There is NOTHING unusual about “conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government” charges!
Shows up frequently in welfare fraud, securities violations, and all kinds of other stuff.
“There is NOTHING unusual about “conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government” charges!”
There is when there is no underlying crime being charged.
The charge boils down to deceiving a Federal Government employee, even if the reason for, the object of the deceit does not constitute a crime.
Any employee of any agency. Not just Law Enforcement.
And prosecuted as a Federal Crime.
I’d say it’s unprecedented in the history of the US.
The first count is a pure conspiracy count, with NO underlying crime. None of the activity described is criminal, per se. The perps participated in 1st amendment activities.
The DEMS are now demanding the US work harder to extradite these perps, including involving INTERPOL.
After Putin Cites Jews, Democrats Implore Trump to Extradite Russians - NYT - March 12, 2018
Top Democratic leaders in the House and Senate implored President Trump on Monday to employ "all resources available" to extradite 13 Russians charged last month with subverting the 2016 presidential election after Russia's president raised the possibility of Jewish involvement. ...The Democratic letter outlines several steps that the Justice and State departments could take to try to force their extradition, such as pressing Interpol to issue what is effectively an international arrest warrant and using existing diplomatic channels, including raising the issue directly with Mr. Putin.
I'd love to see Mueller forced to prosecute under this indictment. All he really has is FARA and FEC violations; and those are on the minuscule end of the spectrum.
That is not surprising since that seems to be what the statute is intended for. Have you ever seen that charge applied to someone trying to influence the outcome of an election? Mueller seems to be arguing that efforts to influence voters, since they might effect the outcome of the election, are a fraud on the government. That seems like quite a stretch.