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Contrary to media speculation that Robert Mueller is closing in on President Trump, the special prosecutor’s plea deal with Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen offers further evidence that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russians during the 2016 election, according to congressional investigators and former prosecutors.
...
The nine-page charging document filed with the plea deal suggests that the special counsel is using the Moscow tower talks to connect Trump to Russia. But congressional investigators with House and Senate committees leading inquiries on the Russia question told RealClearInvestigations that it looks like Mueller withheld from the court details that would exonerate the president. They made this assessment in light of the charging document, known as a statement of “criminal information” (filed in lieu of an indictment when a defendant agrees to plead guilty); a fuller accounting of Cohen’s emails and text messages that Capitol Hill sources have seen; and the still-secret transcripts of closed-door testimony provided by a business associate of Cohen.
On page 7 of the statement of criminal information filed against Cohen, which is separate from but related to the plea agreement, Mueller mentions that Cohen tried to email Russian President Vladimir Putin’s office on Jan. 14, 2016, and again on Jan. 16, 2016. But Mueller, who personally signed the document, omitted the fact that Cohen did not have any direct points of contact at the Kremlin, and had resorted to sending the emails to a general press mailbox. Sources who have seen these additional emails point out that this omitted information undercuts the idea of a “back channel” and thus the special counsel's collusion case.
Page 2 of the same criminal information document holds additional exculpatory evidence for Trump, sources say. It quotes an August 2017 letter from Cohen to the Senate intelligence committee in which he states that Trump “was never in contact with anyone about this [Moscow Project] proposal other than me.” This section of Cohen’s written testimony, unlike other parts, is not disputed as false by Mueller, which sources say means prosecutors have tested its veracity through corroborating sources and found it to be accurate.
Also notable, Mueller did not challenge Cohen’s statement that he “ultimately determined that the proposal was not feasible and never agreed to make a trip to Russia.”
originally posted by: Grambler
Why would this be the communication channel that two parties involved in a secret deal to steal an election would use? In fact, not only has their been no evidence whatsoever presented thus far of Trump contacting any Kremlin official, but whne we do see any attempts, its low level Trump people meeting Russians that aren't high level officials at all.
originally posted by: Wayfarer
originally posted by: Grambler
Why would this be the communication channel that two parties involved in a secret deal to steal an election would use? In fact, not only has their been no evidence whatsoever presented thus far of Trump contacting any Kremlin official, but whne we do see any attempts, its low level Trump people meeting Russians that aren't high level officials at all.
If Mueller had the very evidence you mention above, what legal or strategic reason would he have to share it with you and the world early rather than keep it in his pocket to further complete his case? Is it standard operating procedure on investigations to disclose whatever you've got as soon as you get it to the world and the very people you may be investigating?
originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
I've been saying this for over a year now. If Trump really had some kind of secret back-channel to Putin, why would Trump Jr. need to meet that lawyer at Trump Tower?
The Cohen plea demonstrates the same thing: clearly they didn't have any Russian connections, because if they did Cohen wouldn't have been trying to get their attention by e-mailing some low-level official.
originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
I've been saying this for over a year now. If Trump really had some kind of secret back-channel to Putin, why would Trump Jr. need to meet that lawyer at Trump Tower?
The Cohen plea demonstrates the same thing: clearly they didn't have any Russian connections, because if they did Cohen wouldn't have been trying to get their attention by e-mailing some low-level official.
originally posted by: Wayfarer
If Mueller had the very evidence you mention above, what legal or strategic reason would he have to share it with you and the world early rather than keep it in his pocket to further complete his case? Is it standard operating procedure on investigations to disclose whatever you've got as soon as you get it to the world and the very people you may be investigating?
originally posted by: Grambler
originally posted by: Wayfarer
originally posted by: Grambler
Why would this be the communication channel that two parties involved in a secret deal to steal an election would use? In fact, not only has their been no evidence whatsoever presented thus far of Trump contacting any Kremlin official, but whne we do see any attempts, its low level Trump people meeting Russians that aren't high level officials at all.
If Mueller had the very evidence you mention above, what legal or strategic reason would he have to share it with you and the world early rather than keep it in his pocket to further complete his case? Is it standard operating procedure on investigations to disclose whatever you've got as soon as you get it to the world and the very people you may be investigating?
