White House staffers worry about being recorded: report

White House staffers are reportedly worried about being recorded amid new developments in the special counsel’s probe into Russia’s election interference.

“Everyone is paranoid,” a person close to Trump’s White House told Politico.

“Everyone thinks they’re being recorded.”

{mosads}Former national security adviser Michael Flynn last week pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents.

As part of the plea agreement, Flynn agreed to cooperate fully with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. For the time being, at least, he will remain free, although the charge he faces carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Part of the plea deal says that by “participating in covert law enforcement activities,” Flynn could possibly avoid jail time.

According to Politico, White House attorneys and private counsel have asked whether the current and former Trump aides they are representing have talked to any former colleagues and whether they think their communications could have been recorded.

“They’re probably shitting bricks,” said an attorney who represents a senior Trump aide caught up in the probe. “How can you not?”

White House lawyer Ty Cobb told the news outlet that Mueller is “too good a professional and too good a prosecutor to tape represented individuals.”

“And he doesn’t want his office or his important mission to be tainted,” he said.

People who are known to the special counsel to have a lawyer representing them on a specific topic are not supposed to be taped by a witness on that topic, according to Politico. 

Cobb added he doesn’t know “anyone who feels that paranoia.”

“To the uninformed and inexperienced this may be enjoyable. But in reality, it is unhinged speculation with no foundation,” he said.

President Trump has repeatedly dismissed the Russia investigation. This past weekend, he appeared to suggest in a tweet that he knew Flynn had lied to the FBI when he fired him. Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, later said that he drafted the tweet, calling it “my mistake.” Trump this weekend also denied he ever asked former FBI Director James Comey to stop investigating Flynn, referring to the assertion as “more Fake News” and “another Comey lie.”