As I have previously written, the FBI’s Special Counsel Robert Mueller III who led the 22 month Trump-Russia probe, had been assigned an investigative task which had been very limited in scope as to what he was permitted to examine. He had been operating under instructions to determine if the republican President Donald Trump, his family members and those close to him in the campaign of 2016-2017 had been directly involved in Russia’s attack on the US 2017 presidential elections infrastructure and if there’s sufficient evidence that would rise to a probable conviction in a court of law to justify criminally charging any of them, with the standard being, ‘guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.’ Mr. Mueller has decided that the answer is NO.
The FBI’s Mueller investigation has led to the indictments of his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, his former national security adviser General Mike Flynn, his friend and sub rosa political adviser Roger Stone, his former personal attorney Michael Cohen for more than a decade, Russian entities and operatives directly involved in Russia’s all out attack on the 2016 US presidential election’s infrastructure on multiple fronts.
See Trump’s NYC history: Center Of Gravity RE Investigations Into Trump World Has Moved From Washington DC To NY
In summary, President Trump’s constant mantra of ‘no collusion’ is equivalent to the judicial definition of conspiracy. Mr. Mueller could not produces sufficient evidence that would meet the ‘ beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard to indict President Trump, his family members with conspiring directly with Russia in its unprovoked all out-no holds bar war on the US 2016 elections’ infrastructure.
But then there’s the question that remains unresolved in my mind. That’s because Mr. Mueller’s report does not fully address the crux of why the American public should continue to question President Trump’s involvement in all things Russia when it comes to his implementation of foreign policy decisions because of his long term financial ties to Russia going back decades. Just like anyone is beholden to the Mafia bosses if they’ve most of his/ her financial dealings with their lieutenants, anyone who’s dependent on Russian monies would have an allegiance to that country. Russia is well known to be run like a mobster’s organization.
Let’s put it this way. No one with the history of the president’s past/ current financial dealings with Russia and other foreign governments would pass the most basic FBI security background check that would qualify him to be hired at any job level of the US government. But this is who the GOP leaders vouched for and backed to have him become the 45th US president.
As per a 5/29/18 Vice report, “How Putin’s Russia Became Mafia Heaven” by Seth Ferranti, tells the “Inside the long, strange story of organized crime taking over the former Soviet Union—and how Russia tamed it only to unleash it on the West.”
“Thanks to insider contacts on the ground in Russia, Galeotti—who has written for VICE in the past—embarked on a project 30 years in the making. The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia, out Tuesday from Yale University Press, is the result. Galeotti digs into the origins of Russia’s notorious vor-v-zakone (thief-in-laws), explores their rise in concert with the collapse of the USSR, investigates how their values and practices have influenced modern-day Russia, probes how Putin has kept them in check, and touches on what ties, if any, President Trump might have to this vast underworld.”
This is why the question as to, ‘how does President Trump’s financial ties to Russia, dating back decades, compromise his ability to act solely in the best interests of US national security interests versus Russia’s objectives,’ requires further oversight.
Remember President Trump’s words around March 2018 when he was asked if investigating his finances would be a “red line,” and he responded that it would be.
There’s a reason why the president’s attorneys have shown more concern over the SDNY investigations than Mr. Mueller’s inquiry.
That question isn’t fully addressed in the 3/22/2019 FBI’s Mueller report as Mr. Mueller had been constrained by the limitations imposed on him regarding the parameters/ rules of what he was allowed to investigate. But this is where the SDNY, the US Southern District of New York court system takes over, as they can go where Mr. Mueller couldn’t, to determine an answer to this question, has President Trump’s strong financial ties compromised his ability to act solely in US best national security interests versus that of Russians?
This why I’m convinced that the FBI’s counter-intelligence investigation that was opened around July 2017 regarding his ties to Russia is still on-going. And this is why I’m believing that the SDNY Southern District of New York US Attorneys’ offices is where the investigation into President Trump being possibly compromised because of his strong financial ties to Russia and other foreign entities, belongs.
Incidentally, the attorney Audrey Strauss was recently promoted in the SDNY prosecutors’ offices to oversee this part of the probe into President Trump’s suspect financial dealings.
Audrey Strauss (71 years old) is none other than one of the prosecutors, who bested Roy Cohn and Donald Trump in a 1973 case when the Justice Department was suing the Trumps for not renting to black people. Donald Trump had hired (Roy) Cohn, a NY attorney “who represented NY power brokers, from the Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to the mob boss Carlo Gambino,” to represent the Trump family in this matter. Roy Cohn who became a mentor to Donald Trump, had also become famous for having been Senator McCarthy’s second hand man in the 1950’s McCarthy US Congressional hearings.
See Courthouse News Service: Lawyer Who Bested Roy Cohn Tapped for Big Gig in SDNY
See: Saga Of The Ties Between Trump And Deutsche Bank Which Has Loaned Him $2 Billion Dollars
Gronda Morin 
the scope was not limited for the investigation. see this commentary.
