Panetta: Mueller Just Starting

Panetta: Mueller Just Starting

Anyone rejoicing over the initial fruits of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign should bridle that enthusiasm, former CIA Director Leon Panetta said Monday.

Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted Monday on a wide range of charges stemming from Manafort’s consulting business. Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager for several months in the summer of 2016, during which time Gates also worked on the campaign. All activities for which they were indicted came before their work with then-candidate Donald Trump.

Also Monday, NBC News reported that Tony Podesta, the brother of Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager John Podesta, was another target of Mueller’s probe.

Panetta, a Democrat, said anyone on either side should wait until Mueller is done before celebrating or judging the investigation.

“I think one thing is for certain, that we are at the beginning of this investigation, not at the end of it. And as a result of that what these indictments may indicate, is that as a result of it, there will be other trails of evidence that will be followed by Bob Mueller,” he said.

Panetta said Mueller is likely to be bipartisan in his indictments.

“I think there’s probably a very good bet that additional indictments will be forthcoming and could involve members of both parties.”

Panetta said that it is a mistake to take Mueller’s investigation lightly... “I think we’ve kind of crossed a threshold now that we are dealing with a very serious investigation,” Panetta said.

He noted that the full investigation will settle questions about Russia and the 2016 election.

“This is very serious, that it’s being handled in a responsible and professional way, and that I think rather than labeling this as false news or as a fraud of some kind, I think both the president and the American people ought to understand that we are now seeing a serious investigation into just exactly what role Russia played in the last election.”

Although some commentators are urging Trump to oust Mueller or end the investigation, Panetta said doing so would backfire.

“Well, again, you know, we saw what happened when Richard Nixon engaged in the Saturday night massacre in the hope that somehow that might stem the investigation into Watergate. That didn’t happen. It — it actually created even greater momentum in that investigation,” he said.

“So I think if the president were to make any effort to go after Bob Mueller, any effort like that would be viewed as indicating that the president really does have something to hide and probably would result in an even more vigorous investigation of just exactly what was involved here.”

On Monday, the White House repeated past statements that Trump has no intention of firing Mueller.