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The Robert Mueller Investigation


Hugo Stiglitz

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11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

While I have little doubt that Mueller was concerned with getting intel to the right agencies, I don't imagine the House Committee was high on his list.

Where is the factual support for 14 undisclosed investigations on that subject matter?  I have seen the numbers 12 and 14 floated around without citation.

It's probably a reference to appendix D to the report. Alpha listing of ongoing referrals.  Fourteen listed, two unredacted. Lots of stuff at end of alphabet. 

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1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

While I have little doubt that Mueller was concerned with getting intel to the right agencies, I don't imagine the House Committee was high on his list.

Where is the factual support for 14 undisclosed investigations on that subject matter?  I have seen the numbers 12 and 14 floated around without citation.

You don't imagine ?  It's patently obvious from the Mueller report that it was intended for Congress to process and deliberate re impeachment, both the evidence of collusion and serial obstruction .  The specific tipoff in the report about the "foreign intel" and "counterintel" funneled off into written summaries by extension is also Mueller waving where to look for additional evidence, even if not used by Mueller in the narrow scope of investigating POTUS.  HSCI Chair Schiff last night directly acknowledged the presence of the foreign and counterintel information referenced by Mueller and that they would be seeking it.  We'll likely learn more about Mueller's intentions when he testifies to Congress.

12 of the 14 ongoing investigations Mueller handed off to various US Atty branches are completely redacted.  I'm speculating that DonJr/NRA/Russia cash is incorporated in there.  That article I referenced above re Spanish foreign intel being shared with the FBI also draws in Torshin/Butina/Erickson/NRA.  Butina is cooperating from jail.  It's coming.

 

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21 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think you are sniffing it right.  Using the Trump Tower meeting example, there was possibly an intention on Trump Jrs. part to accept and/or pay for material assistance from the Russkies for the Trump campaign, an election law violation.  However, it wasn't offered at that meeting, so no agreement was reached at that time.

Conspiracy requires an agreement by two or more to commit a criminal act and then an overt action toward that goal, in furtherance of the agreement.  So, I don't think Mueller could prove up an agreement prior to an overt act, other than those things that have been indicted.  There were tons of overt acts and several at least tacit agreements, but they just didn't time/match up right to show a conspiracy, more just a happy symbiosis of foreign corruption.

It was just more incompetence from Trumpco (they couldn't get sufficiently organized to conspire), and, as I said, it's like the Russians knew better than Trumpco what was crossing the line and avoided it.

So if Trump Jr had agreed to pay the Russians to assemble a dossier of the same information then they would surely have an agreement?

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1 minute ago, American Swindle said:

Did such efforts actually change votes? Or was it just memes that got both sides riled up?

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/374792-woman-behind-pro-trump-facebook-page-denies-being-influenced-by

Hard to say.  The typical Trump voter stupids makes the onion hard to peel back.  

 

Different question:  Why would a person support the candidate who our enemy very much prefers?

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13 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

You might want to read the report.

His response below sounds totally batshit crazy, no rationale or level headedness at all.  

Quote

NONE OF THIS IS TO SAY that the Mueller Report exonerates Trump of wrongdoing. Mueller makes clear, for instance, that the Trump campaign not only knew that Russia was interested in helping it win the election but was happy to have that help. There’s clearly nothing criminal about that. One can debate whether it’s unethical for a presidential campaign to have dirt about its opponent released by a foreign government, though anyone who wants to argue that has to reconcile that with the fact that the DNC had a contractor working with the Ukrainian government to help Hillary Clinton win by feeding them dirt on Trump and Manafort, as well as a paid operative named Christopher Steele (remember him?) working with Russian officials to get dirt on Trump.

 

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1 minute ago, Gatorubet said:

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/374792-woman-behind-pro-trump-facebook-page-denies-being-influenced-by

Hard to say.  The typical Trump voter stupids makes the onion hard to peel back.  

