Prepare to be disappointed with Russia investigation conclusion

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 9:54am

Getting the fools that think Trump is going to be impeached and/or convicted of anything ready for the big let down.

For those hoping the conclusion of the Russia probe will finally help put the controversial 2016 election behind us, prepare to be disappointed. Nobody beyond special counsel Robert Mueller's team knows exactly what evidence has been found that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. We may learn there was no indication that President Trump personally did anything illegal. Or Mueller may lay out rock solid proof of a criminal conspiracy or other violations that causes a chain reaction leading to the downfall of the Trump administration.

However, based on what we know to date, the most likely outcome will be something frustratingly in between. Barring a major deviation from Justice Department policy, Trump will not be indicted. The unique role of the president calls for a unique remedy to punish wrongdoing: impeachment under Article II of the Constitution. This would require a majority in the House to impeach and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict. Upon conviction, the sole punishment is removal from office.

*

Let us assume the worst about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Say members of the Trump campaign met with an attorney they knew represented Moscow and who promised to provide opposition research on Hillary Clinton. Let us also assume that candidate Trump learned of the meeting either in advance or after the fact, and later authored the public statement that falsely described its purpose. Yet, barring some evidence that has not yet come to light, there is nothing to indicate that anything of value was actually given to the Trump campaign by Russia as a result.

So we potentially have a case of "attempted collusion," coupled with a ham-handed attempt to lie about it to the public. Is that illegal? Potentially. Could federal prosecutors build a campaign finance or other criminal case on these facts? Most likely. Will two-thirds of the Senate convict and remove President Trump on this basis alone? Absolutely not.

*

This is not to say the president will escape without consequence. The Trump Tower meeting demonstrated horrendous judgment and a willingness to violate the law. Paul Manafort should not have been allowed anywhere near a presidential campaign. The same goes for Flynn, whose baggage made him clearly unfit for a senior White House position. All of this and more will likely be described in scathing detail by Mueller and will reflect poorly on the president, his family, and those he associates with.

http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/394117-prepare-to-be-disappointed-w...

This is the guy who authored this article:
Joseph Moreno is a former federal national security prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He is now a white collar litigation partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

So it’s not just some reporter. But at this point and as screwloose as Mueller is, who the hell really knows?

Tags:

This will break Clinton supporters little black hearts

Vote

Comments

Submitted by The Aspie Corner on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 10:35am

Meh..I'll just point and laugh.

It's what the pigs deserve. Then they can go scrub toilets for all I care.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m0E9TQY4ic]

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Submitted by Azazello on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 12:56pm

CrossTalk rules are in effect ...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k8fCtJNYfw&t=276s width:500 height:300]

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by Wink on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 1:03pm

Hey, if it gets Her

Heinous off the hook for all things Russiagate that's all that matters.
ToP will be happy, with posts of Told ya So! We told you BernieBro bastids!
That's all that matters. If they can pass it off on Trump-Russia collusion to explain Hillary's loss that's all that counts. Mission accomplished.

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by aliasalias on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 2:22pm

A new expose changes the Russiagate narrative

or at least should and it will get a broad audience as this was posted at The Hill...

" Did Sen. Warner and Comey ‘Collude’ on Russia-gate?
An explosive report by investigative journalist John Solomon on the opinion page of Monday’s edition of The Hill sheds a bright light on how Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and then-FBI Director James Comey collaborated to prevent WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from discussing “technical evidence ruling out certain parties [read Russia]” in the controversial leak of Democratic Party emails to WikiLeaks during the 2016 election...."
"...Solomon’s report provides reasons why Official Washington has now put so much pressure on Ecuador to keep Assange incommunicado in its embassy in London.

Assange: Came close to a deal with the U.S. (Photo credit: New Media Days / Peter Erichsen)

The report does not say what led Comey to intervene to ruin the talks with Assange. But it came after Assange had offered to “provide technical evidence and discussion regarding who did not engage in the DNC releases,” Solomon quotes WikiLeaks’ intermediary with the government as saying. It would be a safe assumption that Assange was offering to prove that Russia was not WikiLeaks’ source of the DNC emails.

