Day 407.
There is a lot of shit going on around the Mueller investigation into whether Russia interfered with our election and/or if anyone in the trump campaign colluded or offered help to them. So far, in fairness to everything going on, there still is no clear evidence that has been brought forth to show one way or the other. But, that is normal in an investigation.
The results of investigations are not published until the investigation is over and all of the facts are known. We wouldn’t want it any other way. That means we will know what did or did not happen.
Unfortunately, the investigation has turned into a political punching bag. As things heat up, and as members of trump’s inner circle are being charge with crimes or pleading guilty to lying to the FBI, trump supporters are looking for ways to discredit the investigation. But, one thing that must be pointed out clearly is that none of the political wrangling about trying to discredit the investigation has shown anything about what we already know as being wrong.
I am not privy to all of the information that Mueller has. I am not a lawyer, nor a judge. The information I have is the same as everyone else. It has come from news reports about the investigation and/or leaks. But, it must also be pointed out that none of the leaks so far seem to be coming from Mueller’s team or the FBI.
I think it is time to take a look at what has come out so far, and what that may or may not mean. I will try to do it without a slant, but as with everyone on the planet I too have my biases though I try to avoid them as much as possible.
To begin with, this all started last summer when the DNC was hacked. WikiLeaks began to release that information to discredit the Democrats and their primary process. WikiLeaks never took responsibility for the hack, though. So, everyone wondered who conducted the actual hack of their computers.
Later that summer, it was discovered that the personal emails of John Podesta were also hacked. Again WikiLeaks was willing to release the information, but did not take credit for the hack. And, again people wondered who did the hacking.
Just before the election the intelligence services of the U.S. Government came out and said the hacking was done by Russians. They claimed they had the information that said it was done by Russians and by Russian government agencies.
Governments trying to and eventually hacking into other government’s computers is really nothing new. But, the idea that a government was trying to influence the outcome of an election to help their favored candidate is relatively new.
However, trump did not want to acknowledge the idea that Russia was the hacker and trying to influence our elections. At one point in the campaign, he even asked Russia to “find the emails Clinton said were erased”. More than once during the campaign he said he “loved WikiLeaks”.
He always seemed to try to deflect the finger-pointing at Russia. He said “it could be any government, even some 400 pound guy sitting on his bed in his mother’s basement” that could have hacked the DNC. When the intelligence agencies said, no, it was Russia, he began to attack them as being unreliable.
After the election and before trump was sworn into office, rumors and reports began spilling out about people in the transition having “improper” or even “illegal” contacts with Russian government officials. Once he was inaugurated, the accusations against Michael Flynn who was serving as the National Security Director began to fly in earnest.
Less than a month after being in office, Flynn was fired for lying to the Vice President. But, something smelled fishy about that explanation. Especially since it later came out that the Vice President had been written a letter saying that Flynn had been lying and that he should be looked at very carefully. The Acting Attorney General of the U.S. even told the White House that Flynn was most likely compromised. Still he kept his job for more than three weeks after that stunning comment.
Later, trump fired Comey as the Director of the FBI. Speculation ran rampant that Comey was fired because he was heading up the Russia investigation and would not give Flynn a pass. Even though the administration produced a letter explaining that Comey was fired due to his “mishandling” the Clinton investigation, that came crashing down when trump himself said he fired Comey because he was “thinking about the Russian thing when he decided to fire him”.
That prompted a special prosecutor to be named by the Rosenstein to look into the matter fully. When Mueller was named to fill that position, everyone on both sides of the aisle were saying what a “wonderful” pick he was. Everyone said he was honest, deliberate, and a great pick.
However, as they say, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Mueller and his team were actually uncovering things. They were actually doing the job they were asked to do. As a result, two of trump’s former campaign advisors, including his former campaign manager have been indicted on several charges. Including “crimes against the government”.
Two more advisors, including Michael Flynn himself have pleaded guilty to “lying to the FBI” which is a felony. It has also been reported that both men are “cooperating” with Mueller and his investigation.
It has been said that the charge against Flynn stems from his contacts with the Russian Ambassador. Conservatives say he was only doing his job and there was nothing nefarious about those contacts. So, the question is “why did he lie” about those contacts?
There are all kinds of reports about Jared Kushner and Donald Trump, Jr. They had meetings with Russians as well. Only the stories they told about those meetings seem to be lies as well. That infamous July meeting at trump tower indicates that junior asked for “dirt on Clinton” and when he was told there wasn’t any, he ended the meeting.
Sorry folks, but that is the very definition of “collusion” which may or may not be a crime. And, if you take it a step further, it is also a definition of “conspiracy” which is a crime. Then recently before the House Committee investigation on the Russian meddling, he refused to answer what he had told his father in a meeting shortly after his meeting with the Russians. He claimed “client/attorney privilege”.
