4 ms·

They spent millions of dollars investigating at a bunch of beltway bandits and were only able to convict a handful for tax fraud, lying to law enforcement, etc.

They spent millions of dollars investigating at a bunch of beltway bandits and were only able to convict a handful for tax fraud, lying to law enforcement, etc. Note the distinct lack of any convictions for spying for Russia, or acting as a Russian agent. Here is a list: https://www.axios.com/2019/11/15/trump-associates-convicted-mueller-investigations https://www.axios.com/2019/11/15/trump-associates-convicted-... The most serious was Manafort, and it was related to his previous work in Ukraine, before he was hired by the Trump campaign. Cohen was convicted for fraud and campaign finance violations, and then Papadopoulos, Flynn, and Gates were convicted of lying to law enforcement and got slaps on the wrist. The Mueller investigation was a complete flop, and to top it all off they deleted their own cellphone records in potential violation of federal record keeping laws. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/doj-foia-release-members-mueller-team-repeatedly-wiped-phones-watchdog-sought https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/doj-foia-...

kadoban 3y ago
They got the soft-glove Republican run investigation treatment and they still ended up charging 30+ people, including those closest to Trump. They also proved _numerous_ extremely suspicious ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, and produced a report that showed obstruction all over the place. Obstruction, by the way, is what you do when you know you broke just _all_ the laws and have to break the law more to prevent getting caught. That was never followed up on due to _other_ Trump admin corruption. Congratulations, they managed to cheat the rigged system. It's good to be rich and well connected if you're going to crime I guess.
adrr 3y ago
Why would you lie to investigators? Why commit a felony and spend years in jail? Maybe if we had a real prosecutor that actually runs a real investigation and puts the main target in front of a grand jury instead of doing some bogus here’s some questions for you to answer whenever you want bullshit. That has to be history first and speaks to the coverup by Republican prosecutor to protect a Republican president.
- pseudo0 3y ago
  Fear of embarrassment, arrogance (not having legal counsel present), or ignorance (not realizing that it was a hostile interview with the FBI, rather than information gathering). Those charges aren't the end goal of a serious investigation. Papadopoulos, for example served 12 days in jail. Flynn was pardoned and served zero. They are just a pressure tactic to try to convince low-level people to provide information or testimony. The fact that they cite those convictions as crowning achievements of their investigation means that they utterly failed in accomplishing their goal.
  - kadoban 3y ago
    > Flynn was pardoned and served zero. Being pardoned by your co-conspirator doesn't exactly scream innocence. > The fact that they cite those convictions as crowning achievements of their investigation means that they utterly failed in accomplishing their goal. Yeah, wonder why it failed. Almost like there was a corrupt criminal with pardon powers who told everyone to lie or clam up.
    - adrr 3y ago
      There’s more. Russians were talking with Trump kids from emails released and even tweets from his kids admitting to talking with them. Mueller never too bothered to put any of Trumps family in front of grand jury or prosecute the campaign finance violations they uncovered. It was a fake investigation to trick the American public.
      - kadoban 3y ago
        Yeah, that's a good point. Mueller investigated only the dumbest possible theory really. And then what crimes he did find for Trump, he refused to state right out on the even dumber theory that the President is above the law.
kadoban 3y ago
> The most serious was Manafort, and it was related to his previous work in Ukraine, before he was hired by the Trump campaign. Manafort's work in Ukraine, by the way? Doing sketchy shit on behalf of Russia there. Definitely not suspicious that his next gig was Trump's campaign manager, working for free. What was he getting out of that again?

kadoban 3y ago

They got the soft-glove Republican run investigation treatment and they still ended up charging 30+ people, including those closest to Trump. They also proved _numerous_ extremely suspicious ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, and produced a report that showed obstruction all over the place. Obstruction, by the way, is what you do when you know you broke just _all_ the laws and have to break the law more to prevent getting caught. That was never followed up on due to _other_ Trump admin corruption. Congratulations, they managed to cheat the rigged system. It's good to be rich and well connected if you're going to crime I guess.

adrr 3y ago

Why would you lie to investigators? Why commit a felony and spend years in jail? Maybe if we had a real prosecutor that actually runs a real investigation and puts the main target in front of a grand jury instead of doing some bogus here’s some questions for you to answer whenever you want bullshit. That has to be history first and speaks to the coverup by Republican prosecutor to protect a Republican president.

pseudo0 3y ago
Fear of embarrassment, arrogance (not having legal counsel present), or ignorance (not realizing that it was a hostile interview with the FBI, rather than information gathering). Those charges aren't the end goal of a serious investigation. Papadopoulos, for example served 12 days in jail. Flynn was pardoned and served zero. They are just a pressure tactic to try to convince low-level people to provide information or testimony. The fact that they cite those convictions as crowning achievements of their investigation means that they utterly failed in accomplishing their goal.
- kadoban 3y ago
  > Flynn was pardoned and served zero. Being pardoned by your co-conspirator doesn't exactly scream innocence. > The fact that they cite those convictions as crowning achievements of their investigation means that they utterly failed in accomplishing their goal. Yeah, wonder why it failed. Almost like there was a corrupt criminal with pardon powers who told everyone to lie or clam up.
  - adrr 3y ago
    There’s more. Russians were talking with Trump kids from emails released and even tweets from his kids admitting to talking with them. Mueller never too bothered to put any of Trumps family in front of grand jury or prosecute the campaign finance violations they uncovered. It was a fake investigation to trick the American public.
    - kadoban 3y ago
      Yeah, that's a good point. Mueller investigated only the dumbest possible theory really. And then what crimes he did find for Trump, he refused to state right out on the even dumber theory that the President is above the law.

kadoban 3y ago

> The most serious was Manafort, and it was related to his previous work in Ukraine, before he was hired by the Trump campaign. Manafort's work in Ukraine, by the way? Doing sketchy shit on behalf of Russia there. Definitely not suspicious that his next gig was Trump's campaign manager, working for free. What was he getting out of that again?