I was wrong.
The day after the Justice Department appointed Robert Mueller, I wrote the following in “Special Counsel to Investigate Trump-Russia Ties. Checkmate!” May 18, 2017:
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With past being prologue, it could take months, if not years, for Mueller to complete his investigation. Alas, [Republican] congressional committees will continue their dog-and-pony investigations, and Trump will continue to tweet; hence no reprieve from the political grandstanding and media hysteria that have characterized their investigations and dogged his presidency, respectively.
But rest assured that, unlike Trump’s hopelessly compromised DOJ, Mueller and his team of special prosecutors will hold to account anyone who colluded with Russia. As it was with Nixon’s enablers, I fully expect many of Trump’s to end up in prison.
Of more interest, this team will finally uncover the extent to which Trump’s (financial) ties to Russia explain his antic bromance with its predaceous president, Vladimir Putin, as well as his antic loyalty to the venal Michael Flynn. Not to mention that Mueller is bound to subpoena Trump’s tax returns and depose him – posing even greater legal jeopardy for him than special prosecutor Ken Starr posed when he deposed Bill Clinton.
This is why I plan to refrain from any further commentary on this aspect of the Trump presidency until Mueller completes his investigation. Frankly, his appointment came not a moment too soon. After all, this is just day 118 of 1460 and I’ve already had enough of his presidency.
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I share that because, unlike far too many commentators, I have no problem admitting when facts prove me wrong. That is the case today.
Mind you, I was right about many of Trump’s enablers ending up in prison, chief among them
- his national security adviser, Michael Flynn;
- his campaign manager, Paul Manafort; and
- his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
But I was wrong about the extent to which Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia.
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III did not find that Donald Trump or his campaign schemed with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. …
On the question of whether the president might have sought to obstruct the high-profile investigation, Mueller’s team did not offer a definitive answer.
‘The Special Counsel … did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction.’
(The Washington Post, March 24, 2019)
In fact, Mueller found that he could not prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians to help him get elected president of the United States. Evidently, the Russians only needed to use Facebook for that.
But Mueller found that many members of Trump’s campaign had many suspicious contacts with the Russians. It’s just that those contacts had little to do with winning the election.
I’m convinced that they repeatedly lied about those contacts because they were trying to strike all kinds of shady business deals, most notably that infamous Trump Moscow Tower. Not to mention all of the compromising financial (and personal) entanglements Trump had with shady-Russian oligarchs long before he launched his campaign.
Again, nobody thought Trump had a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning. This explains why he and everyone around him were using his campaign to enhance their brand and forge business ties – all of which they hoped would bring untold riches after their failed campaign. I was so disgusted by their obvious intent that I wrote the following in real time:
The legacy of his publicity stunt masquerading as a presidential campaign should be a Trump brand so tarnished that the only people willing to patronize his businesses are the fools who voted for him.
(“‘I Can’t Hear, or See, or Say that Name [TRUMP] Without Spitting,’” The iPINIONS Journal, March 14, 2016)
On the other hand, it is self-evident that Mueller could not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice because Trump famously refused to sit for an interview.
His lawyers argued – betraying consciousness of his guilt – that they feared Trump would lie through his teeth, which would have compelled Mueller to charge him with perjury. And his newly appointed attorney general, William Barr, ruled (a la James Comey) that no reasonable prosecutor would file obstruction of justice charges because Trump routinely committed it so openly and notoriously.
Except that this is rather like Trump committing murder on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight, and the Manhattan DA saying he can’t file criminal charges because Trump refused to speak to his investigators. That is the patent absurdity Barr is perpetrating here.
In any case, Trump’s refusal to sit for an interview explains why this is only the end of the beginning of our long national nightmare. More to the point, Democratic congressional committees, district attorneys (particularly from the Southern District of New York), and state attorneys general are just getting started with their own, far more consequential, investigations into his corrupt presidency and even more corrupt business affairs.
But, as it was with Mueller’s investigation, I see no point in joining the maddening crowd of commentators in speculating on every development in every case as it unfolds. Indeed, my contempt for their rank speculation masquerading as informed opinion moved me to write “Special Counsel Should’ve Indicted US Media Along with Russian Hackers,” July 16, 2018.
Switch to any cable news station today or tomorrow and it’ll take only seconds for you too to become seized with contempt …
In the meantime, I feel obliged to respond to readers who had the Trumpian gall to ask me to apologize for accusing Trump of collusion. Here is what I say to them (and I urge others being asked to apologize to say the same):
- I will apologize after Trump apologizes for accusing Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, of being an African con man.
- I will apologize after Trump apologizes for accusing most Mexicans of being criminals, drug dealers, and rapists.
- I will apologize after Trump apologizes for accusing all Muslims of being potential terrorists.
- I will apologize after Trump apologizes for accusing blacks of having a laziness trait.
- I will apologize after Trump apologizes for accusing immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean of coming from shithole countries.
- I will apologize after Trump apologizes for accusing American intelligence agencies of being less trustworthy than Russian ones on the question of Russia’s cyberattacks during the 2016 US presidential election.
- I will apologize…
I could go on, but point made.
Related commentaries:
special counsel…checkmate… all the president’s men… Michael Cohen…
I can’t … without spitting… investigating Trump’s businesses… birther…
Mexican migrants… Muslim ban… shithole countries… US intelligence…
* This commentary was originally published yesterday, Sunday, at 6:16 p.m.
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