 

Different question:  Why would a person support the candidate who our enemy very much prefers?

That is some next level infiltration that lady went through.  Dupes are out there for sure.  They could've played her, but do you think that just because she had communications with a Russian troll, that she'd vote Clinton?  Weren't these targeted facebook ads and groups  small as fuck and ultimately didn't change votes?  This type of infiltration pales in comparison to the operations the intelligence community have done in the past.  

So by enemy I assume Russia.  I view everyone as potential friends.  I met a Russian man in Cancun, he was very nice. This was when the original Mueller story broke (over spring break).  When I asked him his thoughts on US media he laughed, "Haha, we all think it is joke!"  His wife was a badass chess player, I joked and said it would be great to get my ass beat on the board by her as she was a former chess champion back in the day.  I brought up Gary Kasparov and apparently Russians despise him in the political arena as just another statist seeking power. 

Anyway, maybe we have been propagandized to the point where we *think* we hate Russia, but in reality it's just a narrative that has naturally become an extension of our psyche.  Like Louie Armstrong sang about, "All I am saying, is give peace a chance."  

 

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24 minutes ago, American Swindle said:

Here's some more evidence that Glenn Greenwald does shitty, non-investigative slanted journalism and sucks at life:

https://theintercept.com/2019/04/18/robert-mueller-did-not-merely-reject-the-trumprussia-conspiracy-theories-he-obliterated-them/

Quote

As Mueller himself concluded, a reasonable debate can be conducted on whether Trump tried to obstruct his investigation with corrupt intent. But even on the case of obstruction, the central point looms large over all of it: there was no underlying crime established for Trump to cover-up.

That tells you a lot about Glenn Greewald. There doesn't need to be an underlying crime established to obstruct justice.

 

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12 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

You don't imagine ?  It's patently obvious from the Mueller report that it was intended for Congress to process and deliberate re impeachment, both the evidence of collusion and serial obstruction .  The specific tipoff in the report about the "foreign intel" and "counterintel" funneled off into written summaries by extension is also Mueller waving where to look for additional evidence, even if not used by Mueller in the narrow scope of investigating POTUS.  HSCI Chair Schiff last night directly acknowledged the presence of the foreign and counterintel information referenced by Mueller and that they would be seeking it.  We'll likely learn more about Mueller's intentions when he testifies to Congress.

12 of the 14 ongoing investigations Mueller handed off to various US Atty branches are completely redacted.  I'm speculating that DonJr/NRA/Russia cash is incorporated in there.  That article I referenced above re Spanish foreign intel being shared with the FBI also draws in Torshin/Butina/Erickson/NRA.  Butina is cooperating from jail.  It's coming.

 

There's two aspects here.  One is covert intelligence gathering and counterintelligence pertaining to discovering the MOs of the Russians, in particular the military hackers.

That information is mostly not germane to impeachment.  Nor are the intel committees really the places you go to inform an impeachment.  Nor are they the places you go to respond to cyberthreats.

The other is, of course, the less sophisiticated criminality of Trumpco and associates:  the conspiring, the obstructing.  There's not a lot of overlap between the two. 

If Mueller came into possession or had a need for elint and intelligence products, I imagine his first concern was getting them to the relevant intelligence agencies, not to congress.

I get that congress is the last bulwark against Trump.  That doesn't mean its a competent body.  The amount of sucking off of congress this has produced, when they should be roundly condemned on a daily basis, is startling.  Trump's (still) in office because congress is full of incompetent cunts.

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13 minutes ago, American Swindle said:

That is some next level infiltration that lady went through.  Dupes are out there for sure.  They could've played her, but do you think that just because she had communications with a Russian troll, that she'd vote Clinton?  Weren't these targeted facebook ads and groups  small as fuck and ultimately didn't change votes?  This type of infiltration pales in comparison to the operations the intelligence community have done in the past.  