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Dear Sklawlor,
I totally and respectfully disagree with the gentleman in the video. Facts are a funny thing but in my book facts rule:
When Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017, Rosenstein said the probe would include “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
But an exception was made in August 2017, Rosenstein authorized Mueller to investigate allegations that Manafort may have “committed a crime or crimes arising out of payments he received from the Ukrainian government” before and while pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was in office.
This info was important because it could show why Mr. Manafort was so motivated to become President Trump’s campaign manager even to the point, of volunteering to work for free. It could explain why he ordered US policy toward Ukraine and Russia to be altered in the GOP platform.
Mr. Mueller was constrained by the DOJ’s Deputy Rod Rosenstein’s mandate to where he was limited into what he could investigate.
Hugs, Gronda
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I so agree…what’s up with that, paranoia strikes deep!
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Dear Holly,
You have a point. It seems that there are a lot of folks suffering from the paranoia syndrome. The FBI’s Mueller report is only the initial step.
But it behooves all us to wait on the FBI’s findings being made available to the public with as little held back as possible, like data pertaining to classified material.
Hugs, Gronda
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I seemed to have burned out Gronda, like many the whole thing is making me sick.
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https://nypost.com/2019/03/24/collusion-now-exposed-as-nothing-more-than-trump-haters-opioid-dream/
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Gronda, you wrote: the American public should continue to question President Trump’s involvement in all things Russia when it comes to his implementation of foreign policy decisions because of his long term financial ties to Russia
I agree! And what’s disheartening is so many are blind to this. Instead, they want to believe that tRumpsky is just being a good leader by cozying up with Putin, the Saudis, Kimmy-baby, and others. They are convinced it’s all for the benefit of the U.S. of A. WRONG!
Unfortunately, I tend to think the Mueller report isn’t going to include what many of us are hoping for.
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Dear Nan,
For me, the main issue has always been President Trump’s decades-long dependence on fiances from Russian sources. It should be obvious that just as folks who owe monies to Mafia bosses are beholden to them, so is everybody like President Trump who’s beholden to Russia for their financial well being, Russia has become well known in the US Intelligence Community for being run like organized crime syndicate.
If President Trump weren’t our US leader, he wouldn’t be able to pass the most basic FBI background security check to work for the US government as a dog catcher because of his financial ties to Russia.
Fortunately, the US Attorneys’ offices of the SDNY will be investigating President Trump’s and others’ financial ties to Russia. This is where this part of the investigation, belongs.
Hugs, Gronda
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Correction in previous comment, “will total power” should have been “with” total power:
(Trump stacks the court system with far right advocates who will strangle all progressive legislation of previous administrations, gut any environmental protections, allow corporations to plunder unchecked and will total power, he will then seek to destroy all of his adversaries.)
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Dear Forestcat2,
Fortunately, the democrats, the GOP ‘Never Trumpers’ and Independent voters make up 60% of the voting US population. Like in 2018, we just have to keep our eye on the ball and the Democratic Party candidates will win the majority of seats in the US Senate and the White House.
Of course, women rule. I can’t tell you how many GOP women have told me that they will not vote for President Trump in 2020.
President Trump’s supporters are a minority party and their exertion of power has a time limit.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, as you have noted, there is more to come. One reaction that I have not seen coverage of is the Trump team seemed surprised at the findings, similarly to the election win. Trump and his sycophants were denigrating Mueller until the last minute. There is a level of guilt that may not have been fully provable. Yet, it would be nice if the Southern District of New York moved quickly. Keith
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from twitter and I happen to feel that this is pretty balanced analysis at this point.
“Quick thread on Russia. 1st off, no collusion and if you care at all about the United States of America you should be thrilled about that even if you don’t like bad orange man. Sadly, we are seeing virtually none of that from those who cheered this hoax on for the past two years.
If there had been collusion not only would we be impeaching the president which would be a disaster, but what’s next? Take out the VP? Install speaker Nancy Pelosi as president? Then what? Wait til 2020 election? The entire election would be about oncoming war with Russia.
What could be a bigger declaration of war than installing the president of the United States? The point is, that didn’t happen and we should all be freaking thrilled about that. Of course CNN/MSNBC and other clickbait websites will move the goal posts and continue the witch hunt.
To that point there are a lot of people in media and political establishment who just need to go away now. They don’t need to be shamed or locked up, but they do need to stop this nonsense. Of course they won’t because they’re in too deep. So paranoid accusations will continue.
And they’ll do far greater damage to the country than Trump. These are the same people who said Trump wouldn’t accept results of election…and that’s what they’re still doing here 2+ years later. Don’t like Trump? Beat him with good ideas, not never ending conspiracy theories.”
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Dear SKLawlor,
If you’ve been reading posts written by me with the family of bloggers who frequently comment on this blog, you would know that we’ve backed Mr. Mueller and the job he’s been doing and that reality hasn’t changed.
