Introduction
Independent Special Counsel is the only position within Department of Justice (DOJ) that can investigate federal officials independent of the White House and the President. FBI in the DOJ is not independent. Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey (May, 17) and now he fired DOJ head - Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Nov, 18) shortly after (the next day of) the Midterm Election after Democrats became the Majority in the House. It is widely believed and it is actually evident (author's - my view) that Donald Trump has been trying to obstruct the investigation during all the process of the investigation into his alleged collusion with Russia in interfering the presidential election.
Robert Mueller (the former FBI director) was not appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions because of his recusal. [He was the first Senator (R-AL) to endorse Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign and was appointed Attorney General after Donald Trump became President and he resigned his Senator position]. Robert Mueller was appointed by the Deputy Attorney General (the second highest ranking position in DOJ) Rod Rosenstein.
On 3/22/19 Robert Mueller concluded his Russia Investigation and handed over his report to the AG William Barr. It appears (to me) that the dot between the Russia interference with election and the Trump and Trump associates were not connected at this point in the history of this country, although 6 of the Trump close associates were indicted (and/or found guilty) with many other crimes (lie to the FBI or Congress, financial/tax fraud, witness tampering and others); and although mounting knowledge the public already know all pointing to the direction of That Collusion, with Reasonable Doubt. No further inner circle of Trump including his family member were indicted. Is it the strict rule of DOJ that the sitting Individual 45 (in that position) could not possibly be indicted from within DOJ? (I do not know it for sure).
On 4/18/19 The new Attorney General William Barr finally released a redacted version of the report to the Congress and the public after he released a 4-page summary and after the battle between Congress and DOJ for full report. Immediately upon the release of the redacted Mueller report, William Barr was criticized as acting as a defense attorney of Individual 45 on trying to clear Individual 45 of any wrongdoing and/or crimes on this Russia case [He held a news conference before a few hours of the release of the report, claiming 'No Collusion' as well as 'No Evidence' on obstruction.]
Loose Collusion And Alleged Conspiracy In Election Interference
Before Appointment of Independent Special Counsel (Robert Mueller)
Timelines
No one was indicted or convicted before the Independent Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in 5/17/17. Several web sites organized the timeline of the Russia investigation, tracing all the way back to years ago or even decades ago. Some are concise, others are detailed. According to the Steele Dossier, Russia had 'cultivate, support and assist' Donald Trump from 5 years ago (year 12). The Wikipedia time line not only trace back to decades ago, but also timeline scheduled pending events. Here is a list that are credible sources of information:
Steele Dossier - the roadmap of FBI investigation and the comparison of the allegations with later findings
The credibility of the Steele Dossier was backed by the fact that later findings have verified some or quite a few of its allegations; and none of its allegations have been disproved so far [except Michael Cohen's alleged Prague trip]. There is a story about late senator John McCain's role (a Republican) in introducing Steele Dossier to the FBI, although the launch of FBI's Russia Investigation was triggered by the leaked conversation of George Papadopoulos to an Australian Diplomat - Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton - a few months before FBI was alerted by the Steele Dossier. The fire of FBI director Comey was considered as the milestone evidence for Individual 45's obstruction of justice in Russia investigation. This post summarize and compare the Steele Dossier with later findings.
A Brief Summary on the Opening of FBI Investigation code named as Crossfire Hurricane
- Beginning in 3/10/16, Russian Federation's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) hacked the computers and email accounts of organizations, employees, and volunteers supporting the Clinton Campaign. By 4/x/16, the GRU gained access/hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
- 4/x/16 Papadopoulos learned the dirt from Mifsud that Russian government officials were in possession of "thousands of emails" that could be politically damaging to Hillary Clinto
- 5/10/16 Papadopoulos met Alexander Downer (the Australian Diplomat to Britain) in a London bar, and told (leaked to) him about the Clinton emails over heavy drinks
- 5/x/16 DNC and DCCC became aware that their computer systems had been compromised by unauthorized intrusions and hired a security company (CrowdStrike) to identify the extent of the intrusions. 6/15/16 CrowdStrike publicly announced that Russia was behind the hacking.
- After Wikipedia released DNC emails 7/22/16, 7/26/16 Australia informed FBI about encounter between Downer and Papadopoulos and the Leak
- 7/31/16 FBI officially open the investigation on Russia Meddling code named as Crossfire Hurricane
- 9/19/16 FBI received the Steele Dossier
- 11/1/16 FBI stopped receiving intelligence from Steele
- 5/9/17 FBI Director Comey was fired by Trump
- 5/17/17 Mueller was appointed as special counsel and took over the Investigation
After Appointment of Independent Special Counsel (Robert Muller)
The Redacted Mueller Report
Mueller's Statement On His Report
Mueller Testimony Transcripts (House Judiciary Committee, House Intelligence Committee)
What Has the Investigation Established and Mueller's Evidentiary Considerations (in Introduction)
quote: Although the investigation established that [.......omitted for Russia side] and that the Trump Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russia efforts, it did not establish [simplified by author: conspiracy/Coordination].