So by enemy I assume Russia.  I view everyone as potential friends.  I met a Russian man in Cancun, he was very nice. This was when the original Mueller story broke (over spring break).  When I asked him his thoughts on US media he laughed, "Haha, we all think it is joke!"  His wife was a badass chess player, I joked and said it would be great to get my ass beat on the board by her as she was a former chess champion back in the day.  I brought up Gary Kasparov and apparently Russians despise him in the political arena as just another statist seeking power. 

Anyway, maybe we have been propagandized to the point where we *think* we hate Russia, but in reality it's just a narrative that has naturally become an extension of our psyche.  Like Louie Armstrong sang about, "All I am saying, is give peace a chance."  

 

FYI no one gives a shit about your cute stories

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46 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

And Mueller cannot interview the Russians to ask what they did with the Manafort info, so they cannot 'prove' the quid pro quo.   But you know that the Russians very likely used the polling data to focus the troll farms efforts on battleground states.   I assume that we have insufficient evidence of how that info was used after it was given to Kilimnik.  We just don't know.   Unless somebody could compare the Russia interference by volume of data sent to the various states/precincts disclosed by Manafort at various time frames.      

There’s a reason why Manafort kept lying to the special counsel even after pleading guilty. 

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  11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Trump's (still) in office because congress is full of incompetent cunts.

Accurate and should be repeated as often as possible.

 

We're still at war all over the world because Congress is full of little bitches that won't take their power to declare war back.  See Trump's Veto. 

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28 minutes ago, American Swindle said:

That is some next level infiltration that lady went through.  Dupes are out there for sure.  They could've played her, but do you think that just because she had communications with a Russian troll, that she'd vote Clinton?  Weren't these targeted facebook ads and groups  small as fuck and ultimately didn't change votes?  This type of infiltration pales in comparison to the operations the intelligence community have done in the past.  

So by enemy I assume Russia.  I view everyone as potential friends.  I met a Russian man in Cancun, he was very nice. This was when the original Mueller story broke (over spring break).  When I asked him his thoughts on US media he laughed, "Haha, we all think it is joke!"  His wife was a badass chess player, I joked and said it would be great to get my ass beat on the board by her as she was a former chess champion back in the day.  I brought up Gary Kasparov and apparently Russians despise him in the political arena as just another statist seeking power. 

Anyway, maybe we have been propagandized to the point where we *think* we hate Russia, but in reality it's just a narrative that has naturally become an extension of our psyche.  Like Louie Armstrong sang about, "All I am saying, is give peace a chance."  

  

when i read this post, i would have lost ten thousand dollars betting it was made by iconoclast...but his doppleganger.  i have never seen two dudes who are exactly the same (writing anecdotes like a ten year old), yet the complete opposite.  it's something.

Edited by sidis
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20 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

That tells you a lot about Glenn Greewald. There doesn't need to be an underlying crime established to obstruct justice.

 

there actually was - Russian interference with our electoral process and the theft of the DNC emails and data.  it's just that Trump himself was not implicated in that crime.  a person who hides a crime that he did not commit still hid a crime.  a person that obstructs a criminal investigation still obstructs a criminal investigation. 

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Starts on p. 110.
Were the details of what they offered on Hillary and Juniors statement that they could revisit the sanctions if they won, news? I hadn't seen those details reported. Seems significant. There was plenty evidence that the Campaign welcomed the help and would provide softening of sanctions in exchange. This is without knowing the details of some of the significant follow up conversations.
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3 minutes ago, horncyclist said:
11 minutes ago, David Dennison said:
Starts on p. 110.

Were the details of what they offered on Hillary and Juniors statement that they could revisit the sanctions if they won, news? I hadn't seen those details reported. Seems significant. There was plenty evidence that the Campaign welcomed the help and would provide softening of sanctions in exchange. This is without knowing the details of some of the significant follow up conversations.

mueller says the russians attempted to follow up on discussing the act but that the transition team did not entertain the meeting and it never happened.

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4 minutes ago, horncyclist said:
13 minutes ago, David Dennison said:
Starts on p. 110.

