Good Wednesday morning. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing,

sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association. And I'm Anna Palmer. By historical standards, Robert Mueller

has already been so successful in delivering prominent scalps that in a different context,

his work product would be unassailable. And President Donald Trump would likely be considered in

immediate, mortal, political danger, so toxic that it would be impossible to do business with him.

Here's a quick recap. Mueller has indicted the president's former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

He has secured the guilty pleas of five people, including the president's

first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, and former Trump deputy campaign manager Rick Gates.

He's charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies in February with interfering with

the 2016 presidential election. And he's also indicted 12 Russian intelligence

officials unraveling a massive cyber campaign to influence the 2016 election.

Separately, prosecutors have indicted a Russian woman on charges she was acting as an agent for Putin's

government, cultivating relations around Washington and working with the NRA.

Meanwhile, the president has ruthlessly attacked the Mueller probe, terming it a tainted

operation and falsely saying it is being run by partisan Democrats. Mueller has kept quiet through a

year-long attack on his integrity. Trump has gone into a room alone with Vladimir Putin,

a man that Republicans and Democrats agree has nothing in common with U.S. interests. He had no aides, advisors, and just one interpreter. He said the meeting went well, and it's the news media's fault that it's being misjudged. He also stood next to the strong man leader of Russia and equated his word to that of his own director of national intelligence. He then later went to the White House and

tried to walk it back. Here's the thought exercise. The volume has been turned to the max for so long

in our political culture. What could Mueller unveil that would shock our sensibilities,

transcend partisanship, silence the GOP, and actually satisfy the inflated expectations of Democrats?

By the way, if passes president, this whole walk-back episode will be undone when Trump doesn't get the results he wants and walks back the walk-back.

Someone on his staff seems sure to get the blame.

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