Trump attacks aren't working: Support for Mueller probe jumps 11 points

The White House smear campaign targeting special counsel Robert Mueller, which Trump has intensified in recent weeks, isn’t working — at least not according to the latest polling results from Fox News.

Support for the Russia probe has jumped a startling 11 points in the last month.

Not only that, but most Americans expect the investigation to find proof of criminal wrongdoing by Trump.

The Fox News poll shows that a clear majority of Americans, 59 percent of registered voters, approve of Mueller’s investigation, up from 48 percent in last month’s Fox News survey.

The same majority, 59 percent, also believe the investigation is at least somewhat likely to find that Trump “committed criminal or impeachable offenses.” That’s three percent higher than when Fox asked the same question in April.

Notably, most of the poll was conducted before major news dropped on Tuesday about the criminal convictions of Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen — and about Cohen’s explosive revelation that Trump directed him to commit crimes. The poll was conducted Aug. 19-21; the news about Manafort and Cohen came out the afternoon of Aug. 21.

The public is rallying around Mueller and the rule of law, just as Trump is growing increasingly unhinged in his attacks on the investigation.

“Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs spent over 30 hours with the White House Councel, only with my approval, for purposes of transparency,” Trump tweeted this week.

“Why aren’t Mueller and the 17 Angry Democrats looking at the meetings concerning the Fake Dossier and all of the lying that went on in the FBI and DOJ?” he frantically complained on Aug. 5.

Manafort now faces a second trial in September, where Mueller’s prosecutors will present evidence that Trump’s former campaign chairman committed conspiracy, money laundering, and lying to federal agents.

Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal attorney, was also subpoenaed on Wednesday by New York state prosecutors who are investigating fraud at the Trump Foundation.

Another key finding in the Fox poll is that Democrats had a gigantic 11-point advantage when respondents were asked which party they planned to support in November.

Should Democrats gain control of the House, it would give them authority to begin impeachment hearings against Trump.

It seems that all Trump can do to defend himself now is engage in a hollow smear campaign — and most Americans aren’t buying it.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.