Were the details of what they offered on Hillary and Juniors statement that they could revisit the sanctions if they won, news? I hadn't seen those details reported. Seems significant. There was plenty evidence that the Campaign welcomed the help and would provide softening of sanctions in exchange. This is without knowing the details of some of the significant follow up conversations.

I think most of what is in the report about that meeting was in the news previously. 

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16 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

There's two aspects here.  One is covert intelligence gathering and counterintelligence pertaining to discovering the MOs of the Russians, in particular the military hackers.

That information is mostly not germane to impeachment.  Nor are the intel committees really the places you go to inform an impeachment.  Nor are they the places you go to respond to cyberthreats.

The other is, of course, the less sophisiticated criminality of Trumpco and associates:  the conspiring, the obstructing.  There's not a lot of overlap between the two. 

If Mueller came into possession or had a need for elint and intelligence products, I imagine his first concern was getting them to the relevant intelligence agencies, not to congress.

I get that congress is the last bulwark against Trump.  That doesn't mean its a competent body.  The amount of sucking off of congress this has produced, when they should be roundly condemned on a daily basis, is startling.  Trump's (still) in office because congress is full of incompetent cunts.

I think the foreign intel/counterintel intended for relevant Congressional committees would be highly useful in understanding new dimensions of what Mueller encountered and what kind of legislation is needed to address any number of newly observed threats so that they can be countered in the legal realm.  The lack of sufficient and specific applicable laws to punish the [insert adjective] conduct appears to be something Mueller specifically describes.  Again, it's another salvo to Congress. 

So while some of that foreign intel/counterintel is very likely being used in pending prosecutions, that same evidence has other immediate utility for Congressional legislation to deter/prevent repeated incursions/compromise into our democracy.  Congress gets the evidence without reference to or a need to wait on pending prosecutions.

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mueller says the russians attempted to follow up on discussing the act but that the transition team did not entertain the meeting and it never happened.
Thanks. I mean just the exchange at the initial meeting seems enough to reach and understanding re: sanction relief in exchange for election help. Those actions are not insignificant.
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4 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

I think the foreign intel/counterintel intended for relevant Congressional committees would be highly useful in understanding new dimensions of what Mueller encountered and what kind of legislation is needed to address any number of newly observed threats so that they can be countered in the legal realm.  The lack of sufficient and specific applicable laws to punish the [insert adjective] conduct appears to be something Mueller specifically describes.  Again, it's another salvo to Congress. 

So while some of that foreign intel/counterintel is very likely being used in pending prosecutions, that same evidence has other immediate utility for Congressional legislation to deter/prevent repeated incursions/compromise into our democracy.  Congress gets the evidence without reference to or a need to wait on pending prosecutions.

Don't disagree with that.  But I suspect there are more comprehensive ways for the intel committees to get that information than Mueller.  Although his insight on what laws/modifications are needed would probably be welcome.

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1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think you are sniffing it right.  Using the Trump Tower meeting example, there was possibly an intention on Trump Jrs. part to accept and/or pay for material assistance from the Russkies for the Trump campaign, an election law violation.  However, it wasn't offered at that meeting, so no agreement was reached at that time.

Conspiracy requires an agreement by two or more to commit a criminal act and then an overt action toward that goal, in furtherance of the agreement.  So, I don't think Mueller could prove up an agreement prior to an overt act, other than those things that have been indicted.  There were tons of overt acts and several at least tacit agreements, but they just didn't time/match up right to show a conspiracy, more just a happy symbiosis of foreign corruption.

It was just more incompetence from Trumpco (they couldn't get sufficiently organized to conspire), and, as I said, it's like the Russians knew better than Trumpco what was crossing the line and avoided it.

Thank you for introducing the word "symbiosis" to the discussion. In the most innocent interpretation, it perfectly describes the relationship between Trump World and the Kremlin.

