Robert Mueller makes striking Trump-Russia move in Federal Court

Opinion by Bill Palmer Updated: 5:27 pm EDT Fri Oct 6, 2017

Major news events have often had a way of leaking out on Friday afternoons in Donald Trump’s Russia scandal, sending news outlets scrambling to cover them over the weekends. Now it turns out we may be about to have yet another interesting weekend, thanks to a striking move that Special Counsel Robert Mueller made today in Federal Court that could send shockwaves through everyone involved in the Trump-Russia scandal.

Here’s how ABC News summed up today’s development in a tweet: “Robert Mueller’s team met behind closed doors today with an unknown group of attorneys & chief judge of a US District Court in DC” (link). This is far from a typical move for a prosecutor, and it points to something significant being afoot. Most likely, it means Mueller was trying to get approval on something so major it required the involvement of the chief judge, and so tide-turning that the other side’s attorneys were desperately trying to prevent it from happening.

It’s worth pointing out that Robert Mueller has pretty much gotten his way on everything thus far in his investigation. For instance, when he asked for a no-knock warrant for Paul Manafort’s house, a judge granted it. This is because Mueller is savvy enough to only ask for things when he knows he has sufficient justification to receive them. So it’s highly likely that he once again got his way today. Considering the stakes involved, this probably involves a high level raid or an indictment.

So now we wait to see what comes next. Frustratingly for the public, many of Robert Mueller’s moves haven’t leaked out until days or weeks after he’s finished going through with them. But this only serves as a reminder that he’s been three steps ahead of the public – and thus three steps ahead of everyone on Donald Trump’s team – all along.