Mueller explains when substantial credible evidence enable Him to reach a conclusion with confidence, the report would state that the investigation established certain actions/events/facts. Then he explains that when a statement - that the investigation did not establish particular facts - does not mean there was no evidence of those facts.
Mueller's Definition of Collusion Or Conspiracy Or Coordination in Introduction
When he evaluates the Evidence about collective individuals committed the crimes, he applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of 'collusion', although he still had used the word 'collude' when he communicated with the Acting Attorney General regarding investigations' scope and the fact that the word collusion had been widely used in public reporting. He then explains: collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability in the United States Code nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law.
He further explains: coordination (the term appeared on his appointment order for special counsel) does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. He then defines coordination as - require an agreement - tacit or express - between Trump Campaign and Russian government. He then said he applied the term coordination in that sense [i.e. agreement - tacit or express which requires more than the parties taking actions that were informed or responded to the other party's actions or interests] that his report did not establish that the Trump Campaign and Russia coordinated in.......
Section IV of This Part of the report identified numerous LINKs between Russian government and the Trump Campaign.
[author Hong Gan's interpretation and comment]
According to Mueller's introduction section, he chose not to indict Individual 45 based on his application of the criminal standard of 'Conspiracy' out of his prudence. He believed that there are not Substantial evidence to establish that Trump Campaign's actions constituted the crime of Conspiracy and to potential override the Justice Department's rule [that a sitting President might not be indicted] He believed that only the fact that Trump Campaign was 'Informed' by the offer from Putin (to help him to be elected) and they also Responded/and accepted that offer is not enough to constitute the crime of Conspiracy which he used the word coordination. Conspiracy requires more - the agreement (tacit or express) in interfering the election.
Therefore, his conclusion is: There are not Substantial evidence to indict individual 45 for the crime of Conspiracy/Coordination. In addition, he also did not refute 'collusion' including those collusions in the public reporting. [A typical example is Adam Schiff's statement: quote - ...there’s ample evidence of collusion in plain sight but that is not the same thing as proof of a criminal conspiracy. ...What we’re talking about here is the difference between conduct that rises to the level of criminality and conduct that is deeply unethical, unpatriotic and corrupt that may not be criminal]
Due to the nature of this type of crime [Political Conspiracy]. Cover up of evidence or to use the term 'Plausible Deniability' that [I saw repeatedly in the Steele's dossier] are not the AFTER EVENT scheme. They are BEFORE EVENT scheme. Cover up is part of the scheme and was designed into the Crime before the crime occurred. (Putin was a previous KGB agent). Therefore, direct evidence for some aspect of the crime or to say Conspiracy might not be discoverable or hard to obtain. That fact does not suggest that we should not continue the TRUTH Hunt. Using inferences [based on the principle of Beyond/With Reasonable Doubt], we should seek a whole picture of this Russia Collusion case as close as possible to the truth. We questioned: why Donald Trump was/is so afraid of the public to know what he and Putin had talked about in their summit meeting? why Individual 45 offered so many to Russia that is against the National Interest and did not ask for anything in return? and finally why he has been so anxiously trying to thwart the Russia investigation all the way to the release of the Mueller report (see my experience in Daily Log: 4/17/19) and see this post for the summary on Mueller's report on Obstruction of Justice.
_________________________________________
Further Comment On Truth Hunt
According to the Mueller Report, he based his decision on the framework of the crime of Conspiracy, the term Collusion was not anywhere in the federal criminal code; he cited from three law dictionary the definition for Collusion, they are essentially the synonyms of Conspiracy. Because of Attorney General Barr's biased and mischaracterization of the findings in Mueller report which was complained and criticized by Mueller himself as 'sow public confusion' that failed to capture the context, nature and substance of his report, I intend to use the word Loose Collusion for the Russian Case to not only differentiate from the Conspiracy, bus also to be consistent with the statement from Adam Schiff both before Mueller Report -[see quote above] and after Mueller Report [the report is the proof that I am right about collusion and obstruction]; also to integrate, absorb and make sense of the factual aspects of the widely public reporting from credible media source. [I could use the non-criminal collusion for my exploration of truth, the reason I do want to use that wording - I am not trying to create any term in the legal filed- because I personally believed the statute criminal code are not ultimate; they could be subject to change in their stringency for the standard of a Crime and they could also be varied among different parts of the world. What is mattered to me more than the Coding is the fundamental principle of the Concept of Justice underlying the Code that will guide me in the Truth Hunt]. With that clarification on the word 'Loose Collusion', I would take this 'Loose Collusion' as the Fact instead of allegation regardless whether the General Public currently believed it or not, same as the FACT that Russia had interference the election (-a fact - general public already accepted and deemed as true]. I would consider LINK (the Mueller Report) identified as to be more broader than the Loose Collusion.
