Mueller Report: End or Beginning?

An analysis by the distinguished retired Judge John H. Wilson

There is a line in the Grateful Dead’s song, “Terrapin Station,” that applies to the release of the Report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller – “I can’t figure out, if it’s the end or beginning.” Robert Mueller may have packed up his tent, but the Congressional circus has only just started.

A. The Mueller Report on Russian Collusion.

It is well known that one of the major findings of the Report is that “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” This flies in the face of statements made by the Democratic Congressional leadership before the release of the report – notably people like Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), who stated in December of 2017 “The Russians offered help, the campaign accepted help, the Russians gave help, and the president made full use of that help, and that is pretty damning,” and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who said in November of 2018, “The evidence is pretty clear that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”

To date, this writer is unaware of a single Democrat who has admitted to being wrong, or making an incorrect statement, regarding whether or not President Trump colluded with any Russians who attempted to interfere in the 2016 election. In fact, when former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani demanded that CNN commentator Chris Cuomo apologize for “torturing (Trump) for two years with (allegations) of collusion,” Cuomo stated “not a chance.”

Regardless of any Democrat’s refusal to admit they were wrong, the fact remains – the Special Counsel, after two years of intensive investigation, could not find any evidence that President Trump, or anyone on his campaign staff, is a traitor.

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B. The Mueller Report – Obstruction of Justice.

Instead, as I predicted just before the release of the Report, in my appearance on the Financial Survival Network with Kerry Lutz in April, Congressional Democrats now pin their hopes of ending the Trump Presidency on the second finding of the Mueller Report – “if we had confidence…that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

The Mueller Report makes this conclusion at page 8 of Volume II of the report – yet, one page earlier, the Report states as follows: “unlike cases in which a subject engages in obstruction of justice to cover up a crime, the evidence we obtained did not establish that the President was involved in any underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”

C. Legal Standards for an Obstruction of Justice Charge.

Obstruction of Justice under 18 USC Chapter 73 can take many forms, from Resistance to an Extradition Agent (Section 1502) to obstruction of the examination of a financial institution (Section 1517. The three sections the Special Counsel believed could apply to President Trump’s conduct are 1503 (Influencing an officer or juror), 1505 (obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies and committees), and two subsections of 1512 (tampering with a witness, victim or informant). In support of the application of these statutes to the President’s conduct, the Mueller Report details a series of unsuccessful attempts by President Trump to convince various members of his Administration to either remove the Special Counsel, or in the case of former US Attorney Robert Sessions, to “unrecuse” himself from supervision of the Special Counsel.

The Report concludes tomorrow

Photo: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay