Posted on 05/19/2017 9:59:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Eli Lake is right: The DOJ’s appointment of widely-respected former prosecutor Robert Mueller to lead the special inquiry into the Trump campaign’s potential collusion with Russia is a reprieve for a Trump Administration in crisis—a reprieve that it will almost certainly squander, but a reprieve nonetheless.
How do we know? Because the responses from Trump’s most dogged critics on the Russia question betray a kind of anxiety about the Mueller appointment—an anxiety that the no-nonsense law enforcement wise man will lower the temperature in Washington without actually uncovering enough damaging material to bring down the President.
Take, for example, Josh Marshall declaring that while he has confidence in Mueller to identify and expose any criminal activities undertaken by Trump or his associates, he won’t be able to prosecute the real Trump-Russia wrongdoing: a labyrinthian “conspiracy” which may not even involve any illegal behavior.
It is critical to understand that the most important details we need to know about the Russian disruption campaign and the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with it may not be crimes. Indeed, I would say that the crimes we’re likely to discover will likely be incidental or secondary to the broader actions and activities we’re trying to uncover. Just hypothetically, what if Russia had a disruption campaign, Trump campaign officials gave winks and nods to nudge it forward but violated no laws? That’s hard to figure but by no means impossible. (Our criminal laws are not really designed for this set of facts.) The simple point is that the most important ‘bad acts’ may well not be crimes. That means not only is no one punished but far, far more important, we would never know what happened.
And here’s David Frum in the Atlantic making a similar objection:
The special counsel will investigate whether people in the Trump campaign violated any laws when they gleefully leveraged the fruits of Russian espionage to advance their campaign.
By contrast, what happened in plain sight—cheering rather than condemning a Russian attack on American democracy—will be treated as a non-issue, because it was not criminal, merely anti-democratic and disloyal.
Since the summer before the election, Trump’s critics have been suggesting or sometimes stating outright that Russia is involved with a criminal conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of Trump’s inner circle. But now that an unimpeachable bulldog prosecutor has been named to probe these very allegations, the critics seem to be trying to move the goalposts, saying that the real problem isn’t criminality, but the sleaze and outlandish behavior of the Trump campaign more generally—behavior that was already obvious to voters when they went to the polls in 2016, and will be even more obvious when they go to the polls in 2018.
Trump’s outrageous and indefensible conduct around the Russia investigation—his firing of Comey to attempt to quash the inquiry, along with the subsequent allegations that he demanded Comey’s loyalty early on and leaned on him to drop the investigation of Mike Flynn—cries out for a special counsel, and Mueller, by all accounts, is a consummate choice. Any wrongdoing related to the Trump campaign, from the President himself to bottom-feeders like Carter Page, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
But the Trump-Russia hounds now seem to be realizing the limits of the scandal they have been pursuing—yes, maybe someone like Manafort will go down for money-laundering, and yes, Trump had shady deals with Russian banks as a real estate tycoon in the 1990s. But this is simply not as big of a scandal as they would like it to be.
Mueller seems well-equipped to do what the country sorely needs right now: Determine if there was criminal collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and hold any wrongdoers accountable. He is not, however, equipped to do what Trump’s most relentless critics seem to want: Launch a wide-ranging and essentially political investigation into Donald Trump and his associates with the aim not of bringing the matter to a resolution, but of creating a steady stream of media frenzies that paralyzes an administration they loathe.
Mueller was the FBI head when Russia informed us TWICE about the perps whom we—Obama and Mueller—chose to ignore.
http://jaytaylormedia.com/missing-evidence-of-prior-fbi-relationship-with-boston-bomber/ :
Ever since the early days of the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, it’s been commonly understood that Tamerlan Tsarnaev first came to the attention of the FBI thanks to a March 2011 “warning” from the FSB, Russia’s security services.
We now know this to be false. In a little-noticed exchange during congressional testimony, the FBI’s then-director Robert Mueller admitted that the Bureau had an interest in the elder Tsarnaev before Russia’s warning. That crucial admission has somehow become buried over time, and the government has been only too happy to leave it out of sight.
What else is the Bureau hiding—and what is the truth behind this subterfuge?
Implausible Deniability
The record shows that the FBI has repeatedly flip-flopped on this matter, but the significance of this curious behavior has escaped the scrutiny of the traditional media.
In fact, it turns out that Tamerlan Tsarnaev came to the FBI’s attention at least twice prior to Russia’s March 2011 warnings.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), while questioning Mueller about Russia’s warning to the FBI regarding Tamerlan asked: “Did you have domestic information on Tamerlan prior to that—prior to that [March 2011] date?”
“ I don’t believe so,” Mueller responded.
“Pardon me?” King pressed.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Mueller stammered, “His name had come up in two other cases.” He went on to say that Tamerlan’s name came up regarding cases of other individuals which were subsequently closed.
“So it’s reasonable that the letter of March 4, 2011 refocused the FBI on Tamerlan?” King continued.
“Absolutely,” Mueller admitted.
