Report: starting to wrap up the obstruction angle

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and President Donald Trump’s legal team are now proceeding with strategies that presume a presidential interview will likely not take place as part of the Russia investigation, after months of talks between the two sides collapsed earlier this week, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

  NBC

Awww. And he so badly wanted to.

What's he got to hide?

On Monday Trump’s lawyers were discussing a possible interview with Mueller's team and had begun to hash out the final sticking points, including the timing, scope and length, according to people familiar with the discussions. One person familiar with the strategy said the president’s lawyers had sought over the weekend to expand his legal team to include individuals who would prepare him for an interview.

So, did they find out that was impossible?

The president’s lawyers wanted any interview to last only a few hours, according to one person familiar with the matter. They also wanted Mueller to agree to write a report within at least three or four months after completing the interview, this person said.

[...]

[T]he prospects for a presidential interview drastically dimmed once the FBI raided the home, office and hotel room of Trump’s long-time personal lawyer, Michael Cohen on Monday, these people said.

Indeed, he couldn't possibly sit through an interview without lying about something that will be in Cohen's documents (and tapes!)

One person familiar with the investigation described a decision on an interview as one of the last steps Mueller was seeking to take before closing his investigation into obstruction.

Now, according to two sources, Mueller’s team may be able to close the obstruction probe more quickly as they will not need to prepare for the interview or follow up on what the president says.

We know Mueller's team isn't leaking, so I wouldn't take any of this without that proverbial grain of salt. But, we can always hope.

White House Counsel Ty Cobb said it was “untrue” that talks had broken down.

He also told Trump the entire investigation would be finished by last Thanksgiving.

Three sources familiar with the investigation said the findings Mueller has collected on Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice include: His intent to fire former FBI Director James Comey; his role in the crafting of a misleading public statement on the nature of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son and Russians; Trump’s dangling of pardons before grand jury witnesses who might testify against him; and pressuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

That's a pretty good lineup of obstruction.

Mueller would then likely send a confidential report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia investigation. Rosenstein could decide whether to make the report public and send its findings to Congress. From there, Congress would then decide whether to begin impeachment proceedings against the president, said two of the sources.

Maybe this was the subject of Trump's summons of Rosenstein to the White House today.



Will there be an indictment from the Grand Jury tomorrow?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.