Trump’s Tactical Error
According to Katyal, Trump, his lawyers and spokespersons have conducted two-year assault on the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt.” But this approach may have backfired in the same way the Trump’s firing of James Comey, the FBI director, backfired. Trump’s legal jeopardy is greater from other prosecutors who are not as limited in scope as the Mueller probe.
For 19 months, Mr. Trump and his team have had one target to shoot at, and that target has had limited jurisdiction. But now the investigation resembles the architecture of the internet, with many different nodes, and some of those nodes possess potentially unlimited jurisdiction. Their powers and scope go well beyond Mr. Mueller’s cir scribed mandate; they go to Mr. Trump’s judgment and whether he lied to the American people. They also include law enforcement investigations having nothing to do with Russia.
President Trump’s attacks on Mueller, his dangling of pardons to witnesses in the investigation, and the lying by multiple Trump associates have aggravated the evidence against Trump and his campaign. By posing the issue as “Trump vs. Mueller,” Trump may well have induced Mueller to spawn further investigations to be carried out by investigators "who have not been subject to the same sorts of public attack” and "who are less limited in scope."