From the start, I’ve said President Trump should thank his lucky stars that Mr. Mueller had been assigned to manage FBI’s Trump-Russia probe because he was competent and fair.
The problem that I have is, that while I can live with Mr. Mueller findings that there was not a sufficient level of evidence to criminally charge President Trump and his family for having conspired with Russians to help them attack the US 2016 elections’ infrastructure, it is not unreasonable to want to study the entire report for myself. That’s how the rule of law in the USA works.
But many Americans are suspect of a partisan GOP appointed Attorney General Mr. Barr over-imposing his thinking for that of the independent arbiter Mr. Mueller regarding the president’s culpability regarding ‘obstruction of justice.’
The good news is that this FBI Mueller report does conclude conclusively that Russia did in fact conduct a major attack on the 2016 US presidential elections’ infrastructure.
I’m still concerned about President Trump being too dependent on Russian financial monies to where his judgment is compromised to where he would not put US national security interests as his primary concern but be pushed to promote Russia’s objectives. But this part is under investigation by the US Attorneys in the Southern District of New York’s court system.
Everyone in the know including President Trump’s attorneys know that Mr. Mueller was not the real threat to him, not like the SDNY US Attorneys’ offices
This is the premiere US prosecutors office in the entire country for investigating financial type crimes.
But, at least that point of Russia having attacked US elections’ systems in 2016 is no longer in dispute.
Hugs. Gronda
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Dear Keith,
It’s my opinion that the SDNY US Attorneys’ offices is where investigating President Trump’s financial ties to Russia, belongs. I suspect that the FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller had also figured out this reality. This is why He moved Michael Cohen’s case in that direction.
At the SDNY offices, the prosecutor Audrey Strauss had been waiting in the wings until Mr. Mueller released his final report on 3/22/2019. That same evening, Audrey Strauss was promoted to take over as lead investigator regarding President trump and his financial ties to foreign governments, including Russia.
As I’ve already mentioned, she was the prosecutor who bested Donald Trump and his hire powered attorney Roy Cohn in 1973 when the US Department of Justice was suing him for refusing to rent apartments to Black clients.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, it is good to see a capable prosecutor in the lead. They need to have all the ducks in a row, particularly if they start indicting people who are related to the President. In other words, they better have a very good aim this time. The attacks by his sycophants are continuing on Mueller and the media, as they are during their best to stick a fork in this thing.
What we should be grateful for his Mueller did his homework and several people have been found or pled guilty of lying and fraud, with one more pending in Roger Stone. I think what the full report will say is the President and his associates used poor judgment, but not criminally so, on the Russian influence. As the CIA testified to Congress at the very minimum Trump was an unwitting participant in the Russian influence on the election, parroting the words and stories of hackers. The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee GOP leaders referenced the poor judgment.
As for besting Trump on ideas, as an Independent voter and former Republican, we are in a precarious place with our allies, our environment and lack of civil discource. And, as the economic growth stalls some this year and next after the sugar rush from borrowing from our future to make it a little better and restricted trade with tariffs, more people will feel the pain and our debt will continue to climb unimpeded.
I do wish the Dems in the House would find some common ground with the GOP led Senate and get some things done. It was nice to see the bipartisan land conservation law get passed, e.g. We need more of that.
Keith
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Dear Keith,
President Trump and his sycophants in the White House, the US Congress, the right wing media outlets and the Russian army of trolls are doing their best to skewer the FBI, its Trump-Russia probe and its lead investigator the Special Counsel Mueller, but they will only end up with egg on their faces.
The one issue that the FBI’s Mueller report and the memo by the US Attorney General Barr put to rest is the fact that RUSSIA DID INDEED LAUNCH AND CONDUCT A MAJOR ATTACK ON THE 2016 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS INFRASTRUCTURE.
Yet for how many months did we watch President Trump lie about this fact. Heck he openly declared at the Helsinki Summit with president Putin present, that he believed the Russian leader President Putin over all of his foreign policy experts, his military advisers, his intelligence officials.
That act alerted me as to the possibility that President Trump’s judgment having been compromised by his dependence on Russia monies. But his other behaviors also support my concern, like his attempts to lift Russian sanctions; his tearing up of translator’s notes when he met with President Putin; his dissing NATO and our European allies; his abrupt decision to remove military troops from Syria; his ending of military exercises in S. Korea; his and his minions’ constant lying about their contacts with Russians during 2015-2018.
Forgive me, but I would have to deny what I’ve seen with my own eyes and have heard with my own ears to buy into GOP gas-lighting attempts that the FBI report totally exonerates President Trump.
What are they drinking to become so delusional. GOP folks can scream and yell all they want but I’m not buying their BS. Their standard bearer could not pass the most basic FBI background security check to become a dog catcher employed by the US government. But this is who they have chosen to catapult into the White House. They must be so proud.
The deserve to lose bigly in 2020.
PS They are hard at work to insure their 2020 losses at the ballot box. They are in the process of doing their damnest to kill Obamacare.
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