By Bay Dotson
After the firing of the FBI Director James Comey by President Trump last spring, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to lead an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. A special counsel was deemed necessary by many in congress, particularly Democrats, who believed that the Justice Department was not capable of impartiality. (Attorney General Jeff Sessions had already recused himself from the investigation.) Robert Mueller was Comey’s predecessor as FBI Director, and was appointed by President George W. Bush, serving under Obama as well. Separate from the three congressional committee probes into Russian involvement in the election, Mueller’s investigation is the only one able to prosecute criminal activity. Here’s an overview of the Mueller team’s discoveries that have been published for the public:
- In August, Mueller called for a grand jury, which allows him to subpoena documents and call for “on the record” testimonies.
- On October 27th, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates turned themselves into the FBI under charges of money laundering, conspiracy against the US Government, and fraud. (The men used millions of dollars of dirty money to buy real estate and luxury goods such as cars and clothes). Manafort was initially pushed out of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016 because his publicly known business associations in Russia uncomfortably tied the campaign to the Kremlin. George Papadopoulos, a member of Trump’s foreign policy advisory team, was also charged and pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI and withholding information about his contacts and meetings with Russians.
- One of Mueller’s earliest and consistent targets has been the notorious former national security advisor, Michael Flynn. On December 1st, Flynn pled guilty to charges of lying to the FBI (conduct that President Trump called “lawful”) and has agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Mueller made startling discoveries about Flynn’s connections to the Kremlin last winter, particularly his meetings with former Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. Flynn, along with Jared Kushner, met to discuss a “secret communication channel” between the Kremlin and Washington and to phase out Obama-era sanctions on Russia. Flynn cut ties with Trump’s legal team, and has agreed to provide testimony on “any and all matters,” signaling an urge to distance himself with the administration.
- Jared Kushner was called in to testify before the investigation earlier this month. Kushner met “perhaps” four times with Russian officials presumably discussing ties between Trump’s Whitehouse and Putin’s Kremlin. However, Kushner is not the primary focus of the investigation at this point. Instead, Mueller has used him to gain information to build a case against Mike Flynn, and Kushner is forced to comply in order to maintain his temporary impunity.
- Mueller is also investigating a June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer. Trump Jr. has repeatedly attempted to conceal information about the meeting and play down its importance.
Mueller is continuing to investigate, and Manafort and Flynn are only “the first of many dominoes to fall.” Robert Mueller may well be the most powerful man in Washington.
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