Trump’s legal team and close allies are increasingly concerned that the President’s widely panned performance standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week could strengthen the hand of special counsel Robert Mueller at a critical time.
But one source with knowledge of legal team thinking says it’s now legitimate to fear that Trump’s erratic behavior at the Helsinki summit, coupled with last week’s indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers, could be an inflection point in the whole process – one that could potentially make Trump less sympathetic and conceivably embolden Mueller.
One question being raised inside Trump’s team is whether Mueller is now slow-walking the interview talks as he rolls out indictments, as he did last week against a dozen Russian nationals. The thought is that maybe Mueller wants to show they have more of an established record before moving in any way on Trump.
Another source familiar with the Trump legal discussions told CNN that in the face of this lack of progress, there is also some concern that Mueller could be preparing a subpoena. Previously, Trump’s attorneys have believed that Mueller does not want to get into a protracted legal fight over a subpoena, but now no one seems to know what to anticipate.