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10 minutes ago, troph said:

there actually was - Russian interference with our electoral process and the theft of the DNC emails and data.  it's just that Trump himself was not implicated in that crime.  a person who hides a crime that he did not commit still hid a crime.  a person that obstructs a criminal investigation still obstructs a criminal investigation. 

There was also a crime that directly implicated Trump. The investigation found evidence with Cohen that there was a campaign finance conspiracy with trump being individual 1. That was spun to SDNY. 

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1 hour ago, Gatorubet said:

And Mueller cannot interview the Russians to ask what they did with the Manafort info, so they cannot 'prove' the quid pro quo.   But you know that the Russians very likely used the polling data to focus the troll farms efforts on battleground states.   I assume that we have insufficient evidence of how that info was used after it was given to Kilimnik.  We just don't know.   Unless somebody could compare the Russia interference by volume of data sent to the various states/precincts disclosed by Manafort at various time frames.      

Again, if you perform a search of the report, the word "cambridge" does not appear in any of the unredacted content. Given all the smoke and discussion about that outfit, it seems entirely implausible that their actions were unaddressed by the investigation. This leads me to believe that Cambridge Analytica is included within the redacted portions of the report.

The NYTimes has provided a nifty version of the report that's searchable.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/18/us/politics/mueller-report-document.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

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1 minute ago, bolverk said:

Again, if you perform a search of the report, the word "cambridge" does not appear in any of the unredacted content. Given all the smoke and discussion about that outfit, it seems entirely implausible that their actions were unaddressed by the investigation. This leads me to believe that Cambridge Analytica is included within the redacted portions of the report.

The NYTimes has provided a nifty version of the report that's searchable.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/18/us/politics/mueller-report-document.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Just for the record, the original pdf version of the report was a text pdf (as opposed to image), so it's searchable offline.  No handy table of contents, though.

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So here are facts:
Trump’s campaign manager shared internal polling data *and strategy to win midwestern states* with a Russian intelligence officer. 
Trump’s campaign manager, son, and son in law took an in person meeting with Russian officials with the intent to obtain non public information on Clinton. 
Trump’s son coordinated and disseminated Russian talking points and information as communicated through Wikileaks. Trump’s son even used a stolen password to research a potentially damaging political action committee.
Trump directed his National Security Advisor to obtain information illegally stolen by Russian intelligence. 
Trump ordered subordinates to commit federal crimes. 
At least on 10 separate instances Trump attempted to impede or stop the investigation into his conduct. 
In violation of federal law, Trump paid money *from the White House* to his lawyer for successfully burying a scandal before the election about how Trump cheated on his 3rd wife with a porn star, while his wife was home with a newborn baby. 
Here’s my take:
If this conduct isn’t impeachable, then nothing is. I simply don’t agree that the American people are willing to tolerate all of this behavior or that there is any world where he will be re-elected. A majority of people didn’t support Nixon’s impeachment until the trial began and evidence was revealed to the American people. The dems need balls and to draft articles of impeachment.  Not to mention how foreign money paid to the President  is influencing US foreign policy. Fuck every fucking Republican politician or voter who ever expressed concerns about corruption in government. 


I think you also have to add in the fact that as of April 2019, thirty-four individuals were indicted by Special Counsel investigators. Eight that have pled guilty to or been convicted of felonies, including at least five Trump associates and campaign officials.

And that there are 14 other investigations that were referred out to various US Attorneys.
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23 minutes ago, GW Hayduke said:

There was also a crime that directly implicated Trump. The investigation found evidence with Cohen that there was a campaign finance conspiracy with trump being individual 1. That was spun to SDNY. 

