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Trump Lashes Out as Mueller Investigation Hits Close to Home

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Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election has gotten one step closer to President Donald Trump.

On April 9, Trump's private lawyer, Michael Cohen, was the subject of an FBI raid in which Mueller's team confiscated private information and documents including Cohen's computer, phone, and financial records. The search of Cohen's personal information is widely being seen as further proof that Mueller's investigation is closing in on the president. Seen as a "keeper of [Trump's] secrets," Cohen is involved in everything from the president's personal finances to business decisions - including ties to the potentially illegal payoff of porn actress and Trump mistress Stormy Daniels, who he supposedly threatened and has attempted to sue into silence.

While all this was going down, news broke that Mueller was simultaneously honing in on another individual, a Ukrainian steel magnate who paid then political hopeful Donald Trump a $150,000 donation for a 20 minute video appearance made in September 2015 to "promote strengthened and enduring ties between Ukraine and the West." The payment is unusual for many reasons, but primarily because it could be seen as buying influence from abroad and was the now-president's first attempt at global politics.

The response to these happenings - particularly around Cohen - have been poorly received by Trump, who addressed the developments with finger pointing and shrugs. The president spent much of the afternoon following the raid watching television before speaking with reporters regarding subjects like the Syrian chemical attacks and being angry with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Naturally, his thoughts about Cohen and Mueller popped up.

"I think it's a disgrace, what's going on," he explained. "I think it's really a sad situation when you look at what happened. And many people have said you should fire [Robert Mueller]. Again, they found nothing and in finding nothing, that's a big statement."

New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman noted that Trump is "angrier than he has been at any point" regarding our current news cycle, but it is still to be determined what effect this will have. Accordingly, Trump continued these incensed thoughts on Twitter the following morning of April 10, nearly a full day after the Cohen raid.

Elsewhere across the country, response to the raid (and Trump's response to the events of the day in question) has been quite partisan. Democratic representatives have emphasized support of the investigation and fury over Trump's actions on Twitter, with everyone from Tennessee Rep. Steven Cohen emphasizing impeachment to Rep. Maxine Waters relating Cohen to Flynn to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse noting the raid is "interesting and unusual." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer emphasized a "personal attack is not an attack on our country" to illustrate support of Mueller while, his counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke about Democrats delaying the confirmation of Trump nominees. While House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi encouraged Mueller to do his job without fear of firing, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said nothing, while Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has been addressing sex trafficking.

All other House and Senate Republicans, writ large, have been quite silent on the issue.



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