This special counsel either ends up with there is nothing there or something is there but it ain’t Trump doing something wrong, it is obama, Rice, Lynch, Hillary, McInsane, Graham, and or various other deep state traitors.
Then what’s a raving mad “journalists” to do? They go silent about Russia finally and move on to some other made up crap.
“The Donks will just make up another crisis”.
They are working on them right now. It will never end.
Not to worry you establishment pukes and other DC libturds, Mueller will get handled by the ruling elite’s deep state servants and he will be left no option other than to comply with their offer/threat. It worked so well to rid themselves of JFK and it worked so well under the Clintons time in the WH that it’s just accepted now that that is how the 5th column’s/NOW elites control of the DC system works.
This author’s premise is off in several places. First, “Trump’s firing of Comey to attempt to quash the inquiry” has already been debunked, under oath before the Senate, by acting FBI director Andy McCabe, who stated that the FBI was never pressured to do any such thing. (McCabe is a lefty btw).
Second, the timing: the NY Times on Jan. 23 reported that the FBI had “closed its investigation” into Lt Gen. Michael Flynn’s calls with the Russian ambassador, after determining there was no illicit activity. So why would Trump request Comey to drop a probe that already had been closed?
Third, if Comey did memorialize the purported Trump pressure at his Feb 14 meeting, why did he testify to the Senate May 3, answering a direct question, that “never in my experience” had anyone asked him to quash any investigation.
This author, to use a popular phrase, is too smart for his own good. He takes snippets of easily contradicted claims and fashions them into something resembling fact.
This whole "special counsel" thing has all the earmarks of a brilliant maneuver by Trump to (a) shut up the non-stop hysteria from the press and (b) ensure that some real ugly truths that a lot of those in power would prefer to bury will surface as a result and in a manner that Trump's DoJ can be "surprised" by the revelations and "forced" to take action.
Expect fireworks in the Fall.
Let’s remind ourselves about the Nixon impeachment timeline:
By the time and independent counsel was appointed concerning Watergate, there had been many arrests, indictments, and convictions, along with resignations by White House staff.
In Watergate, there were proven crimes. The question was whether they were connected to the president. Here and now, we have no proven crimes, making a Special Counsel entirely premature. The premature nature of a Counsel is certainly understood by the few remaining top Democrats who aren’t drug addled or retarded.
Special prosecutor can pivot on one question:
If the Russians were not spying on the Trump campaign, then who was?
Clinton and Obama should be very worried.
That, and Carlos danger, Mr abedin, pleads guilty and is recommended for 2 years in prison????
W t f, sounds like the Weiner is ready to testify against the Clintoons
Toppling Libya was what really set off the invasion of Europe, Syria is only adding to it.
Both actions were illegal interference by Obama/Clinton/McCain.
So was Ukraine.
The whole cabal should go down, but I don’t think it will happen.
Ask him how he felt about Hillary wiping her server clean... and he'll ask, “With a cloth - - like this?” - making a circle gesture with his hand.
Mueller will see the situation from the viewpoint of an elite. There won't be anything on a Russian connection and Trump because even the damn elites can't manufacture that - but he'll find something to make his fellow elites happy...
Oh, and he would ‘miss’ the lies about Benghazi - and he'd miss the damage that was done when Comey started the War on Cops with the Ferguson lies... because ‘elites understand’ those types of ‘mistakes’... elites understand their 'mistakes' don't count. I mean after all, when Hillary says, "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" THE FBI BOYS KISS HER BUTT AND THE ELITES SMILE IN APPRECIATION. This will be the same.
His name was Seth Rich. He was murdered by the DNC, John Podesta and Hillary Clinton.
The cover story was that he was killed by meth addicts, but it’s odd that his cash, some jewelry worth about 2K and other personal property were not taken by the `muggers’. That’s the real story the MSM is ignoring.
Seth Rich was murdered by his fellow Democrats for leaking their e-mails in order to make an example of him.
`The president conferring with allies in the fight against Islamic terrorism: very bad.
Murder: not so bad, if for the greater good.’
—your MSM
I see that the Hildabeast has created a new PAC called “Onward Together”
She is obviously setting up herself to be a victim when the FBI comes after her with renewed vigor.
She will claim that she is being politically targeted because she is at the forefront of the resistance. Guarantee that is her motive for coming out of the woods.
Since when did the anti-Trumpers need evidence for there to be a scandal?
If this guy is so great, only Podesta and Hillary should be worried, oh and the corrupt media.
I can’t remember any special counsel not prosecuting someone. Fitz knew right away no crime was committed, but like Inspector Javier he kept “investigating” until he nailed Scooter Libby in a perjury trap. Hopefully, Mueller has higher ethics than that, but the standard is pretty low in the Washington swamp.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-danforth-special-counsel-speaks-about-mueller-probe/
...Former Republican Sen. John Danforth was the last special counsel to investigate possible wrongdoing by the executive branch. In 2000, he cleared the Clinton administration in the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas...
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