From a standpoint of incremental prosecutions, the huge takeaway is that SDNY has already demonstrated the willingness include the sitting POTUS,Trump, as an un-indicted co-conspirator in a felony (ordered a guilty prison-bound Cohen to commit a campaign finance felony).  The GOP response?  "yawn."  OK, fine.  Now that we've established Trump can be an un-indicted co-conspirator, what's going to prevent SDNY from unloading more on Trump kids/Trump Org along with daddy un-indicted co-conspirator in the wake of the Mueller report ?  Answer: nothing.  Realize also, Trump's tax records are pending, along with Deutsche Bank cooperating w subpoenas on Trump financing.  

Ponder the notion of what proposed Trump pardons would then look like.  lol.

 

 

Edited by triplehorn
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3 hours ago, retread said:

Imagine what the Rs would be saying if the tables were turned. Replace Trump's name with Obama in the report. 

The Rs would all be up in arms and calling for blood, and the Ds would all be defending him.  The people who post here would be following the party line.  With only a few exceptions, the CR is composed almost entirely of hypocrites and "rah-rah-go-team" fucktards, just as our government is.

Edited by TriStone
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39 minutes ago, BLKNSTY said:

 


I think you also have to add in the fact that as of April 2019, thirty-four individuals were indicted by Special Counsel investigators. Eight that have pled guilty to or been convicted of felonies, including at least five Trump associates and campaign officials.

And that there are 14 other investigations that were referred out to various US Attorneys.

 

And Trumpkins are giddy and gloating. 

Dotard said it best himself: “I’m fucked.”

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5 minutes ago, TriStone said:

The Rs would all be up in arms and calling for blood, and the Ds would all be defending him.  The people who post here would be following the party line.  With only a few exceptions, the CR is composed almost entirely of hypocrites and "rah-rah-go-team" fucktards, just as our government is.

Well, no, but thanks for the great contribution.

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21 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Technically, Individual-1 is not an unindicted co-conspirator because Cohen isn't charged with a conspiracy.

Ah, noted.  It's a significant distinction in a legal outcomes sense, not so much in terms of public revelation and understanding.  I'd be interested to better understand the nature of the decision not to name Trump as un-indicted co-conspirator, and if that reflects any obstacles to SDNY actually naming him as one while a sitting POTUS.

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Defiant Sarah Huckabee Sanders Claims She Doesn’t Know Where Voice Comes From When She Opens Mouth

Spoiler

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WASHINGTON—Insisting she was not culpable for the inexplicable contents of her spoken communications, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defiantly claimed Friday that she doesn’t know where the voice comes from when she opens her mouth. “Listen, I don’t control where these words come from, okay? When I open my mouth, they just start pouring out of me automatically,” said a combative Huckabee Sanders, contending that she cannot be held responsible for the eerie, guttural rumbling that originates in her gut and slowly works its way up to her mouth, resulting in a disturbing oratory operating outside of her conscious awareness. “It’s detestable that the press would pin the words that come out of my mouth on me. Don’t you dare question my motives by blaming me for this mysterious force using my voice to communicate with the media. Is it a demon? A machine? Could it be a tiny woman living inside my vocal cords? I don’t have the answer. All I know is that when I open my mouth, the world goes dark and then I’ll come to later with no memory whatsoever of what just happened. I’m telling you—this isn’t me.” At press time, Huckabee Sanders expressed confusion at how she was managing to say any of this at all.

 

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2 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

And Mueller cannot interview the Russians to ask what they did with the Manafort info, so they cannot 'prove' the quid pro quo.   But you know that the Russians very likely used the polling data to focus the troll farms efforts on battleground states.   I assume that we have insufficient evidence of how that info was used after it was given to Kilimnik.  We just don't know.   Unless somebody could compare the Russia interference by volume of data sent to the various states/precincts disclosed by Manafort at various time frames.      

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-would-paul-manafort-share-polling-data-with-russia/amp

In hindsight it’s easy to spot the tipping point states. To do so in foresight is what’s valuable.

It appears Manafort had that foresight, which he was for some reason willing to share with the Russians, who were actively interfering in the 2016 elections.

Maybe Manafort did it out of his sense of duty. Or maybe he had other reasons. 

Edited by JimmyJames
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