Washington • Utah’s two senators steered clear of commenting on the charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and a campaign aide but stood by their support of special counsel Robert Mueller, who continues to investigate the Trump team and its potential ties to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
Mueller on Monday revealed 12-count indictments against onetime campaign manager Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Rick Gates, as well as a guilty plea by a Trump foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, for making a false statement to the FBI.
Manafort and Gates face charges of conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money and making false statements; they pleaded not guilty in court Monday afternoon and are being held on house arrest under a bail agreement.
The indictments represent the most aggressive move yet by Mueller, a former FBI director, in his investigation of the Trump team’s ties to the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election and help Trump win.
While avoiding comment on the charges themselves, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a former assistant U.S. attorney for Utah, said he backs the probe and Mueller.
“I fully support Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s continuing investigation and I’ll do everything I can to make sure that the system of checks and balances, the system of separation of powers in the federal government, is upheld,” Lee said through a spokesperson.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also supported the investigation while not commenting on the federal charges unveiled Monday morning.
“Sen. Hatch believes that it’s in the best interest for all parties involved to allow Bob Mueller to conduct a full and vigorous investigation,” Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock said in a statement. “There will be procedural milestones, like today’s announcement, along the way, but that doesn’t change the basic equation that the special counsel needs the time and support necessary to get to the bottom of things.”
The White House said Monday there are no intentions or plans to fire Mueller, though Trump has been highly critical of the special counsel.
The Wall Street Journal’s conservative-leaning editorial board last week called for Mueller’s ouster and said any investigation about Russia should include then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s dealings with U.S. approval of a Russian-backed company buying a larger share in American uranium mining operations. That approval had the consent of eight different federal agencies, and it’s unclear whether Clinton was involved.
“It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran for a dozen years,” The Journal’s editorial board said. “He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.”
As news of the indictments emerged Monday, Trump took to Twitter to blast the uranium deal, called the Trump-Russia probe “phony” and said that there was no collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin.
“The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s … are now fighting back like never before,” Trump tweeted in a series of posts. “There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”
Pressed to comment on the charges, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the indictments had “nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity.”
“The real collusion scandal, as we’ve said several times before, has everything to do with the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, and Russia,” she said, referring to a political group that had worked on opposition research into Trump that led to a controversial dossier. “There are no activities or official capacity in which the Trump Campaign was engaged in any of these activities,” she added. “Most of them took place well before the campaign ever even existed.”
Democrats have moved to make sure the president cannot fire Muller as the investigation continues.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that Mueller needs to be able to do his job without interference from the White House.
“The investigation must be allowed to proceed unimpeded,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “The president must not, under any circumstances and in any way, interfere with the special counsel’s work. If he does, Congress must respond swiftly, unequivocally, and in a bipartisan way to ensure that the investigation continues and the truth — the whole truth — comes out.”
Meanwhile, Evan McMullin, a Utahn who made a failed bid for president last year as an independent, noted on Twitter that it was Trump’s campaign mantra to jail Clinton, the Democratic nominee, but now it’s his campaign aides facing federal charges.
“It’s poetic irony that the chairman of the campaign that violated our democratic norms to chant, ‘lock her up!’ is now in federal shackles,” McMullin tweeted.
Manafort voluntarily turned himself in at the FBI’s Washington Field Office and appeared in court later Monday. It was unclear if he was ever handcuffed.
The Salt Lake Tribune will update this article throughout the day.