates and Russian government officials, saying on Twitter that the “facts are pouring out” about links to Russia by his former presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. “DO SOMETHING!” Trump urged in one of five tweets.

Trump’s tweets followed a CNN report late Friday that a federal grand jury in Washington has approved the first charges in a criminal investigation into Russia ties led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

CBS News on Monday morning was reporting that it, too, had confirmed with multiple sources that a federal grand jury has approved charges in connection with the Russia investigation and that a sealed indictment is expected to be made public sometime today.

Trump and the White House insist there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia. Both have pointed a finger at Clinton and have suggested that the real story of collusion with Russia is the sale of uranium to Moscow when Clinton was secretary of state.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered with the election to benefit Trump, a finding that Trump has not fully accepted. Mueller and Congress are investigating.

In the tweets, Trump referenced the fact that Clinton’s presidential campaign helped fund political research into Trump that ultimately produced a dossier of allegations about his ties to Russia. He also pointed to the uranium sale, the tens of thousands of emails from Clinton’s time at the State Department that she later deleted from a private email server, and the decision by then-FBI Director Jim Comey to not bring criminal charges against Clinton for possible mishandling of classified information.

“Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia ‘collusion,’ which doesn’t exist. The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s are now fighting back like never before,” Trump says across several tweets. “There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”

In a final tweet on the subject, Trump suggests that Russia’s re-emergence into the conversation is no accident.

“All of this ‘Russia’ talk right when the Republicans are making their big push for historic Tax Cuts & Reform. Is this coincidental? NOT!”

On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers are scheduled to release their and Trump’s tax-cut bill.

Among those who have been under investigation are former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, whose Virginia home was raided by the FBI in July.

Mueller has used grand juries in Virginia and Washington, D.C. to advance a wide-ranging inquiry into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow during the election. He took over the probe after Trump in May fired FBI Director Comey, who started it in July 2016. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, declined to comment on Friday.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said any leaks from the special counsel’s office regarding the grand jury could be a criminal violation.

“We’ve got to make sure that the grand jury process remains confidential, remains secret, so that the special counsel can work effectively,” Christie said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, agreed. “It is kind of ironic that the people in charge of investigating the law and executing the law would violate the law,” Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Make no mistake, disclosing grand jury material is a violation of the law,” he continued.

Mueller is also investigating possible obstruction of justice.

Trump has said the Russia investigation was on his mind when he made the decision to fire Comey, and the former FBI director has publicly testified that the president pressed him to drop the probe into Flynn. The former national security adviser was fired after misleading Vice President Pence about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump took office.

Preet Bharara, the Manhattan federal prosecutor Trump fired in March, said on CNN that people should watch not only what Mueller does this week but how Trump responds.

Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s former adviser who left the White House in August, tweeted Friday that if Mueller’s team “executes warrants this weekend he should stripped of his authority by @realDonaldTrump. Then HE should be investigated.”

Yet Bharara said talk among conservatives that Mueller should be removed was just “noise and politics.” The special counsel, he predicted, is “here to stay for a while.”

And Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said on CNN that Mueller’s first charges will be “really just the beginning.”

Republicans in Congress also appeared worried Sunday that Mueller’s investigation could detract from their plans to cut taxes and advance the party’s stalled agenda.

“We’ve got a short window of time to deliver on tax reform,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a frequent critic of the president, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Any news this week on Trump-Russia indictments, Corker said, “obviously … will take up some space.”