If that was the reason Comey and Warner ruined the talks, as is likely, it would reveal a cynical decision to put U.S. intelligence agents and highly sophisticated cybertools at risk, rather than allow Assange to at least attempt to prove that Russia was not behind the DNC leak.

The greater risk to Warner and Comey apparently would have been if Assange provided evidence that Russia played no role in the 2016 leaks of DNC documents."

https://consortiumnews.com/2018/06/27/did-sen-warner-and-comey-collude-o...

Submitted by Blueslide on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 5:36pm

Oh gee, a rich guy get's away with potential crime while in

office. So who cares right ? Is this meme serious ? I'm not saying he'll be found guilty, but lot's of criminals in the government get away with shit. Does this mean as progressives we just don't care now ?

I really don't understand this line of argument. Are you saying it's all a conspiracy against Trump ? I'll tell you one thing, there is an airtight case for a cover-up and obstruction. Probably won't have anything come of that either but it's still worth screaming about. So as our rights to organize, have legal abortion and appeal capital cases slowly set in the west, it would at least be a good idea to use any and all ammunition we may have to keep that from happening.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 8:58pm

I think you're referring to criminals like Robert Mueller

@Blueslide

...and I have to agree with you. His past crimes and corruption has carried over into this investigation. As Newsweek tells it:

The Congressional probe of the 2010 sale of U.S. uranium to Russia led by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is examining if the FBI (under Robertt Mueller) alerted senior Obama administration officials about corruption among the transaction’s Russian players.

The FBI under Robert Mueller knew full well the deal was corrupt. They sat on it. And all we know for sure is that Mueller's family foundation has gained a hell of a lot of wealth since then.

Before the deal was brokered in 2009, the FBI under Robert Mueller—who is now special counsel in the Russia investigation into potential collusion with the Trump campaign—had begun an investigation into corruption and extortion by senior managers of a company owned by the Russian government’s nuclear company, Rosatom. According to court filings, the FBI found enough evidence to suggest Vadim Mikerin, who headed the Rosatom subsidiary Tenex, was corrupt and high-level officials at Rosatom knew about his bribery scheme. In 2014, he pled guilty in a U.S. court case to orchestrating more than $2 million in bribe payments through shadowy accounts in Cyprus, Latvia, and Switzerland.

So why would Muller suppress this information before the deal? Will the investigation into Muller's behavior come to anything? As you say:

I'm not saying he'll be found guilty, but lot's of criminals in the government get away with shit. Does this mean as progressives we just don't care now? ...I'll tell you one thing, there is an airtight case for a cover-up and obstruction. Probably won't have anything come of that either...

That's for sure. And don't you hate how these elite all cynically use their "family foundations" to launder the bribes?

In several letters dated October 12 to various departments and agencies that either helped approve the deal or investigate the players, Grassley points out that “in 2009, when the validity of the mining licenses was at issue, the Chairman of Uranium One, Mr. Ian Telfer, donated $1 million to the Clinton Foundation via his family charity called the Fernwood Foundation.”

Telfer was also a major investor in the company UrAsia, Grassley wrote. “Between 2008 and 2010, Uranium One and Former UrAsia investors donated $8.65 million to the Clinton Foundation,” he said. These donations were made while the Uranium One sale was being hammered out.

Meanwhile, the FBI and DOJ are still stonewalling Congressional oversight and refusing to turn over documents.

The FBI said it had no comment to Newsweek questions about whether Mueller alerted senior Obama administration officials, including Clinton, about the investigation before they brokered the deal. The DOJ did not immediately respond to questions. As secretary of state, Clinton, along with then-Attorney General Eric Holder, presided on the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment that approved the deal.

You are right. They can get away with anything they want.

I am against any more of these phony investigations into US corruption. They are allembarrassing and all they ever accomplish is spending vast amounts of tax dollars and making the American people look like fools on the World Stage, who have just had their pockets picked.

Submitted by Blueslide on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 9:18pm

@Pluto's Republic As i said, I don't need

@Pluto's Republic As i said, I don't need Robert Mueller to tell me that Trump has obstructed justice. I just need a recounting of Trump's statements and actions.

