Glenn Greenwald wants to know if anyone can answer a few questions, like if Mueller indicted any Americans for crimes in the 2016 election or for criminally conspiring with Russians.
🙋♀️I can answer your questions, Glenn!
1/ Mueller’s mandate wasn’t to indict Americans for crimes during 2016 or for criminally conspiring with Russians.
His mandate was to find “links and/or coordination” between the Russian government and Trump campaign people. See⤵️
Let’s keep the goalposts where they belong. OK?
2/ So we’re looking in the Mueller docs for “links” and “coordination” between Trump campaign folks and the Russian government.
3/ Papadopoulos had a series of communications over a period of months with a “Russian national connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” They discussed setting up secret meetings with Trump campaign and Russian government officials.
This is sounding a lot like “links and/or coordination” to me. Wouldn’t you agree?
5/ Flynn (Trump’s national security advisor) was instructed by a Trump campaign official to secretly negotiate with Russians in December of 2016 while Obama was still president.
That would indicate more links and coordination, don’t you think?
6/ Richard Pinedo, an American, pleaded guilty to stealing the identities of Americans and selling hundreds of bank accounts to Russia to help them infiltrate the American electorate.
There. An American pleaded guilty to a crime in 2016. With Russians.
7/ Alex van der Zwaan pleaded guilty to communicating with Gates, a member of Trump’s campaign, and “Person A” [Konstantin Kilimnik, who of course, has ties to Russian intelligence.]
Gates + Trump Campaign member + Russian Government official.
8/ 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies were indicted for a massive and well organized campaign to interfere with the US election.
An “unnamed political” activist and person associated with a “grassroots” Texas-based organization knowingly helped them.
9/ Americans turn up in the Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, et al indictment. Russian military officials hacked Democrats and weaponized stolen emails.
A few interesting facts from the indictment:
Here’s the oddest one: The Russian hacker received and responded to a request for documents from a candidate for US Congressman.
11/ Gates, in his guilty plea, admitted to defrauding the US and committing crimes through 2017, while Gates helped lead the Trump campaign and transition.
There you go. More crimes. By Americans. In 2016.
12/ Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, negotiated with Russian government officials about building Trump Tower Moscow.
More “links and/or coordination.” Right?
13/ Michael Cohen also committed a campaign finance violation in 2016 at Trump’s direction. https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-michael-cohen-plea-agreement
The “at Trump’s direction” was offered under oath in court.
A serious crime. And it had to do with the 2016 election. Satisfied yet?
13/ If not, that’s okay. There’s more we don’t know about.
This is what an addendum to Flynn’s sentencing memo looks like:
Perhaps you’re confused, Glenn, because there are so many “links and/or coordination” that it’s hard to keep track of them all.
14/ It’s definitely easier to focus on a single lie (“her emails!) than genuine crimes — particularly when they’re too complex for Fox News sound bites.
It’s also hard to focus when the president is continually manufacturing crises and spectacle/
15/ You see, the question isn’t: “Did any top Trump officials have links to Russia?”
The question is: “Did any Trump officials NOT have links to Russia?”
If you wonder how I came up with this so quickly, I’ve been keeping track here.
