"Evidentiary developments may have moved the president from being a subject to being a target."

[Miles Archer]

Why hasn't Robert Mueller subpoenaed Trump? Three theories about the Russia investigation
There are several reasons why Mueller may decide to forgo a presidential grand jury subpoena altogether.
by Glenn Kirschner / Jul.19.2018 / 10:44 AM ET



One might ask, why doesn’t Mueller just subpoena the president to force him to tell the grand jury his side of the story on a variety of topics, including why he fired former FBI Director James Comey and why he participated in drafting an inaccurate narrative about the Trump Tower meeting between members of his campaign and Russian representatives. My 30 years of experience as a federal prosecutor tell me that there are at least three possible reasons why Mueller may decide to forgo a presidential grand jury subpoena altogether.

First, Mueller may have gathered so much evidence that he can reach informed conclusions about how to proceed without securing the president’s testimony. Given that prosecutors invariably take a “more is more” approach to developing evidence, I think this possibility is less than likely.

Second, given that the president’s lawyers have argued (incorrectly, in my opinion) that a sitting president cannot be subpoenaed to the grand jury, it may be that Mueller wants to avoid the protracted litigation that would erupt concerning the legality/enforceability of such a subpoena. Although this is a distinct possibility, I strongly suspect that Mueller is prepared to take as much time as needed to conduct a full investigation. Accordingly, the delay occasioned by having to fight a legal battle over a presidential grand jury subpoena is probably not driving his decisions.

The third possibility — and one that I suggest is growing more likely by the day — is that evidentiary developments in the investigation may have moved the president from being a “subject” of the investigation to being a “target.” If this is the case, then Department of Justice policies would strongly argue against using a grand jury subpoena to compel the president to testify.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/why-hasn-t-robert-mueller-subpoenaed-trump-three-theories-about-ncna892591

[empedocles]

1. Informed and helpful opinion on trump may be a 'target'

2nd reason seems compelling also.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Circumstantial evidence is pretty compelling...

Just what has been reported in the "fake" news is pretty indicative of a corrupt and venal administration.

If Mueller knows more than we do, he probably has enough to nail him already.

[coti]

3. Consider this as to the first point: Intention is so important to the charges Mueller is looking at,

and Traitor Trump never stops flapping his lips. Hell, I'm asking myself every single day, what more do these people- his supporters, Congress, Mueller- need? The 5th Amendment gives the right to remain silent for a reason. Mueller probably has so much information the only reason to put Trump under oath would be to get him to lie and on a perjury charge, too- and Mueller isn't playing the "gotcha" game. Maybe he just thinks it's not worth it, especially given the second and third points above.

[mercuryblues]

4. During the Strzok hearings

Karen Handal repeatedly claimed trump was a target. This was prepared question she had for Strzok, so it was not a slip up. She is on the judicial committee so she should know these words have a very specific meaning.

That is very true, but against Strzok, there is a very big difference between someone expressing his or her political views generally and someone leading an FBI investigation making highly negative and explosive comments about the actual target of that investigation. Would you agree?


You have a really awesome talent for filibustering. Think about running for the Senate. I’ll just say again, you are the lead investigator, and you made highly negative, explosive comments about the actual target of an investigation.

So let me ask you this. You were in a supervisory role within the FBI; suppose you found out that one of your direct reports was sending the kind of text messages that you were sending about the target of an investigation that they were working.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. We all hope number three IS the likely reason.

[BigmanPigman]

6. This was just on MSNBC Lawrence O'Donnell

and it sure looks like the fucking moron hasn't been subpoenaed by Mueller due to him being a TARGET now, just like Gates, Manafort, and the Dutch-Russian guy. This apparently is Miller's "strategy".

[oasis]

7. Traitor🇷🇺Trump going to pay for his evil ways. Bigtime!

[appalachiablue]

8. Brett Kavanaugh's work on sitting presidents and the law.

- Brett Kavanaugh Once Argued That a Sitting President Should Be Above the Law, and that should be disqualifying,' John Nichols, The Nation, July 9, 2018. https://www.thenation.com/article/brett-kavanaugh-argued-sitting-president-law/