As for these tribunals being embarrassing, I don't embarrass easy. But I gotta admit, listening to avowed progressives tell me there is no evidence of Trump misdeeds and that its all a conspiracy makes me feel a bit warm in the cheeks for some reason.

#5

...and I have to agree with you. His past crimes and corruption has carried over into this investigation. As Newsweek tells it:

The Congressional probe of the 2010 sale of U.S. uranium to Russia led by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is examining if the FBI (under Robertt Mueller) alerted senior Obama administration officials about corruption among the transaction’s Russian players.

The FBI under Robert Mueller knew full well the deal was corrupt. They sat on it. And all we know for sure is that Mueller's family foundation has gained a hell of a lot of wealth since then.

Before the deal was brokered in 2009, the FBI under Robert Mueller—who is now special counsel in the Russia investigation into potential collusion with the Trump campaign—had begun an investigation into corruption and extortion by senior managers of a company owned by the Russian government’s nuclear company, Rosatom. According to court filings, the FBI found enough evidence to suggest Vadim Mikerin, who headed the Rosatom subsidiary Tenex, was corrupt and high-level officials at Rosatom knew about his bribery scheme. In 2014, he pled guilty in a U.S. court case to orchestrating more than $2 million in bribe payments through shadowy accounts in Cyprus, Latvia, and Switzerland.

So why would Muller suppress this information before the deal? Will the investigation into Muller's behavior come to anything? As you say:

I'm not saying he'll be found guilty, but lot's of criminals in the government get away with shit. Does this mean as progressives we just don't care now? ...I'll tell you one thing, there is an airtight case for a cover-up and obstruction. Probably won't have anything come of that either...

That's for sure. And don't you hate how these elite all cynically use their "family foundations" to launder the bribes?

In several letters dated October 12 to various departments and agencies that either helped approve the deal or investigate the players, Grassley points out that “in 2009, when the validity of the mining licenses was at issue, the Chairman of Uranium One, Mr. Ian Telfer, donated $1 million to the Clinton Foundation via his family charity called the Fernwood Foundation.”

Telfer was also a major investor in the company UrAsia, Grassley wrote. “Between 2008 and 2010, Uranium One and Former UrAsia investors donated $8.65 million to the Clinton Foundation,” he said. These donations were made while the Uranium One sale was being hammered out.

Meanwhile, the FBI and DOJ are still stonewalling Congressional oversight and refusing to turn over documents.

The FBI said it had no comment to Newsweek questions about whether Mueller alerted senior Obama administration officials, including Clinton, about the investigation before they brokered the deal. The DOJ did not immediately respond to questions. As secretary of state, Clinton, along with then-Attorney General Eric Holder, presided on the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment that approved the deal.

You are right. They can get away with anything they want.

I am against any more of these phony investigations into US corruption. They are allembarrassing and all they ever accomplish is spending vast amounts of tax dollars and making the American people look like fools on the World Stage, who have just had their pockets picked.

Submitted by Wink on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 11:17pm

There may have been

some Trump hanky panky
@Blueslide
re. Russia, but it didn't have a thing to do (or had damn little to do) with election d!ckery.
And that's what this investigation initially was about. Election d!ckery.
That the investigation has expanded into other areas of Trump-Russia shenanigans is bull$h!t, but it won't stop Hillbots and ToP from saying, See! We TOLD you Bernie asshats! Trump filthy! Stole the election! Which is why we claim the Russiagate narrative is b.s.
"But I gotta admit, listening to avowed progressives tell me there is no evidence of Trump misdeeds and that its all a conspiracy... " Well, that's becuz there is no evidence. And becuz some of us don't want to let Hillary off the hook via some cock'n'bull "Russia!!" narrative. Her wishes Her loss was that simple, that Russia "stole it." Truth is she lost becuz she stunk as a candidate, couldn't campaign for crap, and not very many liked Her. And BernieBros and Berniecrats (and other Dems) either stayed home or didn't vote the top line. And despite all that Her STILL got 3 million more votes than Trump. Becuz she won the most states where most people live. Thank the gods for electoral votes! But lost more states than Trump. So, "we" are Not claiming "conspiracy" out of our ass. There is a conspiracy about where this "Russia!!" narrative came from, where it started, how it started, yada yada. And there's a dead body that belonged to a once alive Seth Rich. So... conspiracy. Now, some of us believe Hillary Rotten Clinton made the whole thing up. I would be one of those. Made up the "Russian dossier," made up the "Russian hacking," made it all up. With DNC help, of course, and the help of Hillary's inner circle. And, who knows? Maybe even the FBI. So, that's where the conspiracy comes from. Only Seth Rich likely knows the where and what, and dead men tell no tales. So, conspiracy heaven! Whether any of it's true or not who knows? Besides Seth? Hillary could be absolutely right and "The Russians" stole Her election! Could be! But my money is on Hillary being the guilty party in all of this b.s. Well, Her and Debbie what's-her-name Schultz and the DNC and... That's my bet. And Trump involved in very little of these shenanigans, if at all. ymmv. Is anyone going to jail? No. At least not the major players, and least of all Trump.

