Many years back, I worked for a manufacturing firm that created an Internal Auditing Department, with the intent of checking the plant’s machinery, systems and procedures to find problem areas that needed to be corrected.  These areas could have led to quality, efficiency or safety issues, that could impact the bottom line in terms of cost and employees.

In the beginning, much good work was done.  The audits changed the mindset of the various department managers with regard to such issues, and since a failing audit could lead to not only a sub-standard performance review and a smaller cost of living increase, but even job termination if satisfactory progress was not being made.

As the managers mindset changed, it became more and more difficult to find defective or potential problem areas.  That’s a good thing, you would think.  The plant was more efficient, had fewer product quality issues and fewer on-the-job injuries.  Upper management was happy and rewarded the Internal Audit Department managers and employees with raises and good reviews.

But, as the problem areas were being corrected on the spot, so to speak, the auditors were recording fewer and fewer low-rated audits.  So, they began to look at things they would have ignored or not considered report-worthy in previous audits.  They began to try to justify the need for the department by looking at and reporting things that were not causing any of the aforementioned issues, but just didn’t look right.

The plant managers were furious that the auditors were throwing them under the bus to keep their jobs and good reviews, as they were being chastised by upper management for lower-rated audit scores.  The spirit of cooperation went out the window.  Eventually, the department managers took to not correcting some of the very minor infractions just to give the auditors something to report so they would complete the audit and move on.

The managers were willing to take a little heat for minor defects that were easily corrected, and would have been corrected already if not for an upcoming audit, in exchange for the audit team disrupting production for days at a time, searching for a reason to keep them on the payroll.

It seems that’s about where we are in the Mueller investigation.  Sure, it has turned up some relatively minor infractions, but the big prize that would bring down Trump’s Presidency has alluded them so far.  Believe me, in today’s Trump-hating Washington environment, had any smoking gun been found, it would have found a willing leak to the friendly press by now.

The investigators are widening their search in ever-increasing circles to try to find something, anything, that would justify the time and expense of the probe, whether it relates to Russian collusion or anything else that can be exposed.  It doesn’t even have to be directly related to Trump; anyone who has ever done business or been associated with, or employed by Trump is now a potential target if they can dig up some dirt that might simply embarrass the President.  Few American citizens could face this type of intense scrutiny without something being discovered.

It’s time for the investigators to put their cards on the table and show their hand.  They either have something or they don’t.  If they do, make some charges.  If they don’t, then let’s move on.