The special counsel investigating possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia’s government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, The Associated Press has learned.

The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Manafort, who was forced to resign as Trump campaign chairman in August amid questions over his business dealings years ago in Ukraine, predated the 2016 election and the counterintelligence probe that in July began investigating possible collusion between Moscow and associates of Trump.

The move to consolidate the matters, involving allegations of kleptocracy of Ukrainian government funds, indicates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is assuming a broad mandate in his new role running the sensational investigation. The expansiveness of Mueller’s investigation was described to the AP. No one familiar with the matter has been willing to discuss the scope of his investigation on the record because it is just getting underway and because revealing details could complicate its progress.

In an interview separately Friday with the AP, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein acknowledged that Mueller could expand his inquiry to include Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ and Rosenstein’s own roles in the decision to fire Comey, who was investigating the Trump campaign. Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel to take over the investigation, wrote the memorandum intended to justify Trump’s decision to fire Comey. Sessions met with Trump and Rosenstein to discuss Trump’s decision to fire him despite Sessions’ pledge not to become involved in the Russia case.

Rosenstein told the AP that if he were to become a subject of Mueller’s investigation, he would recuse himself from any oversight of Mueller. Under Justice Department rules, Mueller is required to seek permission from Rosenstein to investigate additional matters other than ones already specified in the paperwork formally appointing Mueller.

“I’ve talked with Director Mueller about this,” Rosenstein said. “He’s going to make the appropriate decisions, and if anything that I did winds up being relevant to his investigation then, as Director Mueller and I discussed, if there’s a need from me to recuse I will.”

Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment on the scope of the investigation.

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ShinySylvee said:

Wait so who's next in line if Rosenstein recuses himself?

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“I’ve talked with Director Mueller about this,” Rosenstein said. “He’s going to make the appropriate decisions, and if anything that I did winds up being relevant to his investigation then, as Director Mueller and I discussed, if there’s a need from me to recuse I will.”

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Zolo said:

This sounds reassuring though I imagine Mueller wouldn't do it since someone worse who may end the investigation would replace him immediately.

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That arrangement is troubling to some lawyers and ethics experts who say it puts Rosenstein in the awkward and arguably conflicted position of overseeing an investigation where he could be an important witness.

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If Mueller decides to explore whether Comey’s firing was part of an effort or scheme to obstruct justice, Rosenstein might be called in as someone with first-hand knowledge material to the probe.

“If the investigation encompasses Comey’s firing, it would seem Rosenstein was involved in that and he’d be a witness,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis and a prominent expert on government ethics rules. “If it is the case that the investigation reaches the dismissal of Comey, then I think it would be inappropriate for Rosenstein to have any substantive involvement in the investigation other than as a witness.”

Clark added that given Trump’s statement in an NBC interview that he had the Russia probe on his mind when he decided to dismiss Comey, it seems inevitable Mueller will have to dig into what happened.

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Some ethics experts said it is simply too soon to say whether Rosenstein would need to recuse, although they didn’t rule out that doing so might become nessary.

“We don’t yet know enough to say that Rosenstein cannot perform these functions in light of his role in the Comey firing,” said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers. “If that role was essentially a ‘walk-on’ within the scope of the Mueller investigation, there would be no problem. But if, as events unfold, it appears that the Mueller investigation could embarrass Rosenstein or suggest his wrongdoing or unlawfulness, or if Rosenstein were simply to become an important witness, Rosenstein, like [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions, would have to step aside.”

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ShinySylvee said:

Wait so who's next in line if Rosenstein recuses himself?

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SJurgenson said:

I believe it would the the Associate Attorney General, Rachel Brand.

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Lord Frieza said:

You know, it's crazy, we expected to hear a lot of this when Mueller took over, but it seems like it's spreading like wildfire. Tells me one of two things: Dude is dedicated and going at this at fast paced speed, or the FBI already had a lot for him to jump off of that this thing is moving so fast (may also be a combination of both).

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StoOgE said:

3. Trump and his team are really fucking stupid and did almost nothing to hide what they were doing believing that the power of the administration would shield them from any real harm by being chummy with those around them and using a strong arm with those who were not.

I think the paper trail is probably thick. That Trumps people are even floating using executive privilege to stop Comey from testifying shows just how stupid they are.

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