As regard to the allegation of Conspiracy, I want to propose a - Hypothesis of A Conspiracy Scenario - as my personal interest in Truth Hunt and I discussed them in a separate Post
Summary of all the parties that was indicted and convicted - Trump Associates
References:
All The Criminal Charges To Emerge From Robert Mueller's Investigation (NPR)
All of Robert Mueller’s indictments and plea deals in the Russia investigation (on Vox)
The Mueller indictments so far: Lies, trolls and hacks
Robert Mueller’s team indicted or got guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies which is composed of six former Trump associates (see table next), 26 Russian nationals, three Russian companies (see this post - Russia Interference In Election, one California man, and one London-based lawyer.
| name | time | indictment and/or convicted violation | current status (plea, trial, conviction, sentence) |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Papadopoulos (former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser); | arrested: July, year 17; pleaded guilty: 10/5/17 | lie to FBI | sentenced, completed term of imprisonment (12/7/18) court statement of offense |
| Paul Manafort (former campaign chair) | plea deal: 8/21/18 | related mainly to his past work for Ukrainian politicians and his finances | was convicted 8 counts of financial crimes; sentenced (combined) 7.5 years; court filing |
| Rick Gates (former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner) | plea deal: 2/23/18 | conspiracy against the United States and making false statements to the Special Counsel’s Office and FBI agents | awaiting sentencing court statement of offense |
| Michael Flynn (Trump’s former national security adviser) | pleaded guilty: 12/1/17 | making false statements to FBI | awaiting sentencing court statement of offense |
| Michael Cohen (Trump’s former lawyer) | plea deal: 11/29/18 | finance/tax crimes; campaign finance violations (hush money case); making false statements to Congress; | convicted and sentenced court filing |
| Roger Stone (longtime Trump adviser) | arrested 1/25/19 | 7 counts: lying to Congress about his efforts to get in touch with WikiLeaks during the campaign; witness tampering; and other | pleaded 'not guilty'; convicted 11/15/19, awaiting sentencing; indictment court filing |
Links between Russian government and the Trump Campaign (Mueller Report) [Table of Contents]
This Post went into details on LINKsCampaign Period Contacts
- Trump Tower Moscow Project
- George Papadopoulos
- Carter Page
- Dimitri Simes and the Center for the National Interest
- 6/9/16 Meeting
- Events at the Republican National Convention
- Post-Convention Contacts with Kislyak
- Paul Manafort
Post-Election and Transition-Period Contacts
- Immediate Post-Election Activity
- Kirill Dmitriev's Transition-Era Outreach to the Incoming Administration
- Ambassador Kislyak's Meeting with Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn
- Jared Kushner's Meeting with Sergey Gorkov
- Petr Aven's Outreach Efforts to the Transition Team
- Carter Page Contact with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich
- Contacts With and Through Michael T. Flynn
Evidence Implicate or Indicate Loose Collusion
(this post is about this topic)- 6/9/16 Meeting
- Trump Campaign And The Dissemination of Hacked Materials
- Paul Manafort's Contacts with Russia through Kilimnik
- Trump Campaign's Involvement In Russia's Social Media Campaign
- Trump Campaign's Efforts to Obtain Deleted Clinton Emails
- Trump Campaign's Response To Reports About Russian Support for Trump
- Other
Policy Orientations Implicate Collusional Exchange Against National Interests
[particularly those policy 'change' contrasts before and after election or contrasts earlier time from later times]| Policy or Action | time | national interests | additional description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trump's disclosure of classified information to Russia | |||
| Sanction lift | |||
| Syria troop withdrawal | |||
| repeatedly suggested to withdraw US from NATO | |||
| tried to include Russia in the G-7 on G-7 summit |
The Mystery of Trump-Putin Meeting or Summit
References:- Trump and Putin Have Met Five Times. What Was Said Is a Mystery. (New York Times)
- Trump Had Yet Another Secret Meeting With Putin (Rolling Stone)
- The mysterious on-again, off-again Trump-Putin meeting in Paris.(Washington Examiner)
- Putin saved his warmest greeting for Trump as he met world leaders in Paris, and Trump returned the love(Businessinsider.com)
| Location | time | event | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamburg, Germany | 7/7/17 | G-20 summit | took his interpreter’s notes afterward and ordered him not to disclose what he heard to anyone |
| Hamburg, Germany | Later that night | dinner | Trump pulled up a seat next to Putin to talk without any American witnesses at all. |
| Vietnam | 11/11/17 | APEC summit | Trump seemed to take Mr. Putin’s word that he had not interfered in American elections |
| Helsinki, Finland | 7/16/18 | US-Russia summit | They kicked out everyone but the interpreters. |
| Brussels, Belgium | July, year 18 | NATO summit | They spoke privately for hours; The only other American in the room was a State Department translator named Marina Gross; repeatedly” [privately?] discussed pull the U.S. out of NATO. |
| Paris, France | 11/11/18 | World War I centennial | While Putin's handshakes with Macron and Merkel were brief, he and Trump engaged in mutual arm and back patting. He also flashed Trump a thumbs up, which is something of a signature move while Macron rebuked nationalism (as opposed to patriotism) in what could be read as a direct attack on Trump's 'America First' agenda. (the on-again, off-again might imply the increasing difficulty for them to exchange facing increased cloud result from Russia investigation) |
| Buenos Aires, Argentina | 11/30/18 | G-20 | cancelled |
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