Changes

*'''16 May.''' Rosenstein and Mueller visit Trump in the Oval Office. Mueller is ineligible to serve as FBI director, yet Rosenstein convinces Trump to interview Mueller as Comey's replacement, which would take a special waiver from Congress.

*'''16 May.''' Rosenstein and Mueller visit Trump in the Oval Office. Mueller is ineligible to serve as FBI director, yet Rosenstein convinces Trump to interview Mueller as Comey's replacement, which would take a special waiver from Congress.

:*Mueller 'accidentally' leaves his cell phone in the Oval Office, the possible "wire" Rosenstein proposed to McCabe.

:*Mueller 'accidentally' leaves his cell phone in the Oval Office,<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/25/book-robert-mueller-left-phone-inside-after-trump-oval-office-meeting/</ref> the possible "wire" Rosenstein proposed to McCabe.

:*Trump later tells the ''NYT'': {{quotebox|"We were interviewing replacements at the F.B.I. Did you know Mueller was one of the people that was being interviewed? … Now what happens is, [Mueller] leaves the office. Rosenstein leaves the office. The next day, [Mueller] is appointed special counsel.”}}

:*Trump later tells the ''NYT'': {{quotebox|"We were interviewing replacements at the F.B.I. Did you know Mueller was one of the people that was being interviewed? … Now what happens is, [Mueller] leaves the office. Rosenstein leaves the office. The next day, [Mueller] is appointed special counsel.”}}

:*Private investigator hired by the famiy reports, "My investigation shows someone within the D.C. government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward.”<ref>http://myfox8.com/2017/05/16/slain-dnc-staffer-had-contact-with-wikileaks-sources-say/</ref>

:*Private investigator hired by the famiy reports, "My investigation shows someone within the D.C. government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward.”<ref>http://myfox8.com/2017/05/16/slain-dnc-staffer-had-contact-with-wikileaks-sources-say/</ref>

*'''17 May.''' '''Rosenstein informs [[Gang of Eight]] that Mueller has been appointed "to serve as Special Counsel to oversee the ''previously-confirmed FBI investigation'' of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election''' [i.e., a countetintelligence investigation, ital added]." Lisa Page later testified under oath that '''after nine months of the most invasive surveillance capabilities of the U.S. government, the FBI still had not made a case connecting Trump or his campaign to Russia’s election meddling.'''<ref>https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/406881-lisa-page-bombshell-fbi-couldnt-prove-trump-russia-collusion-before-mueller</ref>  

*'''17 May.''' '''Rosenstein informs [[Gang of Eight]] that Mueller has been appointed "to serve as Special Counsel to oversee the ''previously-confirmed FBI investigation'' of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election''' [i.e., a countetintelligence investigation, ital added]."

:*Lisa Page later testified under oath that '''after nine months of the most invasive surveillance capabilities of the U.S. government, the FBI still had not made a case connecting Trump or his campaign to Russia’s election meddling.'''<ref>https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/406881-lisa-page-bombshell-fbi-couldnt-prove-trump-russia-collusion-before-mueller</ref>  

:*Questions remain over the legality of Rosenstein's appointment of Mueller. '''By statute, a Special Counsel can only be appointed in criminal investigations, not a counterintelligence investigation'''. Comey's Trump-Russia investigation was a counterintelligence investigation. Comey's illegal, felonious [[fake news]] [[leak]] of his memo is an effort to create a criminal obstruction of justice charge against Trump, however Rosenstein's mandate clearly authorizes Mueller to continue the FBI counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling. What's more, the mandate makes no mention of authorizing Mueller to pursue unrelated banking and tax fraud charges against [[Paul Manafort]], which Rosenstein himself deemed unmerited for prosecution a decade earlier.

:*Questions remain over the legality of Rosenstein's appointment of Mueller. '''By statute, a Special Counsel can only be appointed in criminal investigations, not a counterintelligence investigation'''. Comey's Trump-Russia investigation was a counterintelligence investigation. Comey's illegal, felonious [[fake news]] [[leak]] of his memo is an effort to create a criminal obstruction of justice charge against Trump, however Rosenstein's mandate clearly authorizes Mueller to continue the FBI counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling. What's more, the mandate makes no mention of authorizing Mueller to pursue unrelated banking and tax fraud charges against [[Paul Manafort]], which Rosenstein himself deemed unmerited for prosecution a decade earlier.