Mueller
Report Findings
https://www.acslaw.org/projects/the-presidential-investigation-education-project/other-resources/key-findings-of-the-mueller-report/
The Special Counsel investigation uncovered extensive criminal
activity
·
The investigation produced 37 indictments; seven guilty pleas or
convictions; and compelling evidence that the president obstructed justice on
multiple occasions. Mueller also uncovered and referred 14 criminal matters to
other components of the Department of Justice.
·
Trump associates repeatedly lied to investigators about their
contacts with Russians, and President Trump refused to answer questions about
his efforts to impede federal proceedings and influence the testimony of
witnesses.
·
A statement signed by
over 1,000 former federal prosecutors concluded that if any other American
engaged in the same efforts to impede federal proceedings the way Trump did,
they would
likely be indicted
for multiple charges
of obstruction of justice.
Russia engaged in extensive attacks on the U.S. election system
in 2016
·
Russian interference in
the 2016 election was “sweeping and systemic.”
[1]
·
Major attack avenues included
a social media “information warfare” campaign that “favored” candidate Trump
[2]
and
the hacking of Clinton campaign-related databases and release of stolen
materials through Russian-created entities and Wikileaks.
[3]
·
Russia also targeted
databases in many states related to administering elections gaining access to
information for millions of registered voters.
[4]
·
The investigation “identified numerous links between the Russian
government and the Trump Campaign” and established that the Trump Campaign
“showed interest in WikiLeaks's releases of documents and welcomed their
potential to damage candidate Clinton”
·
In 2015 and 2016, Michael
Cohen pursued a hotel/residence project in Moscow on behalf of Trump while he
was campaigning for President.
[5]
Then-candidate
Trump personally signed a letter of intent.
·
Senior members of the
Trump campaign, including Paul Manafort, Donald Trump, Jr., and Jared Kushner
took a June 9, 2016, meeting with Russian nationals at Trump Tower, New York,
after outreach from an intermediary informed Trump, Jr., that the Russians had
derogatory information on Clinton that was “part of Russia and its government’s
support for Mr. Trump.”
[6]
·
Beginning in June 2016, a
Trump associate “forecast to senior [Trump] Campaign officials that WikiLeaks
would release information damaging to candidate Clinton.”
[7]
A
section of the Report that remains heavily redacted suggests that Roger Stone
was this associate and that he had significant contacts with the campaign about
Wikileaks.
[8]
·
The Report described multiple occasions where Trump associates
lied to investigators about Trump associate contacts with Russia. Trump
associates George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen
all admitted that they made false statements to federal investigators or to
Congress about their contacts. In addition, Roger Stone faces trial this fall
for obstruction of justice, five counts of making false statements, and one
count of witness tampering.
·
The Report contains no evidence that any Trump campaign official
reported their contacts with Russia or WikiLeaks to U.S. law enforcement
authorities during the campaign or presidential transition, despite public
reports on Russian hacking starting in June 2016 and candidate Trump’s August
2016 intelligence briefing warning him that Russia was seeking to interfere in
the election.
·
The Report raised questions
about why Trump associates and then-candidate Trump repeatedly asserted Trump
had no connections to Russia.
[9]
Special Counsel Mueller declined to exonerate President Trump
and instead detailed multiple episodes in which he engaged in obstructive
conduct
·
The Mueller Report states
that if the Special Counsel’s Office felt they could clear the president of
wrongdoing, they would have said so. Instead, the Report explicitly states that
it “does not exonerate” the President
[10]
and
explains that the Office of Special Counsel “accepted” the Department of
Justice policy that a sitting President cannot be indicted.
[11]
·
The Mueller report details multiple episodes in which there is
evidence that the President obstructed justice. The pattern of conduct and the
manner in which the President sought to impede investigations—including through
one-on-one meetings with senior officials—is damning to the President.
·
Five episodes of obstructive conduct stand out as being
particularly serious:
o
In June 2017 President
Trump directed White House Counsel Don McGahn to order the firing of the
Special Counsel after press reports that Mueller was investigating the
President for obstruction of justice;
[12]
months
later Trump asked McGahn to falsely refute press accounts reporting this
directive and create a false paper record on this issue – all of which McGahn
refused to do.
[13]
o
After National Security
Advisor Michael Flynn was fired in February 2017 for lying to FBI investigators
about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, Trump cleared his office
for a one-on-one meeting with then-FBI Director James Comey and asked Comey to
“let [Flynn] go;” he also asked then-Deputy National Security Advisor K.T.
McFarland to draft an internal memo saying Trump did not direct Flynn to call
Kislyak, which McFarland did not do because she did not know whether that was
true.
[14]
o
In July 2017, the
President directed former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to instruct the
Attorney General to limit Mueller’s investigation, a step the Report asserted
“was intended to prevent further investigative scrutiny of the President’s and
his campaign’s conduct.”
[15]
o
In 2017 and 2018, the
President asked the Attorney General to “un-recuse” himself from the Mueller
inquiry, actions from which a “reasonable inference” could be made that “the
President believed that an unrecused Attorney General would play a protective role
and could shield the President from the ongoing Russia Investigation.”
[16]
o
The Report raises
questions about whether the President, by and through his private attorneys,
floated the possibility of pardons for the purpose of influencing the
cooperation of Flynn, Manafort, and an unnamed person with law enforcement.
[17]
Congress needs to continue investigating and assessing elements
of the Mueller Report
·
The redactions of the
Mueller Report appear to conceal the extent to which the Trump campaign had
advance knowledge of the release of hacked emails by WikiLeaks. For instance,
redactions conceal content of discussions that the Report states occurred
between Trump, Cohen, and Manafort in July 2016 shortly after Wikileaks
released hacked emails;
[18]
the
Report further notes, “Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging
information would be coming,” but redacts the contextual information around
that statement.
[19]
·
A second issue the Report
does not examine is the fact that the President was involved in conduct that
was the subject of a case the Special Counsel referred to the Southern District
of New York – which the Report notes “ultimately led to the conviction of Cohen
in the Southern District of New York for campaign-finance offenses related to
payments he said he made at the direction of the President.”
[20]
·
The Report also redacts
in entirety its discussion of 12 of the 14 matters Mueller referred to other
law enforcement authorities.
[21]
·
Further, the Report
details non-cooperation with the inquiry by the President, including refusing
requests by the Special Counsel for an interview; providing written responses
that the Office of the Special Counsel considered “incomplete” and “imprecise”
and that involved the President stating on “more than 30 occasions that he
‘does not recall’ or ‘remember’ or ‘have an independent recollection.’”
[22]
Senate
Intel Committee confirms Mueller Report Findings & finds there was
collusion with Russia & Obstruction of Congress & Investigation-
Revelations from Senate Intel Committee Report on Russian Intervention
in 2016 Elections: DEVASTATING
There was Collusion with Trump Campaign
and
the
Trump Admin.
obstructed the Investigation
-https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/-devastating-revelations-from-senate-intel-report-90292805941