As I posted just a little earlier today, the powerhouse Democrat lobbying firm, Podesta Group, was revealed in the indictment of Paul Manafort to have been told, in a rare though unfortunate act of candor by Manafort, that they were lobbying on behalf of the Ukraine quisling government of Viktor Yanukovych but they declined to do the requisite registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Moments ago, the head of Podesta Group, Tony Podesta, announced he is resigning:

Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Podesta announced his decision during a firm-wide meeting Monday morning and is alerting clients of his impending departure.

Podesta is handing over full operational and financial control to longtime firm CEO Kimberley Fritts, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting. Fritts and a senior group of the Podesta team will be launching a new firm in the next one or two days. Sources said the transition has been in the works for the past several months.

“[Tony] was very magnanimous and said, “This is an amazing group of people,” a source said of Podesta’s remarks. Podesta also told staff he “doesn’t intend to go quietly, or learn how to play golf.” He said he “needs to fight this as an individual, but doesn’t want the firm to fight it.”

Podesta said he “needs to fight this as an individual, but doesn’t want the firm to fight it.” Meaning what? 🤔 https://t.co/lf4PZUdt8n

— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) October 30, 2017

Indeed.

It is hard to imagine what Podesta is “fighting” if not a federal indictment of some sort. I suppose you could say that he’s going to fight to make people forget he knowingly carried water for a ruthless thug and lied about it, but that seems like a stretch to me.

And while I like my schadenfreude as much, or more, as the next guy, this is where my fears about the overbroad, carte blanche charter given to Mueller is validated. There is no circumstance under which Mueller should be allowed to look at Tony Podesta as he’s not even tangentially associated with “Russian influence” in 2016. Mueller, as we will see, has created permanent employment for himself and what amounts to a fourth branch of government.