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by Blueslide on Thu, 06/28/2018 - 8:29am

@Wink As far as I'm

@Wink As far as I'm concerned, there is no vindication for Hillary. I don't care what la-la-land TOP is living in. She was a lousy candidate and lost even though she cheated.

What we do know is Trump fired Comey because as he said, about "the whole Russia thing"-pretty sure that's obstruction. He's dangling pardons out like candy. He's too stupid to not be obvious and it's not his m.o. anyway.

Trump is a two bit conman who is not good enough to stay liquid. So he plays with mafia leaders to get what he wants. His associations with criminals are legendary and go back decades.

I appreciate that none of this falls in the scope of election fixing. But we both know that Mueller was given very broad investigative powers. We also know that Trump breaks laws, then worries about a buy out later. That's how a lotta the rich roll and I am asking that this time, he gets no buy out.

some Trump hanky panky #5.1.1 re. Russia, but it didn't have a thing to do (or had damn little to do) with election d!ckery. And that's what this investigation initially was about. Election d!ckery. That the investigation has expanded into other areas of Trump-Russia shenanigans is bull$h!t, but it won't stop Hillbots and ToP from saying, See! We TOLD you Bernie asshats! Trump filthy! Stole the election! Which is why we claim the Russiagate narrative is b.s. "But I gotta admit, listening to avowed progressives tell me there is no evidence of Trump misdeeds and that its all a conspiracy... " Well, that's becuz there is no evidence. And becuz some of us don't want to let Hillary off the hook via some cock'n'bull "Russia!!" narrative. Her wishes Her loss was that simple, that Russia "stole it." Truth is she lost becuz she stunk as a candidate, couldn't campaign for crap, and not very many liked Her. And BernieBros and Berniecrats (and other Dems) either stayed home or didn't vote the top line. And despite all that Her STILL got 3 million more votes than Trump. Becuz she won the most states where most people live. Thank the gods for electoral votes! But lost more states than Trump. So, "we" are Not claiming "conspiracy" out of our ass. There is a conspiracy about where this "Russia!!" narrative came from, where it started, how it started, yada yada. And there's a dead body that belonged to a once alive Seth Rich. So... conspiracy. Now, some of us believe Hillary Rotten Clinton made the whole thing up. I would be one of those. Made up the "Russian dossier," made up the "Russian hacking," made it all up. With DNC help, of course, and the help of Hillary's inner circle. And, who knows? Maybe even the FBI. So, that's where the conspiracy comes from. Only Seth Rich likely knows the where and what, and dead men tell no tales. So, conspiracy heaven! Whether any of it's true or not who knows? Besides Seth? Hillary could be absolutely right and "The Russians" stole Her election! Could be! But my money is on Hillary being the guilty party in all of this b.s. Well, Her and Debbie what's-her-name Schultz and the DNC and... That's my bet. And Trump involved in very little of these shenanigans, if at all. ymmv. Is anyone going to jail? No. At least not the major players, and least of all Trump.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 06/27/2018 - 11:50pm

Did you see this essay about Mueller posted here?

@Blueslide

Bob in Portland did an excellent job detailing Mueller's history. I think that most of us here agree that Trump is corrupt to his core, but have deep reservations about Russia doing anything that interfered with the election and causing Her to lose to Trump.
My personal feelings are that even if Russia did meddle in the election they didn't come close to the meddling of Israel, the Saudis, Haim Saben a huge Jewish donor, the Koch brothers, the many other billionaires and of course gerrymandering and voter fraud just to name a few.

