Gerald Herbert/AP Photo law and order How Bob Mueller Bought Himself More Time The special counsel just made it harder for the president to fire him. Maybe that helps explain this weekend’s fusillade of angry tweets from Mar-a-Lago.

Renato Mariotti is a former federal prosecutor and a Democratic candidate for attorney general of Illinois.



On Friday, the Justice Department announced the first-ever indictment of an organized operation by foreign nationals to influence the outcome of a U.S. election. Over the weekend, the indictment spurred intense reactions from President Donald Trump, who complained that the FBI is “spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.”

Like many of Trump’s outbursts, that tweet could be used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to show that Trump had “corrupt” intent, which would be needed to prove obstruction of justice. After all, Trump admits in the tweet that he wants the Russia investigation to end, a desire that appears to be fueled by Friday’s indictment. But was the indictment really bad news for Trump?


The indictment could not have come as much of a surprise. Back in September 2017, I wrote in this publication that the Facebook search warrant obtained by Mueller indicated he was investigating whether “foreign individuals committed a crime by making a ‘contribution’ in connection with an election and that evidence of that crime existed on Facebook.”

As it turned out, Mueller’s indictment was more conservative than expected. He did not charge the foreign interference itself as a crime—the indictment focused on efforts by the Russians to hide their activities from the U.S. government, along with the fraud they engaged in to do so. The indictment also did not allege wrongdoing by Trump’s campaign or his associates, even though it indicates that the Russians supported Trump’s campaign.

But beneath the surface, it makes it harder for the president to undermine the Mueller investigation, which as I’ve explained elsewhere, is his best strategy. Friday’s indictment established that Mueller gathered substantial evidence establishing a Russian scheme to influence our election. When he announced the indictment, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was careful to state that “there is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity” and “there is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”

This careful approach makes it harder for Trump and his allies to attack Mueller’s investigation as a waste of time, a hoax, or a “witch hunt.” On its face, this indictment and its announcement was not aimed at Trump and reached a nonpartisan conclusion, which is why Trump initially quoted Rosenstein’s announcement in a tweet. It is now harder for Trump to claim that Rosenstein and Mueller are out of control.

But while the indictment undercuts Trump’s arguments against the investigation, it does not reduce the potential liability of Trump or his associates. Mueller could still charge Americans in a future indictment with aiding and abetting the Russian operation if they knew of the criminal activity and helped make it succeed. Nothing in Friday’s indictment forecloses that possibility, and one American, Richard Pinedo, has already pleaded guilty to helping the Russians to fraudulently obtain U.S. bank accounts.

Based on what we know publicly, Trump’s greatest legal liability appears to be for obstruction of justice—not for aiding the Russians. As I’ve explained in this publication, it appears likely that Mueller will conclude Trump obstructed justice, yet at this time there is not sufficient public evidence to prove that Trump or his close associates aided a Russian operation.

Time will tell whether Mueller can prove that anyone associated with the Trump campaign assisted the Russian operation. Friday’s indictment suggests that charges would involve knowledge of the Russian attempts to hide their tracks, not the Russian influence operation itself. But the lasting legacy of Friday’s indictment may be its impact on Trump and on opinion within the Republican Party, either by buying time and space for Mueller to continue investigating obstruction or by generating more evidence (like this weekend’s tweets) that aid Mueller's investigation.

