ABC
In the weeks before special counsel Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department turned over a cache of internal correspondence, including documents related to the proposed resignation of Sessions last year and emails with the White House about fired national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Why does this matter? Because Trump wanted Sessions out as a way to get at Mueller.
In an Oval Office meeting after Mueller's appointment, Trump told Sessions he should resign, prompting the attorney general to submit a letter of resignation, according to The New York Times. But Trump ultimately rejected the resignation after advisers warned against it in the wake of Comey’s firing.
A month after that episode, Trump wanted to have White House aides fire Mueller but backed off after White House counsel Don McGahn and others made clear they were opposed to such a move, a source familiar with the deliberations told ABC News.
Now, if there’s documentary evidence that obstruction of justice was why Trump was pressuring Sessions to resign, it does a few interesting things.
1) Obviously, this strengthens Mueller’s case against Trump. It’s no longer just witnesses who can be impeached; it’s actual contemporaneous correspondence. That’s pretty much the gold standard of evidence.
2) It protects Rosenstein. If Mueller can prove that Trump wanted to remove the AG in order to interfere with the investigation, then it stands to reason that Trump might want to remove the deputy AG for the same motives.
3) Flynn, of course, has flipped. Documentation supporting his testimony is not good news for Tinythumbs Tweetsalot. And Flynn gives Mueller more than obstruction charges against Trump et al.
Referring to the Justice Department, Yates told lawmakers last year, "We believed Gen. Flynn was compromised in regards to the Russians" and “could be blackmailed by the Russians."
Yates privately brought those concerns to the White House, and Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, acknowledging that before Trump’s inauguration he spoke about U.S. sanctions against Russia with Russia’s then-ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
The Justice Department has now provided Mueller’s team with internal documents related to the matter, according to the source with knowledge of the matter.
Again, actual correspondence backing up Yates’ story and showing that Trump knew Flynn was dirty but kept him on is not good for Trump. And it means that Trump pressuring Comey to drop the Flynn investigation is both obstruction and “collusion” — in this case, conspiracy to keep a known Russian agent in one of the most sensitive positions in the USG.
The Nunes memo just got the legs cut out from under it.