Most U.S. voters believe President Donald Trump has been dishonest on the matter of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows.
The survey, which was conducted one month after the November midterm elections, found that 62% of Americans don’t believe that Trump has been honest or truthful about the Russia probe. Half of Americans also said that what they’ve seen of the investigation has given them more doubts about Trump’s presidency, with 31% saying their doubts are “very major.”
Mueller has filed more than 100 criminal charges in the investigation since it began in May 2017. The investigation has racked up a hefty price tag in the last 16 months, costing more than $25 million.
But Mueller has also gotten results. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort faced sentencing for conspiracy and obstruction of justice in September, though he may now face more charges after violating the conditions of his plea deal. Just last week, Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to evading federal income taxes, and paying hush money to two women on behalf of Trump ahead of the 2016 election.
Just 34% of Americans think it’s time for the investigation to end, with 45% saying the opposite, the survey found.
“Last week’s Cohen and Manafort news clearly hurt the president — no dramatic movement to be sure, but incremental erosion in President Trump’s credibility,” pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates, told NBC News.
