this argument doesn't fly -
The fact that we haven’t heard of dozens of new IRS and FBI investigators requesting office space, moving into the Trump Organizations offices, and requesting copies of all their records is a solid indication this is not happening. There’s no way that kind of investigation could be kept secret.
The government (both NY state and the feds) has records about Drumpf and his family going back at least 4 decades and info has already been provided as the agencies have been working together since the original FBI investigation back a year ago before Mueller was named, and has recently obtained records from Drumpf "associates" (my term) -
IRS Gives Trump Staff Financials to Mueller's Russia Investigation
By John Patrick Pullen September 26, 2017
The IRS has given Special Counsel Robert Mueller financial information for members of the Trump presidential campaign and administration. The documents may include tax returns and supporting information such as real estate or banking records, reports CNN.
The disclosure of the IRS’s cooperation with the special counsel investigation comes after it was recently revealed that Mueller’s investigators have locked in on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has extensive financial ties to Russia, and even allegedly offered to privately brief a friend of Putin’s in July 2016.
It’s not clear exactly whose records the special counsel was given, reports CNN, which notes that IRS Criminal Investigation agents have been working alongside the FBI on a Manafort probe since before the election. They are also sharing information on former Trump administration national security advisor Michael Flynn with Mueller’s team. Flynn’s finances have raised suspicions after it was revealed he received money from Russian interests before the campaign.
CNN also notes that the special counsel investigators may have requested President Trump’s tax returns, but if they did the request would have likely needed to be signed off on by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Normally that approval would be the responsibility of the attorney general, but Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the investigation over the role he played in the 2016 presidential election.
http://fortune.com/2017/09/26/irs-trump-mueller-russia/
<...>
Like a U.S. attorney’s office, Mueller has the power to reach across Justice, the FBI and other federal departments to solicit issue experts on everything from cybersecurity to counterintelligence. He’s getting help from financial record and tax specialists at the Treasury Department and IRS, as evidenced by the indictment charging Manafort and Gates with 12 criminal counts, including money laundering and failing to disclose overseas bank accounts.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/13/robert-mueller-russia-probe-organization-244789Your argument is basically suggesting that they are wrapping it up but he is just getting started. There is a pretty obvious strategy going on as the noose tightens and more "unknown" folks suddenly bubble in and provide info that doesn't make the news until other shoes suddenly drop and hit the airwaves.
Keep an eye on NY AG Schniederman (and Preet Bharara who works for him now) -
<...>
How far Mr. Schneiderman is willing to go in taking on Mr. Trump could define his political career, particularly in a blue state where disapproval of the president is high. The potential of the attorney general’s office for troublemaking and generating national headlines was redefined in the early 2000s by Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Schneiderman is a less combative man who was often the target of Mr. Trump’s Twitter wrath amid a three-year civil investigation into Trump University. In the end, Mr. Schneiderman’s office extracted a $25 million settlement in the case.
Nonetheless, Mr. Schneiderman is seen by some as a possible backstop should the president exercise his pardon power to help those who might become ensnared in the investigation of possible Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election being led by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. Federal pardons do not apply to violations of state law.
In the interview, Mr. Schneiderman would say little about his potential role as a criminal prosecutor in relation to the Trump administration, except that he hoped it would not come to that. Earlier this year, Mr. Schneiderman began a criminal inquiry focused on allegations of money laundering by Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman. But his office stood down, at least temporarily, out of deference to the special counsel’s inquiry; the offices did not work together, his staff said.
“I have a lot of respect for the work the special counsel’s doing,” he said. “They’ve put together a terrific team.” He added: “Just watching it from the outside, like everybody else, it seems like they’re doing a very thorough and serious job. I hope there’s not going to be any effort to derail them or shut them down. “If that happens, we’ll do — as I think would be a genuine sentiment around the country — we’ll do whatever we can do to see that justice is done. But I hope we don’t have to face a problem like that.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/nyregion/eric-schneiderman-attorney-general-new-york.htmlI expect that the main focus on Drumpf himself is obstruction of justice, but the financials (including those from his family) are leading to the other crimes and teasing out/revealing those "crimes" can provide a "motive" for any "collusion" and what could amount to "influence peddling".
= new reply since forum marked as read
You are making a leap to assume Mueller's team is basically nothing but a bunch of Keystone cops.
