[ad_1]
For nearly two years, since the US intelligence community released its report on Donald Trump's Russian campaign of assistance to the 2016 elections, the American people are seeking an answer as to whether the campaign Trump is colluding with his Russian counterpart. In the many speculations on the direction of the investigation, it was generally agreed that the investigation would never involve President Trump or would find any collusion.
But the many recent activities of last week are going in the same direction: the investigation of Special Adviser Robert Mueller will likely involve the President, his campaign and his close aides in helping the Russian conspiracy to to undermine the Russian conspiracy against the United States the 2016 election.
First, Mueller clearly identified the collusion in the efforts of Trump's key collaborators and associates to contact WikiLeaks. In a draft plea agreement provided to Conservative agent Jerome Corsi, Mueller explains how Roger Stone, who, according to the special advocate, was in frequent contact with Donald Trump and senior officials of the campaign, ordered Corsi to contact WikiLeaks about the amount of stolen documents she had received from Russia. Corsi then communicated the WikiLeaks release plan to Stone, and the Trump campaign built its final message around email. This is collusion.
Secondly, we now know that Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, provided Mueller with evidence of collusion. In Cohen's condemnation note, Mueller indicated that Cohen provided his office with "useful information" on "Russia-related issues at the heart of his investigation". The Mueller investigation is essentially based on collusion. In Flynn's sentencing note, Mueller said Flynn's false statements to the FBI on his appeals with the Russian ambassador during the transition were "important" for the investigation of links or coordination between Russia and "individuals associated with the Trump campaign".
Mueller found definitive proof that Trump had been compromised by a hostile foreign power in the elections. In his plea agreement, Cohen revealed that Trump had repeatedly lied to voters about Russia's financial ties with the candidate at the time. While Trump claimed during the campaign to have no business relationship with Russia, he was negotiating an extremely lucrative deal, not with Russian businessmen, but with the Kremlin himself. . The Trump team reportedly even tried to bribe Russian President Vladimir Putin by offering him a $ 50 million apartment.
Worse, Russia not only knew that Trump was lying, but when investigators began to examine this deal, the Kremlin helped Trump cover what really happened. This made Trump doubly compromised: firstly, because he was anxious to get the financial payment and secondly, because Russia had evidence that he was lying to the American people – evidence that they could have kept on Trump threatening to reveal them at any moment.
Since the embarrassing performance of the president at the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin – when he was bowing to a foreign opponent rather than defending American interests – many speculations have been made about the leverage that the Kremlin exercises on him. Now that we know at least part of the picture, we raise the specter of Putin's other information and how he uses it to influence Trump's policy decisions.
Fourth, we know that Trump has embarked on an increasingly bold attempt to cover his actions: to install a political friend to lead the Justice Department through potentially illegal means in order to close the door. # 39; investigation; use his former campaign president and convicted criminal Paul Manafort to obtain information about Mueller's investigation; and even seeming to offer a favor to Manafort if he helps him to obstruct the investigation in Russia. These may be elements of a case of obstruction of justice, but they also provide highly circumstantial information on the seriousness of the seriousness of the allegations of collusion made by Trump himself.
Finally, federal prosecutors told us that Trump had broken the law to influence the 2016 election by concealing evidence of his affairs. Trump clearly had no qualms about breaking the law to win an election.
Faced with what Mueller has revealed, there is no doubt about where this is going. Mueller may only show us part of his hand, but it's a pretty good hand. He told us that he had found collusion. He showed us that the president was compromised. He told us that he had gathered important information for his investigation into contacts with people from the Trump organization, the campaign, the transition and even the White House. This is everyone Trump has been connected to since his debut. And given all the information expurgated in his writings and everything that cooperating witnesses told him, we can be sure that Mueller will show us even more.
Mueller arrives. And it comes clearly for Trump. Not just for obstructing justice, but for conspiring with a hostile foreign power to win the election. It's an unparalleled scandal all over America.
Max Bergmann is Senior Fellow and Director of the Moscow Project at the Center for American Progress. He served in the State Department from 2011 to 2017. Sam Berger is the senior advisor to the Center for American Progress. He served at the White House from 2010 to 2017.
[ad_2]
Source link
