Politics
Fox & Friends
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway zeroed in Friday on special counsel Robert Mueller, telling "Fox & Friends" that she thinks it's important for the American people to know about his team's potential conflicts of interest in investigating President Donald Trump and his associates."Fox & Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt said some members of Mueller's team, which is investigating whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russians during the 2016 election, have donated thousands of dollars to Democrats in the past.
"This is just a witch hunt," Conway said in response. "It's all a hoax, and now they're going in all types of different directions, but I think that the information you just shared is relevant information for America to have. People should know what folks' past and their motivations and their political motivations are. These weren't minor donations."
A bombshell Washington Post report published Thursday night, and quickly echoed by a New York Times report, said Trump and his legal team are searching for ways to discredit Mueller and are laying the groundwork to fire him.
Trump had been disturbed to learn that Mueller was digging into his business dealings and financial history, which he had previously suggested to the Times would be a "red line." Trump was particularly irked by the possibility that Mueller could access his tax returns, according to the Post.
"Talk about conflicts? But he was interviewing for the job," Trump told the Times, referring to the period when Mueller was being considered to replace fired FBI Director James Comey. "There were many other conflicts that I haven't said, but I will at some point."
Trump's legal team is reportedly looking into Mueller's previous working relationship with Comey and a dispute involving Trump's golf course as possible conflicts of interest. But experts say there is no evidence that Mueller has engaged in any inappropriate behavior that would warrant his removal.
An early conflict of interest concern involving his law firm's representation of some of the people caught up in the investigation - including former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser - was resolved by the Justice Department, which granted Mueller a waiver to move forward with the probe.
Trump shook up his legal team on Thursday night, with some speculating that his lawyer Marc Kasowitz and legal spokesman Mark Corallo were ousted because they were uncomfortable with targeting Mueller.