Past time to end the boondoggle.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller is shedding more attorneys, another sign that his team of prosecutors has begun winding down parts of their investigation.
Two prosecutors detailed to the Russia investigation for the past year are returning to their duties in other parts of the Justice Department. They join two other attorneys who left the team, assigned to investigate potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, over the summer.
The departures are the latest indication that Mueller’s team is wrapping up parts of the investigation and focusing its efforts on critical remaining strands, including an active grand jury probe of longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone.
Mueller spokesman Peter Carr says prosecutor Brandon Van Grack has already returned to the Justice Department’s national security division but will continue to be involved in cases he was assigned to. That includes the investigation into former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Prosecutor Kyle Freeny will end her detail to the special counsel later this month and will return to her position in the Justice Department’s money laundering section, Carr said.
Van Grack and Freeny were on the teams prosecuting Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Elements of the Mueller investigation remain active, including inquiries into whether the president took action to obstruct the probe and the central unresolved question of whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 election. Trump’s lawyers and Mueller’s team have spent months negotiating a possible interview with the president.