Exclusive: Mueller asks WH staff to preserve all documents relating to June 2016 meeting

[herding cats]

Source: CNN

Exclusive: Mueller asks WH staff to preserve all documents relating to June 2016 meeting

By Dana Bash, CNN
Updated 11:00 AM ET, Fri July 21, 2017
WaPo, NYT: Trump legal team trying to undercut Mueller

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Mueller sent a notice, called a document preservation request, to White House staff
Request includes text messages, emails, notes, voicemails and other communications

(CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked the White House to preserve all documents relating to the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort had with a Russian lawyer and others, according to a source who has seen the letter.

Mueller sent a notice, called a document preservation request, asking White House staff to save "any subjects discussed in the course of the June 2016 meeting" and also "any decisions made regarding the recent disclosures about the June 2016 meeting," according to the source, who read portions of the letter to CNN.
The letter from Mueller began: "As you are aware the Special Counsel's office is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Donald Trump. Information concerning the June 2016 meeting between Donald J Trump Jr and Natalia Veselnitskaya is relevant to the investigation."

The preservation request is broad and includes text messages, emails, notes, voicemails and other communications and documentation regarding the June 2016 meeting and any related communication since then.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/21/politics/robert-mueller-russia-investigation-trump-tower-meeting/index.html

[Bayard]

1. "Asking" them for anthing is useless

They don't respect that. Probably long gone already.

[bearsfootball516]

2. That's what I was thinking.

If anything, this will just make the White House burn any documents that they have on it.

[defacto7]

9. And if it becomes necessary

they'll burn the White House down. They'll stop at nothing while it's run by the mob. They need no scruples or honor, just an alibi and the words "prove it".

Oh, and the words, "I pardon thee".

[Xipe Totec]

5. It's just a formality. Like asking a perp to lift his chin up for the mug shot. nt

[Hekate]

25. That kind of request is an order, in legal terms. Anything they do or have done becomes ...

...destruction of evidence hereon.

[Cracklin Charlie]

33. "Asking" likely means Special Counsel already has them.

Now he looks to see what is missing from Trump's documents.

[DK504]

3. I am sure they have already burned those notes.

If they are not able to produce the documents all of them can be charged with obstruction. I wonder if the WH 'counsel' understands that little tidbit.

[riversedge]

4. yes. My first thought was--Mueller is only doing this now?? The article does not say when the

memo was sent (I read the article and may have missed it)

[mobeau69]

6. This part's good...

"CNN reported last week that the White House scramble to respond to revelations about Donald Trump Jr.'s emails may have exposed the aides involved to special counsel scrutiny about what they learned about that meeting."

[Achilleaze]

7. republican aides who failed to report republican treason to authorities

are also guilty of betraying the United States of America.

Lock the traitors up.

[moda253]

8. Yep

You squeeze from the bottom up.

[defacto7]

11. Pardon me?

Well... pardon them. That's what will happen.

[Catmusicfan]

10. OOOHHHH!!!

[louis-t]

12. Yeah, good luck with that.

Shit's been long gone.

[Chasstev365]

13. Watch; they "lose" all the emails and Gowdy, Chaffetz, and Nunes will say with a straight face:

It's not a big deal; people in government lose things all the time. Now, about Benghazi.....

[Sunlei]

18. trump has said he doesn't email. I don't believe that.

[ReformedGOPer]

19. I don't know

I think his attention span is useful for Tweeting only.

[J_William_Ryan]

14. Trump

doesn't care if the crime of destroying evidence is added to his list of other crimes.

[MontanaMama]

15. Mueller probably believes

he is dealing with people who respect our government and its protocols. They respect nothing but money and power. They've been purging documents like a house a fire. Traitors.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. I don't think he's that naive

He has lawyers on staff that have dealt with various mob bosses and there is nothing "government" about them in terms of having any expectations of document production. It's more a formality which can be used to nail them if they did destroy something that they got a copy of from someone else later.

[MontanaMama]

23. I sure hope you're right.

I never thought we would be witnessing the combination of evil and stupid with the criminal cabal that has infiltrated out country.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. It all boils down to one thing

[Pauldg47]

21. They should know they will do jail time if docs are destroyed.

[Pauldg47]

22. They will be traitorous.

[Old Vet]

28. I think and hope Mueller knows exactly at this point what hes up against.........

And at this point knows hes dealing with the liar in chief, Big time.

[MontanaMama]

29. Hope he has the investigation

on warp speed. I cannot imagine the stress knowing that the future of America is on your shoulders.

[Sunlei]

16. remember the day trump was angry at his admin,-WH security?collected info off everyones cells?

1)Mueller needs that information for the investigation.

2)Didn't his campaign use the program for texts where messages disappear after they are read?

3) was it earlier then June 2016 when Giuliani spoke about his friends the "retired" FBI & anticipated dumps of stolen files on wikileaks ?

[PJMcK]

20. Here's a thought

Upthread, several posters commented that they are surprised that Robert Mueller is asking for the preservation of documents at this late date. Perhaps there are reasons for this.

News reports have indicated that Mr. Mueller was unaware of Junior's meeting on June 16, 2016. This seems reasonable since no one had ever commented on it until Junior spilled the beans. At that point, Mr. Mueller's team would have started looking at the meeting and the email chains associated with it. And that leads us to the next point.

Generally, prosecutors don't ask questions if they don't have a broad understanding of what the answers will mean. In this context, perhaps once Mr. Mueller started digging into Junior's meeting, a lot of other information became available. For example, emails or text replies from "persons of interest" in the case. This kind of investigation can take some time. Having done the homework, Mr. Mueller can now test the veracity of people from Trump's campaign: if he has their email and they don't know it, Mr. Mueller can probe his witnesses with the knowledge he has in reserve. This is a powerful technique for an investigator.

I'm not as skeptical as many people are about Mr. Mueller's investigation. Apparently, Trump's lawyers are trying to dig up dirt on him and his team. Good luck with that. Trump is falling into a deep pit of hurt that will make him regret he ever ran for president.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. "a deep pit of hurt that will make him regret he ever ran for president."

That's the thing - he and the rest of the TFEE have been flying under the radar for so long - always keeping one step ahead of the NY AG and U.S. Attorneys for the SDNY, that they figured they could continue to operate like that while employed by the federal government.

Sad thing is that he has gone this long in the position only because the Congress run by his party has been completely complicit by stalling and/or refusing to carry out investigations... if only to try to get their own agendas enacted before he is snagged, country be damned.

[Kablooie]

24. Well, those documents have probably been permanently destroyed.

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. If it was me, I'd subpoena them.

[Hekate]

30. KnR

[Sancho]

31. It will be the mother of all parties when tRump is gone...

[bluecollar2]

34. I suspect that Mueller already has what he needs

All electronic data, emails etc already captured by nsa.

Only hand delivered memos and stuff sent by snail mail/ups etc might be destroyable.

Then you compare what they give you with what you have....and voila.

Tthe only thing missing from this white house is a clown car and a tent...

[niyad]

35. righhhhht, because they will naturally obey this request. I mean, it isn't like they would

have destroyed those documents already. treasonous, traitorous thugs know not to leave a paper trail.

[tazmaniac]

36. Meaningless

to these scumbags! Just like having them testify "under oath"-it means nothing to them-they will still lie like the scumbags that they are-we will never hear any truth or see any real documents from any of them!!

[judesedit]

37. That shit was "lost" long ago.