Inside the secretive nerve center of the Mueller investigation
WASHINGTON - A white sedan whisked a man into the loading dock of a glass and concrete building in a drab office district in Southwest Washington. Security guards quickly waved the vehicle inside, then pushed a button that closed the garage door and shielded the guest's arrival from public view.
With his stealth morning arrival Thursday, White House Counsel Donald McGahn became the latest in a string of high-level witnesses to enter the secretive nerve center of special counsel Robert Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Twenty hours later, Mueller and his team emerged into public view to rattle Washington with the dramatic announcement that former national security adviser Michael Flynn would plead guilty to lying to the FBI.
The ensnaring of Flynn, the second former aide to President Donald Trump to cooperate with the inquiry, serves as the latest indication that Mueller's operation is rapidly pursuing an expansive mission, drilling deeper into Trump's inner circle.
In the past two months, Mueller and his deputies have received private debriefs from two dozen current and former Trump advisers, each of whom has made the trek to the special counsel's secure office suite.
Once inside, most witnesses are seated in a windowless conference room where two- and three-person teams of FBI agents and prosecutors rotate in and out, pressing them for answers.
Among the topics that have been of keen interest to investigators: how foreign government officials and their emissaries contacted Trump officials, as well as the actions and interplay of Flynn and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
Mueller's group has also inquired whether Flynn recommended specific foreign meetings to senior aides, including Kushner. Investigators were particularly interested in how certain foreign officials got on Kushner's calendar and the discussions that Flynn and Kushner had about those encounters, according to people familiar with the questions.
Often listening in is the special counsel himself, a sphinx-like presence who sits quietly along the wall for portions of key interviews.
This picture of Mueller's operation - drawn from descriptions of witnesses, lawyers and others briefed on the interviews - provides a rare look inside the high-stakes investigation that could implicate Trump's circle and determine the future of his presidency.
The locked-down nature of the probe has left both the witnesses and the public scrutinizing every move of the special counsel for meaning, without any certainty about the full scope of his investigation.
Trump and his lawyers have expressed confidence that Mueller will swiftly conclude his examination of the White House, perhaps even by the year's end. Trump's Democratic opponents hope the investigation will uncover more crimes and ultimately force the president's removal from office.
Meanwhile, some witnesses who have been interviewed came away with the impression that the probe is unfolding and far from over.
"When they were questioning me, it seemed like they were still trying to get a feel of the basic landscape of the place," said one witness who was questioned in late October for several hours and, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the confidential sessions. "I didn't get the sense they had anything incriminating on the president. Nor were they anywhere close to done."
A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb said he believes the probe's focus on Trump's White House is wrapping up, noting that all White House staffer interviews will be completed by the end of the week.
"At the end of the interviews, it would be reasonable to expect that it would not take long to bring this to conclusion," Cobb said. "I commend the Office of Special Counsel for their acknowledged hard work on behalf of the country, to undertake this serious responsibility, and to perform it in an expedited but deliberate, thorough way."
At least two dozen people who traveled in Trump's orbit in 2016 and 2017 - on the campaign trail, in his transition operation and then in the White House - have been questioned in the past 10 weeks, according to people familiar with the interviews.
The most high profile is Kushner, who met with Mueller's team in November, as well as former chief of staff Reince Priebus and former press secretary Sean Spicer. Former foreign policy adviser J.D. Gordon also has been interviewed.
White House communications director Hope Hicks was scheduled to sit down with Mueller's team a few days before Thanksgiving. Mueller's team has also indicated plans to interview senior associate White House counsel James Burnham and policy adviser Stephen Miller.
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