Well two answers to this.
First, anything remotely to make Trump look bad has been leaked to the press so that the could discuss it endlessly, and despite that we have seen nothing leaked remotely close to what I mentioned above.
Second, sources with access to the material claim that in this instance particularly, which the media is making a big deal about, Cohen emailed the general press account of the Russian government, which all but shows he had no secret nefarious back channel.
Even if you overlook both of those things, my question to you would be if it turns out that all cohen did was email the russia press email when Mueller releases all of his findings, would that be considered somehow nefarious or indicative of a russian deal to help trump steal the election?
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
originally posted by: Wayfarer
If Mueller had the very evidence you mention above, what legal or strategic reason would he have to share it with you and the world early rather than keep it in his pocket to further complete his case? Is it standard operating procedure on investigations to disclose whatever you've got as soon as you get it to the world and the very people you may be investigating?
Well, of course not, but it's also not SOP to base an overreaching investigation on unsubstantiated peepee dossiers and have them run by people with an open political disdain for the (supposed) person being investigated.
Standing (which is what the "S" actually stands for) Operating Procedure has been jettisoned long ago and replaced (or started with, I suppose) political conspiracy theories wholly unsubstantiated at the time or since.
And the fact that six undercover moles were planted in Trump's campaign isn't SOP, either.
But like Grambler already noted, this investigation has been full of leaks--many of which have been unsubstantiated lies--so to assume that Mueller has magically mustered the willpower to keep indictable evidence against Trump up his sleeve and securely against his vest is a rather silly proposition. I may have bought into that insinuation at the start of the investigation, but history shows that this most likely is not be the case.
I guess that it's always possible, though, however slight the possibility may be, but I doubt that it's probable.
originally posted by: Wayfarer
Hot damn learn something new every day. To think I've been misusing SOP for this long.... Thanks for the education!
... but ultimately until the report comes out we can't do much more than conjecture on it ourselves. Whether its wishful thinking on my part or some other psychological foil that's driving my intuition, but my own gut feels like Mueller has more than we think he does. Perhaps I'll be coming back to this thread in month's to congratulate you on getting it right.
The horrible contacts his former lawyer Cohen had with Russia, that the MSM has breathlessly been discussing how it may be the end for Trump, was really just Cohen sending unanswered emails to the general Russian press email.
That would be the same email you or me could look up on Russia's state webpage and email.
“There were only these two emails. And we called them back in response,” Mr Peskov said. “We called them back and asked what the presidential administration has to do with that and whether they are aware who they contacted.”
Mr Cohen and a member of Mr Peskov’s office had a 20-minute phone call regarding the project, Mr Cohen said this week.
“We told them that the Presidential Administration doesn’t build houses, and if they want to invest in Russia that we will be happy to see them at the St Petersburg Economic Forum,” Mr Peskov said.
but when we do see any attempts, its low level Trump people meeting Russians that aren't high level officials at all.
In fact, the only high level Russian officials involved at all are those Hillary Clinton intermediary Fusion GPS employee, former British spy Christopher Steele, met with to get dirt on Trump. But I guess Mueller is too busy looking at decades old tax crimes to look into Democrat dealings with Kremlin officials.
Mueller is counting on the establishment mouth pieces, the MSM, to conflate a legal business deal Trump attempted in Russia with nefarious proof of collusion. And to some degree, that is working.
originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: Grambler
Funny what I see is proof that the white house and client#1 knew that Cohen was going to lie to congress before he did and sent him in there knowing that.
I see more obstruction of justice. I bet Robert Mueller sees that too.
originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: Grambler
The assumption here is that Cohen didn't have an e-mail address for Putin.
But Trump had already tried to get some face time with Putin back in 2013 and had communicated with Putin.
Trump was trying to get the Trump Tower Moscow deal happening and was talking to Aras Agalarov who was to facilitate the meeting between Trump and Putin through inviting Putin to the 2013 Miss World beauty pageant (run by Trump).
The letter inviting Putin is a matter of record.
Here's a promo photo of Trump, in Moscow at the beauty pageant with Agralov:
So, I'd suspect that Trump did have a direct contact address for Putin.