Donald Trump is still facing around a dozen legal threats from federal and state prosecutors despite reports Mueller will not be indicting anyone else, reports say.
The end of the probe, which has cast a dark shadow over Trump’s presidency, does not remove the legal peril for the 72-year-old.
In fact, while the closure of the 22-month probe without additional indictments by Mueller was welcome news to some in Trump’s orbit there remained the possibility of indictments already sealed, or that another body such as the Southern District of New York wold bring indictments.
That would see the focus shift from Mueller in Washington to New York.
Retired federal judge John S. Martin Jr. told The New York Times: ‘The important thing to remember is that almost everything Donald Trump did was in the Southern District of New York.
‘He ran his business in the Southern District. He ran his campaign from the Southern District. He came home to New York every night.’
Donald Trump is said to be still facing around ‘a dozen’ legal threats from federal and state prosecutors despite reports Robert Mueller will not be indicting anyone else. Trump was implicated in a potential campaign finance violation by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who says the president asked him to arrange the transactions
Special Councel Robert Mueller, and his wife Ann pictured Sunday after he handed his report to Attorney General William Barr on Friday
United States attorneys’ offices in Brooklyn, the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia are also each said to be handling different strands of inquiry.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, told MSNBC there was a ‘high probability’ that additional indictments happen.
‘I think there is a strong possibility of additional indictments, including president Trump’s family,’ Blumenthal said Friday evening.
‘Maybe not by the Department of Justice, main Justice. But by other offices. I know that you want to stick to the Mueller report. But the Mueller report cannot be viewed in isolation,’ the former prosecutor and Trump nemesis continued.
‘Any more than an investigation, even though it may end, cannot lead to additional investigative leads and actions. And so I think there’s a high probability of additional indictments.’
Trump faces a separate Justice Department investigation in New York into hush money payments during the campaign to two women who say they had sex with him years before the election.
He’s also been implicated in a potential campaign finance violation by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who says Trump asked him to arrange the transactions.
Federal prosecutors, also in New York, have been investigating foreign contributions made to the president’s inaugural committee.
It comes as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said that he believes there will likely be further indictments from Mueller as the full contents of his report are looked at in closer detail.
Schiff suggested he would call the special counsel before a House panel if necessary to learn what is contained in the long-awaited document.
‘If necessary, we will call Bob Mueller or others before our committee, I would imagine the judiciary committee may call the attorney general if necessary,’ the California Democrat said during an interview Friday on CNN.
In another interview with MSNBC, Schiff said that it is entirely likely that more indictments could be forthcoming, saying instead it is ‘entirely possible, if not likely, that there will be’ more.
Cohen claims Trump was aware of hush money he paid Stormy Daniels, pictured, to keep her quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the election and that he signed a $35,000 check that was reimbursement for what Cohen paid her
Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump Roger Stone was arrested in January in a pre-dawn raid on his home in Florida, and is charged with one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering
With Attorney General William Barr vowing to rush out information on the report’s ‘principal conclusions’ as soon as this weekend, Democrats were insisting they see both the complete document and the evidence in its entirety.
Trump told Fox Business Network Friday that his lawyers ‘don’t even know what people are talking about’ with regards to the reports he faces multiple investigations.
He said: ‘I said to my lawyers, ‘Are we being looked at here?’