They know when to hold ’em — and when to fold ’em.
President Donald Trump has derided the team Robert Mueller had assembled to probe Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election as “angry Democrats” operating a corrupt “witch hunt,” but the group has a stellar track record of rooting out corruption — and of walking away when they don’t have enough to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“It’s probably one of the most impressive groups ever assembled for a special counsel investigation,” Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told NBC News. “You’ve got a collective of prosecutors who’ve covered some of the most high-profile and complex investigations in the last 20 years.”
Since Mueller’s appointment as special counsel in May 2017, at least 18 prosecutors and lawyers have worked on the inquiry, which is tasked with investigating “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” and any matters that “may arise directly from the investigation.” The probe resulted in 34 people and three companies being criminally charged, and there have been seven guilty pleas and one trial conviction.