Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to President Trump and the first woman to successfully manage a presidential campaign, took to Twitter Tuesday night to call out Special Counsel Robert Mueller for hiring lawyers who gave heavily to Democrats and opposed Trump’s candidacy, writing, “FEC report: Mueller’s team includes big Democrat donors. Some maxed out, none wanted Trump to be POTUS.” Mueller was appointed to investigate alleged, so far unproven, ties between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Conway linked to a CNN report on the pro-Democrat leanings of those lawyers known to have been hired by Mueller, including two who gave the legal maximum to Trump’s Democrat rival Hillary Clinton last year one of whom represented Clinton and her foundation and another lawyer who represented a Clinton aide who helped manage her controversial home email server that was surreptitiously used by Clinton for official State Department business.
Kellyanne Conway, image via Twitter avatar.
FEC report: Mueller's team includes big Democrat donors. Some maxed out, none wanted Trump to be POTUS. @CNNPolitics https://t.co/IPEf2WWPuO
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) June 14, 2017
The CNN article, headlined, Special counsel team members donated to Dems, FEC records show, states in part:
Three members of the legal team known to have been hired so far by special counsel Robert Mueller to handle the Russia investigation have given political donations almost exclusively to Democrats, according to a CNN analysis of Federal Election Commission records.
More than half of the more than $56,000 came from just one lawyer and more than half of it was donated before the 2016 election, but two of the lawyers gave the maximum $2,700 donation to Hillary Clinton last year.
Rhee was the second-largest donor among Mueller’s known team. Rhee has donated more than $16,000 since 2008, all to Democrats. She maxed out to the Clinton campaign in 2016 and 2015, totaling $5,400. She also gave a total of $7,300 to Obama’s two presidential campaigns. She has already received attention for representing the Clinton Foundation in a racketeering lawsuit brought by a conservative advocacy group, and also represented Clinton herself in a lawsuit seeking access to her private emails.
…There also are no FEC records for Aaron Zebley, who left WilmerHale to work on the Russia investigation. Zebley once represented former Hillary Clinton aide Justin Cooper, who helped manager her private email server.
…There aren’t any records of political donations from Mueller himself.”
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a Republican firebrand, was first to call out Mueller for his hires with a tweet early Monday morning. Gingrich had previously supported Mueller’s appointment but told Sean Hannity Tuesday night he changed his mind after fired FBI Director James Comey said he tried to orchestrate the hiring of a special counsel by leaking confidential memos to the press which resulted in the appointment of longtime Comey friend Mueller. Gingrich wrote, “Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.”
Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 12, 2017
There have been reports that Trump has been considering firing Mueller. Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday night regarding Mueller, “While president has the right to, he has no intention to do so”. Sanders also confirmed that Trump interviewed Mueller to be FBI director the day before he was appointed special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Will the President fire Special Counsel Mueller?@SHSanders45 said on AF1: "While president has the right to, he has no intention to do so"
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) June 14, 2017
I confirmed earlier that Trump interviewed Mueller for FBI director. Sanders just said it happened day before he was named special counsel
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 14, 2017
Conway’s tweet calling out Mueller came about two hours after Sanders’ statement was reported.
