http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politi...z&ocid=U221DHP
Much as the Clintons did, Mr. Trump is assembling a team of lawyers both inside and outside the White House to draw issues related to the investigation away from the rest of the West Wing. And he has embarked on a campaign to discredit the investigators before they can even get very far in their investigation, hoping to do to
Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, what the Clintons did to
Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel.
Advisers to Mr. Trump have studied and privately expressed admiration for the no-holds-barred way the Clintons attacked Mr. Starr’s integrity at every turn in an effort to shift attention from their conduct to his during the Whitewater and Monica S. Lewinsky investigations. The Clintons, Mr. Trump’s advisers said, knew how to “go to the mattresses,” a phrase sometimes used approvingly in this White House, and they added that they were trying to do the same thing.
“The key is to go on offense and to define your opponent, and Trump is a master of that in terms of shoring up his base,” said Ron Bonjean, a longtime Republican strategist with ties to the White House. “That’s exactly what the Clintons were doing too, which was shoring up their base.”
But the strategy has driven a wedge inside Mr. Trump’s political and legal teams. Some of Mr. Trump’s lawyers have argued that the president is better off not undermining Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director who served presidents of both parties and enjoys broad bipartisan respect in Washington.
Trump taking a page from the Clinton playbook