What Mueller won't find

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by Blueslide on Thu, 06/28/2018 - 8:51am

@snoopydawg I don't doubt for a

@snoopydawg I don't doubt for a second that Russia attempted to influence the election. As you rightly pointed out all our "friends" already do. I don't believe they had much affect either.

Manafort has been ass deep in Russian's to maintain his shopping addiction. It's not unreasonable to assume he was looking out for Russian interests while Campaign Manager.

I read some of the article on Mueller. I'm sorry but there is little evidence of anything there except that rich people wind up in the same circles as rich people.

There is serious work on Trump's dalliances with Russians from Bill Moyers here:
https://investigaterussia.org/timelines/everything-we-know-about-russia-...

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 06/28/2018 - 11:05am

When I first heard

"the Russians stole
@Blueslide
the election," my first question was how??
Even if "The Russians" picked just a few states to flip in Trumps favor that's a TON of voting machines! And, granted, one only needs a few votes here and a few votes there to flip it, but that's still a TON of voting machines! So, my first reaction was "bull$h!t." And still is.
Now, did they "meddle?" Yeah, they very likely meddled. Who doesn't? And so what?
Was there any "collusion" between the Trump team and Russians? Maybe.
Did it cause the election to be flipped? Doubt it.

For my money this Russiagate nonsense was concocted by Hillary, DWS, the DNC, and Hillary's circle "just in case" she lost the election. Why? Becuz she spent a $Billion (or more) of other people's money to ensure Her win. And, "They" all expected a Return on Investment for their hard earned support. After she lost she couldn't very well offer up an "ooops" as an excuse for Her defeat. (which is why I believe it took so long for Her Heinous to concede on Election Night - Her still getting Her ducks in a row re. Russiagate). Solution? The Russians stole it! We have the proof! Our server was hacked! Here's the dossier! blah blah blah. Except the server wasn't hacked, and the dossier was bought and paid for. The proof the FBI is (not) looking for is in DWS' laptop computer. Well, likely erased by now, but they had it in their hands and gave all that evidence back to the (likely) criminal. So...
So, somehow the FBI and the M$M have bought this unbelievable narrative and, here we are, 18 months later, and Mueller is looking for his own exit strategy from this horse$h!t narrative.

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 06/28/2018 - 11:33pm

You don't think Israel hasn't affected our elections?

@Blueslide

Well they have been not only interfering with our elections for quite some time, but they basically run our foreign policies. One of reasons we're overthrowing one country after another is to make Israel the only superpower in the Middle East.

No person can get elected to congress unless Israel says that they can. Our government is so beholden to Israel that they will always put its interests ahead of ours. Case in point. The House just passed legislation that would make it illegal for any American company to take part in boycotting Israel. The ACLU says that this is unconstitutional and it is. This is how much power it has over our government. This bill was created by a democrat, BTW, not a republican that is beholden to Russia according to the propaganda that we've been bombarded with for two years.

Now what legislation has Russia forced the government to pass since Trump was elected? Or tell me any other thing that the "Russian interference" has caused?

As for what Manafort has been accused of, he is being charged for not registering as a foreign lobbyist and for not paying his taxes and probably for money laundering, not for helping Putin put Trump into office. These are facts.

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by Blueslide on Fri, 06/29/2018 - 12:47pm

@snoopydawg Oh I absolutely

@snoopydawg Oh I absolutely believe Israel impacts our elections. If I inferred otherwise my apologies.

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 06/28/2018 - 10:41am

Exactly. n/t

@snoopydawg

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by Lookout on Thu, 06/28/2018 - 9:47am

Russiagate morphs into FBIgate

That would be nice if it does. We need to shine a light on the corruption and collusion within the FBI. The $hill clearly broke the law but was exonerated by Comey. She swayed the election (for T-rump and against Bernie)...with no pending charges or even an investigation.

As to Russia swaying the election... get real.

If there was a real effort to investigate T-rump it would be so easy to use the emolument clause. It is theater to keep us distracted.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”