Former federal prosecutor: Robert Mueller left many questions unanswered

[Kid Berwyn]

Where is the counterintelligence investigation — and the information on Trump's finances? Mueller must testify

KENNETH F. MCCALLION
Salon.com, JUNE 2, 2019

Excerpt...

The Mueller report is completely silent on the results of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation that was opened up shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017. The next day, Trump then confided to Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to the U.S. the following day in the Oval Office that — referring to the FBI’s Russia investigation — the firing of “nut job” Comey had relieved “great pressure” on him. Trump then followed this confirmation by admitting to NBC’s Lester Holt in a televised interview at the White House that he had decided to fire Comey because of the “Russia thing.”

Alarmed FBI and Justice Department officials promptly opened up a counterintelligence investigation into whether the current occupant of the White House was so compromised by Russia that, for all intents and purposes, he was an active agent of a hostile foreign power. After all, Trump had sounded like a Russia apologist for many months. There was no reasonable basis for his apparent love of all things Russian and his inability to criticize the country or President Vladimir Putin, its autocratic leader, in any way. Firing the FBI director, in an evident attempt to derail the bureau’s investigation into the massive and coordinated attack by Russia on the U.S. electoral system, left no question that there was something seriously wrong in the White House and that there was an urgent need to mount an investigation as quickly as possible. For the first time in American history, there was a rational and actionable basis for believing that a sitting president of the United States was betraying his own country.

So, Mr. Mueller, what happened to this counterintelligence investigation? Attorney General William Barr and his deputy Trump sycophants now occupying key positions in the once-independent Justice Department won’t tell us what happened. Now that you are a private citizen, as a career public servant of the highest integrity, don’t you think you at least have an obligation to tell the House and Senate Intelligence committees whether there is a basis for believing that treason is afoot in the White House? And if so, what is being done about it?

The Mueller report also does not tell us anything about the treasure trove of financial data on Trump that the special counsel’s office inevitably collected in its wide investigative net during the two years of its investigation. Mueller was apparently reticent to cross the line in the sand that Trump drew, warning Mueller away from pursuing subpoenas of Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions who are sitting on ticking financial time bombs that could potentially reveal the extent of Trump’s ties with Russian oligarchs and Russian interests.

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https://www.salon.com/2019/06/02/former-federal-prosecutor-robert-mueller-left-many-questions-unanswered/

[machoneman]

1. Great article. I do think that Mueller 'saved' the financial stuff.....

...for the NYS AG's office to prosecute. It may prove to be a case that Mueller decided that trying to indict or even accuse Trump and his evil minions of financial crimes (money laundering, tax evasion, sham condo sales, et al) would be a far reach from his mandate (Russia investigation). Sure, one could argue that Russia money was the genesis of all things Trump but those are not high crimes nor misdemeanors if they primarily occurred prior to his swearing in.

He was likely very concerned that if his investigation veered into financial crimes the Republiscums would cry foul no matter what he did.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. GOP-Kremlin ties are one financial area that merits investigation.

How Putin's oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns

Ruth May, Dallas Morning News

Editor's note May 8, 2018: This column originally published December 15, 2017. New allegations about $500k in payments from a Russian oligarch made to Trump attorney Michael Cohen have placed it back in the news.

Excerpt...

Buried in the campaign finance reports available to the public are some troubling connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to President Donald Trump and a number of top Republican leaders. And thanks to changes in campaign finance laws, the political contributions are legal. We have allowed our campaign finance laws to become a strategic threat to our country.

An example is Len Blavatnik, a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. Blavatnik's family emigrated to the U.S. in the late '70s from the U.S.S.R. and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late '80s.

Data from the Federal Election Commission show that Blavatnik's campaign contributions dating back to 2009-10 were fairly balanced across party lines and relatively modest for a billionaire. During that season he contributed $53,400. His contributions increased to $135,552 in 2011-12 and to $273,600 in 2013-14, still bipartisan.

In 2015-16, everything changed. Blavatnik's political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.

In 2017, donations continued, with $41,000 going to both Republican and Democrat candidates, along with $1 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund.

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https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns