When the special counsel was first appointed its purported purpose was to investigate Russia’s interference in the election and any possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Now, as expected, the probe has expanded well beyond the empty Russian collusion conspiracy and is looking at other actions, specifically the firing of James Comey. This raises questions that weren’t fully delved into when Robert Mueller was initially appointed. He is a long time friend of James Comey, raising a serious conflict of interest. Following Comey’s testimony, there have been questions raised about the legality of his leaking and the accuracy of his testimony. Even if these are settled in Comey’s favor, their relationship clouds the conclusion. This of course assumes that these concerns are actually investigated. Comey testified that he leaked the memos in response to Trump’s tweet, which is consistent with the story’s date of publish about the memos. However, days earlier the same author wrote a piece about the one on one dinner between Trump and Comey with specific quotes that could only be known to them. The information was certainly contained in the memo about the dinner and the story attributes the information to Comey’s associates. In other words, his memo was leaked days prior to his testified justification, but Comey hides behind the fact that he didn’t leak the existence of a ‘memo’. Memos he said he had never kept before, a proven falsehood.

When a major witness or possible subject of an investigation holds a close personal relationship to the investigator, a recusal is in order. By expanding the probe to look at the firing of his good friend, Robert Mueller has opened the door to questions about his ability to be impartial. These are compounded by Comey’s testimony that he leaked in order to get a special counsel appointed. If Mueller refuses to investigate the veracity of Comey’s testimony, there will be well founded disparagement of the entire process. After all, who wouldn’t want a good friend to start an investigation, on your word alone, into the guy who just fired you.

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