Mueller's first indictments send a message to Trump

WASHINGTON — Shortly after his former campaign chairman marched into an FBI office to face criminal charges on Monday (Oct 31), United States President Donald Trump took to Twitter to dismiss their relevance: “There is NO COLLUSION!”

Yet even as his message went out to more than 41 million followers, news emerged that authorities were unsealing another case that described how a young foreign policy adviser spent months seeking to connect Mr Trump's campaign with Russians offering “dirt” on Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The first charges filed by special counsel Robert Mueller did not implicate Mr Trump, but collectively amounted to a political body blow to a president who has spent months insisting that Mr Mueller's investigation was nothing more than a “witch hunt” based on a “hoax” invented by Democrats and the news media.

The indictment of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, suggested that the president's top lieutenant for part of last year was a highly paid agent for pro-Russian foreign interests. And the guilty plea extracted from George Papadopoulos, the foreign policy adviser, confirmed the second known attempt by Mr Trump’s team to tap Moscow for damaging information on Mrs Clinton, coming months before his son Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer for the same purpose.

The legal action propelled the special counsel investigation into a new and more dangerous phase for Mr Trump, who had hoped to spend this week focused on his appointment of a new Federal Reserve chairman, the introduction of his tax-cutting legislation, and the start of a 12-day trip to Asia.

"It's obviously a big-deal day. These are big-deal developments," said Mr John Q. Barrett, who served as associate independent counsel during the Iran-Contra investigation.

Inside the White House, the mood changed drastically throughout the morning. Although Manafort was the first president's former campaign chief indicted since John N. Mitchell during Watergate, aides to Mr Trump felt momentarily relieved that it had largely tracked their expectations and did not include any surprise allegations involving the campaign.

But then, just as Mr Trump tweeted that the charges involved actions that took place “before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign”, the news about Papadopoulos stunned and alarmed White House aides.

Mr Trump said nothing more publicly through the day and left it to his advisers to argue that the cases did not impugn him because Manafort's actions were unrelated to his campaign service while Papadopoulos was just a volunteer whose efforts to set up meetings with higher-ranking officials were unrealised and who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents, not to illegal campaign activity.

“Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president's campaign or campaign activity,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She added: “We've been saying from Day 1 there has been no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, and nothing in the indictment today changes that at all.”

Mr Jay Sekulow, a private lawyer for Mr Trump, said the president and his legal team were not worried about the indictments. “No, not concerned,” Mr Sekulow said on CNN. “I’m completely convinced, as I was from the outset that not only was there no Russian collusion, there was no obstruction.” He added: “I’m not concerned about this at all, and no one else is either.”

But lawyers and former prosecutors said Papadopoulos' admissions and the previously reported meeting involving Mr Trump Jr already undercut such denials.

“Collusion is what Papadopoulos did. Collusion is what Trump Jr. and others in that meeting did,” Mr Barrett said. “It’s meeting and discussing and seeing what common interests they can advance for each other.”

Both Ms Sanders and Mr Sekulow disputed suggestions that Mr Trump might seek to fire Mr Mueller. “There is no intention or plan to make any changes in regards to the special counsel,” Ms Sanders said.

The two also played down the possibility that Mr Trump might pardon Manafort or others caught in the investigation. “I haven’t had a conversation with the president about pardons or pardoning individuals,” Mr Sekulow said. Ms Sanders likewise said that she had not spoken with the president about the possibility of pardons.

In the past, the president has signaled he might dismiss Mr Mueller if the special counsel exceeded what Mr Trump considers the bounds of his investigation. Mr Trump has also publicly noted he has the “complete power to pardon” relatives, aides and possibly even himself in response to the special counsel investigation.

Democrats warned Mr Trump on Monday not to impede Mr Mueller's investigation.

“The president must not, under any circumstances, interfere with the special counsel’s work in any way,” said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. "If he does so, Congress must respond swiftly, unequivocally and in a bipartisan way to ensure that the investigation continues.”

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California said the indictment showed that Mr Mueller was “doing his job” and that the process was working. "I'll continue to support Bob Mueller as he follows the facts – his independence must remain sacrosanct,” she said. THE NEW YORK TIMES