May 25, 2018

Thursday night, Chris Hayes asked Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI official who worked with Bob Mueller, what he thought would happen if Trump fired Mueller and/or Rosenstein.

"Here's my theory," Figliuzzi said. "They've approved sentencing because they got what they needed from him but they are going to use what they've got much on down the line against other people."

"You worked with Robert Mueller. You know the man. You know his, him personally and how he operates," Hayes said. "I wonder the degree to which, obviously they're busy and trying to make these cases and get to the bottom of things, the degree to which they are paying attention to the sort of ambient noise around them, to the attacks by the president and to, you know, allegations they haven't found anything or the whole thing's a witch hunt or a year has gone by and it's been too long. Do you think that penetrates?"

"A couple things. It's easy for us to say look, the team's keeping their head down, marching forward, they're mission-oriented. Here's the reality. Everyone around them, the public, their friends, backyard barbecues, everybody is saying when will this thing get wrapped -- than the special counsel himself. He wants to get this done. and he's very sensitive, I'm sure, to the fact that his job is not necessarily guaranteed.

"So the way it affects the team, they start to create a exit strategy, a rescue strategy. They have their charges ready to be filed. They have drafts of reports ready to go in the event they get the word that people are being fired, dismissed. They will press send. It will go to various U.S. attorneys or state attorneys general and they have a plan for that. So that's how this kind of pressure is affecting the team."

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