June 19, 2017

Is Donald Trump Under Investigation for Obstruction of Justice?

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Is President Trump under investigation for obstruction of justice? His attorney appeared on TV yesterday to say it ain’t so:

SEKULOW: I want to be very clear about this, the president is not and has not been under investigation.

DICKERSON: How do you know?

SEKULOW: Because we’ve received no notice of investigation….

DICKERSON: Is it your view, and just to educate viewers, that — that if you were under investigation, there would be an obligation for the special counsel to let you know? Couldn’t you be under investigation and they’ve just not let you know yet?

SEKULOW: Well, look, I — I can’t imagine the scenario where the president would — would not be aware of it.

This is the whole story in a nutshell: Trump has not been notified that he’s the target of an investigation. That’s it. That’s all that Jay Sekulow knows. He has no idea whether Trump is or isn’t under investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

Neither do I, for that matter. The Washington Post says he is, and their evidence seems pretty strong. At the same time, it could be that Mueller is merely interviewing some folks as a way of deciding whether he should widen his investigation to include Trump.

In any case, that’s it. Mueller is interviewing some people about Trump’s firing of James Comey, but Trump has not been notified that he’s under investigation. That’s all we know.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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