Trump keeps playing nice with Mueller, for now
The president, who's threatened to fire the special counsel, has been encouraged by his lawyers to cooperate with the Russia probe — but some former advisers are saying it's time to fight back.
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN 12/02/2017 06:45 AM EST
President Donald Trump’s lawyers have been counseling him since this past summer to play nice with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Cooperation with the Russia probe, the president’s attorneys have argued, is the best path to the exoneration Trump has craved all year – a way not just to get things over with quickly, but also to signal to prosecutors that the administration has good intentions and nothing to hide.
Now, as Mueller’s probe moves deeper into the president’s inner circle, some of Trump’s longtime advisers are urging him to stick with the approach outlined by White House lawyer Ty Cobb.
“Take a deep breath, follow Ty Cobb’s lead, trust the process,” said former Trump legal spokesman Mark Corallo. “Antagonizing prosecutors is never a good idea. This is not arbitration. This is not mergers and acquisitions. This is not real estate law. This is criminal law. Prosecutors can do things with their almost unlimited resources, time and authority.”
Trump, who has specifically been advised to avoid targeting Mueller on Twitter, kept quiet about the special counsel Friday even as his former White House national security adviser, Michael Flynn, entered a guilty plea for lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian’s former ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition last December—and has agreed to cooperate in Mueller’s investigation.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/02/trump-mueller-probe-strategy-275982
