Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been named as Special Counsel to investigate possible connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government and "any matters that arose or may arise from the investigation," which could benefit the Trump administration greatly in the months to come.
While Democrats have been insisting on this move and many on the right do not think it is necessary, especially noting the double standard of no Special Counsel had been tapped for the Obama scandals, such as Hillary Clinton's e-mail scandal, the IRS targeting conservatives, Fast and Furious, Stuxnet and the times Obama administration officials had lied to Congress, while others see this as a move that will take politics out of these investigations to clear President Trump once and for all.
'NO EVIDENCE' OF TRUMP CAMPAIGN RUSSIA COLLUSION FOUND
The first point in the DOJ Order states "(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump."
To date, every former Obama official and Democratic politician that are part of committees investigating "Russian collusion" have admitted publicly that they have seen "no evidence," of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Those include Obama's Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, who in May 2017, reaffirmed his assertion that he had not seen any evidence of any kind of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian foreign nationals. Likewise, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee has admitted he has seen no "definitive proof of collusion," between President Trump and Russia, as well as Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, stating she also had not seen any evidence of collusion. Democratic Senator Chris Coons ended up having to walk back a claim he made about Trump/Russia collusion, by admitting in a subsequent interview "I have no hard evidence of collusion."
These are Democrats, on committees investigating this matter, and they have found no evidence despite the fact that we now know the Obama administration had been unmasking names of American citizens, specifically those involved with the Trump campaign, since Trump announced his presidency in 2015.
Had there been any evidence, first the Democrats in Congress would have been blaring the news in every headline, and second, the Obama administration would have taken action even before the presidential election in November 2016. Having no evidence, Barack Obama, before leaving office, expanded the power of the National Security Agency (NSA) to share globally intercepted personal communication with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying any privacy protections, which has led to a flurry of "leaks" from intelligence agencies in order to sabotage the Trump administration.
The bottom line regarding the Russia investigation is that Mueller is taking over the investigation, meaning he will have the same "lack of evidence" that the Democrats on the investigative committees have admitted, meaning "no evidence" of collusion.
Below is an excellent compilation of multiple Democrats and Republicans, involved with the investigative process and/or having access to the information, stating their is no evidence of any collusion between Trump and Russia.
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY LEAKERS BEWARE OF THE SPECIAL COUNSEL
Which brings us to the most interesting point in the DOJ order embedded above, which is "(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."
As Lawfare explains "This should allow Mueller to take on whatever matters come up and expand his jurisdiction within reason to include new developments in what appears in from the press to be a sprawling morasse of matters." While Lawfare only highlights this is "capacious enough to include any allegations of obstruction of the investigation that Mueller might want to look into," what they do not highlight is that under this mandate, given the flood of leaks coming out of the intelligence community, to which is the reason a Special Counsel has been named in the first place, members of the Intelligence community that are providing those leaks to the press, are put directly in the investigative cross hairs under this mandate.
Via the DOJ order:
(c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters. (d) Sections 600.4 through 600. l 0 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations are applicable to the Special Counsel.
Leaking classified information is a federal crime under 18 U.S. Code § 798 - Disclosure of classified information, which reads "Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information":
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
Since the NYT and Washington Post has been receiving classified information from "anonymous sources," such as the unmasked names of American citizens in the case of Michael Flynn, or the more recent Washington Post story claiming President Trump shared "highly classified information," which they did admit he can do legally because the President has the constitutional authority to declassify information as needed, in where "unnamed" members of the intelligence community leaked classified information to the press.
Part of Mueller's mandate is to investigate the leaked information, which naturally includes investigating where the information came from, and he is "authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters," according to the DOJ order.
Right about now the expression hoisted by their own petard is running through my head.
The problem which Fleitz admits is that "under civil service rules, it’s difficult to fire them," so his suggestion is to reassign them and replace them with Trump appointees. The problem there is a matter of not having the bodies or trusted people yet to replace them with given the Trump administration has only been in place for close to four months.
A Bloomberg pool report states that the announcement of the Special Counsel was viewed by the White House as "oddly refreshing after weeks of media attention on the probes," and following the news the "West Wing was mostly quiet, no staff bustling around, no urgent meetings," but it is doubtful the "leakers" within the intelligence community are going to be as calm and unworried as the White House is, given the nature of their federal crimes of leaking classified information.
BOTTOM LINE
By all accounts, from the left and the right, Mueller is knowledgeable, capable and at a point in his career where he has nothing to prove, with the words "incorruptible," and "integrity" highlighting his personal and professional attributes.
If he looks at the same evidence that has been collected over the past months (including the Obama admin collections) and comes to the same conclusion that Democrats have already admitted publicly, that there is "no evidence of collusion," but during his investigation does come across federal crimes committed by others, such as those of leaking classified information to the press, his "integrity" that everyone vouches for, will make it nearly impossible for him to not use his newly given authority to go after the Swamp leakers in the intelligence community.
Message to Dems: "Watch what you ask for you just might get it."
Below Tucker Carlson discusses the pros and cons of the Special Counsel being named, says someone should tell Maxine Waters her dream of impeachment just died and then has a little fun with how the Democrats might start claiming Mueller is part of the "Russian conspiracy ."
