Trump launches Twitter rant against Mueller. Does that hurt Christie's chances at AG?

Charles Stile | Trenton Bureau

If you haven't noticed by now, President Donald Trump really, really hates Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible Russian collusion with his 2016 presidential campaign.

But Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, really likes Mueller. Christie could be a prime candidate for president of the Robert Mueller fan club.

"I always found Bob Mueller to be a person of integrity and honesty and hard worker and he deserves great credit for the fact that there has been absolutely no leaking out of that operation," Christie said Wednesday after an appearance at the New Jersey League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City.

And why is this difference in opinion significant? It's because Christie's name has been floated as a short-list candidate for Trump's next attorney general. Trump fired Jeff Sessions last week, a day after the midterm elections, reportedly furious that Sessions removed himself from oversight of Mueller's probe.

Now, the speculation goes, Trump would want someone who will supervise the probe, possibly micromanage it or shut it down altogether before Congress and the public gets to see its potentially damning findings.

If Trump plans to pursue this Nixonian strategy, then why would he install a fan of Mueller, like Christie, whose admiration of Mueller stems from their work together in the early 2000s at the Justice Department?

"I have no idea," Christie said when asked if his praise of Mueller will be a disqualifier.

If anybody needed any reminding of his deep-seated disgust toward Mueller, Trump fired off a tweet tirade Thursday morning. "My job is to tell the truth and answer them as I know it and believe it."

But the problem is that Christie's "truth" about Mueller is at sharp variance from Trump's view, which he underscored in a volcanic tweet tirade Thursday morning.

The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018

....care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018

The only “Collusion” is that of the Democrats with Russia and many others. Why didn’t the FBI take the Server from the DNC? They still don’t have it. Check out how biased Facebook, Google and Twitter are in favor of the Democrats. That’s the real Collusion! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018

The tweets rehashed the same argument Trump and his allies have made for months. Yet Trump's argument, flavored with a heavy dose of conspiracy theory paranoia, came after Trump met with his personal lawyers in private meetings to draft answers to questions posed by Mueller's team, according to published reports.

Trump has viewed the Mueller probe as a public relations nightmare and a threat to his legitimacy as president. He wants it to go away, a sentiment underscored last week when he assigned Matthew Whittaker, a pro-Trump attack dog who has expressed hostility to the Mueller investigation, as acting attorney general. "The truth is there was no collusion with the Russians and the Trump campaign,” Whitaker said in June 2017.

Given that backdrop, how could Trump possibly choose Christie, who praised the success of Mueller's investigation at a University of Chicago event last May and called him "effective?"

It may be hard to see, but it's worth noting that Christie has reportedly maintained strong, back-channel relations with the president despite offering some blunt advice — and offering it in public.

Related: Under pressure over Russia probe, Donald Trump attacks special counsel Robert Mueller

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Christie has strongly recommended that Trump not sit down with Mueller for an interview, warning that his "hyperbolic" statements might get him into legal trouble. And on television Christie has warned Trump's legal and political difficulties will multiply if he cancels the Mueller probe.

That's blunt strategic advice and perhaps it may not be the kind that Trump wants to hear. But then again, if that were the case, then Trump might have shut down access to Christie. But apparently, he hasn't. Perhaps, he has come to rely on Christie's advice.

Another argument in Christie's favor is that perhaps Trump wants someone in the attorney general's post who could establish a cooperative, respectful relationship with Mueller that could come in handy as the investigation concludes. It's a a point that Christie's longtime confidante Bill Palatucci advanced last week. Christie worked with Mueller as FBI director during his tenure as United States attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008.

But given Trump's latest tirade, it seems hard to believe that he's eager to find any accommodation with Mueller. The tweets put the bull's-eye on Muller's back. And it's hard to see how Trump would hire someone like Christie to carry out the chore of firing Mueller — something that Christie has publicly opposed.