Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and related intrigue at the U.S. Justice Department, have kept Prof. Kim Wehle hopping between radio and TV legal analyst gigs, sometimes making several appearances in the same day. Her experience as a federal prosecutor, and as associate independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation, have helped make her a sought-after commentator on CNN, MSNBC, NPR and BBC World News, among others.
Today on NPR’s Morning Edition, Prof. Wehle discussed what can be learned from the special counsel’s heavily redacted sentencing memo for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, which was filed on Dec. 4. “The memo indicates that he’s still working with them. This isn’t the end of the line for Mr. Flynn,” she said in the interview. She also speculated that the Mueller probe won’t be wrapping up any time soon.
The drip, drip of indictments, plea deals and dispositions in recent months is adding up to a significant body of evidence, Prof. Wehle said. “When people talk ‘no collusion, no collusion,’ I think that voice is getting fainter and fainter and getting drowned out by what’s made public,” she said. When asked if the Mueller investigation and other inquiries into the Trump campaign and Trump Organization constitute a “test of American democracy,” she said, “Absolutely.”
She presented what she sees as the four possible outcomes of whatever investigators conclude: “We could tolerate it, which I think is really problematic … Number two, there could be a resignation; three, impeachment, or four, an indictment, and we’ll just have to see if there’s accountability for this stuff.”
Prof. Wehle’s media appearances can be reviewed at her website. She also contributes regularly to The Hill; her columns can be found here. She has written two books slated for publication in 2019: How to Read the Constitution and Why (HarperCollins), and The Outsourced Constitution: How Public Power in Private Hands Erodes Democracy (Cambridge University Press).
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