Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference is nearly a year old, and though President Trump has not been implicated, the media narrative that something about Russia is “closing in” on him has lasted throughout the process.
Mueller’s investigation has led to several indictments, but Trump remains at the center of several investigations, including Mueller’s and those being run by congressional committees.
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And almost a year later, reporters continue to assert that these investigations have almost found their target.
As recently as Monday, the Daily Beast headlined a column by Rick Wilson that said. “The walls are closing in on Trump,” though it contained no new revelations about the ongoing investigations.
After the New York Times reported last week that Trump met with Emmet T. Flood, the lawyer who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment, Vanity Fair wrote that the alleged meeting happened “with Mueller closing in” on Trump. The president dismissed the Times report as “false.”
Liberal Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent wrote on Feb. 1, “As Mueller closes in on Trump, the Republican coverup intensifies.”
The Mueller investigation has resulted so far in charges against 18 people, including three who were associated with Trump’s campaign and 13 Russians who were accused of impersonating Americans to foster partisan divisions ahead of the election.
The charges against Trump’s associates, however, were limited to lying to the FBI and, in the case of Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, money laundering.
The Republican-led House Intelligence Committee announced Monday it was concluding its own independent investigation and that it “found no evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.” But independent probes by Mueller and the Senate will continue, which will likely fuel continued speculation about how close they’re getting to Trump.
“Lawmakers attempting to smear the FBI’s reputation signals that Mueller may be closing in on Trump’s circle,” read a Jan. 29 headline in the New York Daily News.
The website Business Insider said on Jan. 24, “The Russia investigation is reaching a pivotal moment and it looks like it’s closing in on Trump.”
In December, Max Boot and Max Bergmann co-authored a story for the British-based Guardian that said, “Robert Mueller is closing in on Trump.”
Also in December, after former national securtiy adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, Bloomberg said, “Mueller closes in on White House with Flynn’s guilty plea.”
In September, Vanity Fair again said that Muller “is officially closing in on Trump.”
“As Mueller closes in, Trump prepares his base for the worst,” read an August 2017 blog post at the Washington Post.
And on March 6, 2017, before Mueller had even been appointed and amid reports that investigators had been surveilling Trump transition officials, Foreign Policy published the headline, “Trump knows the feds are closing in on him.”