In the meantime, some texts were uncovered about an FBI agent running down our dear leader. Those texts from what I have read were during the campaign. Some may have been since, but I don’t know for sure. That was ammunition enough for conservative wackos to cry foul and claim the investigation was biased.
The whole argument about being biased is based on the fact that some of the agents and lawyers involved are, god forbid, Democrats. Funny, but when Bill Clinton went through his own investigation, no one was arguing it was biased because the agents involved or any lawyers involved were Republicans. Which shows the hypocrisy of Republicans in handling investigations that aren’t going their way.
Or what about the nearly 20 investigations Republicans held on Hillary Clinton. At one point even Trey Gowdy who was heading up one of the investigations said it was “political”. Why didn’t Republicans cry “bias” then?
Here are some other questions that need to be answered. If there was no collusion between team trump and the Russians, why is dear leader so worried about the investigation? Why won’t he admit that the meddling did take place, as every intelligence agency of his own government says, and do something to stop it in the future?
To this day, there has been no cabinet level meeting about making sure our elections are more secure and protected from future hacks. There have been no plans drawn up to ensure that state’s computers are protected from being hacked. At the federal government level, the whole hacking thing has been totally ignored. Meaning our next election could also be tampered with. And, trump doesn’t seem to care.
If there was no collusion between team trump and the Russians, why do their stories change from day-to-day? Every time something comes out about the investigation or some meeting or contact between Russia and members of team trump, the story as to what took place changes continuously. Why? If there is nothing to hide, why not tell the truth in the first place?
The other question that has always bugged me is why was there so many people in team trump with direct Russian connections? It is as if about half of everyone who worked on the campaign had some connection with the Russian government in some form or another. I have never seen such connections with any government from a campaign before.
The House Committee investigating this matter is talking about shutting down the investigation from their end. They give no real reason for shutting it down other than “because”. Of course that is not a big surprise since it is chock full of trump supporters on the Republican side and the chairman of that committee is none other than Nunes himself, who didn’t want it to begin with in the first place.
We do not know what has been uncovered during the Mueller investigation yet. We know that four people have either been indicted on multiple felony charges or have pleaded guilty to at least one felony charge. And, all four were integral parts of team trump.
We know that at least two of trump’s family members are neck-deep in the investigation and never seem to tell the truth when asked questions about their involvement. I would not be shocked if the next round of indictments in this matter included one or both of them.
Then we have our dear leader who still won’t admit that Russia committed what most consider a criminal act, if not an act of war, by trying to meddle in our election. He still won’t come out and say it. He still won’t allow any “corrective” actions to be planned out so it won’t happen again.
These are all of the things that have created an atmosphere about this administration that is not good. It is what happens when people in power think they can control the outcome by simply saying it “never happened”. It is what is possible if people in power live in their own fantasy world and refuse to listen to sane reasonable people who tell them this is a bad thing. And, the fact that the latest poll shows 63 percent of the American People believe team trump colluded with the Russians is another result.
Despite all of the sideshows that have dogged this investigation, it continues to move along. There are some real potential problems that could appear in the future. One real danger is if dear leader decides to offer “preemptive pardons” to everyone who has been questioned or charged. That would cause a real Constitutional Crisis. Yes, I know the argument is that a president can pardon whomever he wants. But, to pardon people before a trial or to keep someone from testifying is the true definition of “obstruction of justice”.
The other thing that could go bad is if dear leader tries to fire Mueller simply because he is getting too close or because his supporters keep yelling for him to do so. That would trigger another Constitutional Crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen since Watergate.
I will say this. It is possible that even if there was collusion between team trump and the Russians, dear leader may not have known it was happening. Personally I find that hard to believe because he is one of the worst micro-managers I have ever met. But, it is possible.
The one thing I do know is that to me, something smells fishy. I do not understand the behavior of dear leader and his team in this whole matter. I do not understand their penchant for lying about everything and then changing the story when they get caught in their lies.
I am not going to pass any legal judgement on team trump until all of the facts come out. However, on a personal note, I do believe that team trump was anything but honest, ethical or transparent in this matter. And, they refuse to be any of those as time goes by. That makes me wonder just what were they up to.
It really is time for all of the sideshows, complaining, bitching, and accusations about the integrity of Mueller and his team to end. Let’s just let the investigation run its course. I never believed it would end this year, and that seems to be true. It takes time to conduct a thorough investigation into something of this magnitude and with this many people potentially involved.
America needs to take a deep breath and let it finish in its good time. Then we will know the facts and the truth whatever it is. If people are guilty of crimes, they need to be punished. If they are not, they need to be cleared. We shouldn’t ask for anything more from Mueller.
And, the shirts keep marching along.
Lean Left World 