THIS ISSUE HASN’T GONE AWAY: Is Mueller Too Conflicted To Investigate Trump Fairly?

But while Mueller mulls over that decision, more and more voices are being raised calling for him to step aside due to a serious conflict of interest that probe would represent. That conflict involves Mueller’s long-standing friendship with former FBI head James Comey.

Since Comey’s firing is one of the main reasons for the talk about obstruction, he would end up as a key figure in such an investigation. It’s Comey who claimed that Trump pressured him to ease off his investigation of Mike Flynn, and who, as some said, laid the groundwork for an obstruction charge.

Mueller and Comey both worked in the Bush administration and were involved in a dispute over whether Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft should reauthorize a post-9/11 domestic surveillance program.

“The two men backed one another in a moment etched into the legend in both the Justice Department and FBI,” noted George Washington University legal scholar Jonathan Turley.

The two have been said to be friends ever since.

Turley says that, as a result, “Mueller could not be viewed as a neutral choice by anyone on Trump’s side due to his history with Comey.”

Either Mueller needs to resign, or Attorney General Sessions needs to appoint a separate special counsel for the obstruction inquiry.