The walls of the White House (or Bedminster Golf Club, since it's the weekend) must be closing in on Donald Trump. Friday saw reports of a sealed indictment coming down from the Mueller special investigation and several news outlets report that one or more people may be taken into custody as early as Monday.
Trump proxies and media outlets have spent the last week making a concerted effort to muddy the waters and to call for Mueller's firing. There's always a question of how much Trump believes his press (we know he responds directly to whatever is on Fox & Friends and they'll never offer anything approaching condemnation towards him), and how much he perceives Mueller as an actual threat to his office or just his ego.
Preet Bharara, the former US attorney fired by Trump, suggests that we need to look closely at Trump's actions in the next few days:
“We know from history in recent months that the president of the United States has strong reactions to public events. Even events that have been caused by his own actions,” Bharara told CNN’s Jake Tapper, explaining he expects Trump could react in two ways to charges potentially against an ally.
Bharara said the public should ask, “Is he sending a message of intimidation in some way through himself or his cohorts suggesting people should not be talking and people should keep their mouth shut?”
“And the second thing is whether he sends a message of reassurance," he added.
Bharara is referring to Trump's earlier explorations to pardon anyone caught up in Mueller's investigation, though one would hope that a seasoned insider like Mueller understands how to thwart that.
