Robert Mueller is doing damage control today. After yesterday's fiasco with Peter Strzok testifying before Congress, the special prosecutor has just released an indictment of a batch of Russian employees of the GRU (the Russian police/spy agency). These Russians are all alleged to have hacked the DNC and the email of many employees of the Clinton campaign in 2016. The indictment is more of a PR stunt than an actual attempt at justice.
Consider these points:
1. All of the defendants are in Russia right now. They will not be arrested. They will not be tried. They will never go to prison if convicted because there cannot be a trial without the defendants voluntarily coming to the USA. So we have an indictment that will lead to NOTHING, ...no trial, no proof and no convictions. Mueller knows this, but he also knows that by releasing this indictment he can make it seem as if the special prosecutor has actually found something.
2. The FBI and the Special Prosecutor never actually examined the computer systems of the DNC that were allegedly hacked. Without examining the computer system, there is no way to tell who hacked those systems. All that the FBI has is the word of a consultant hired by the Clinton campaign and the DNC who reported on what they found in their supposed examination. That testimony of that consultant would not even be admissible at trial. In other words, if one of these defendants showed up in the USA, he could never be convicted because there is no proof that the hacking ever took place.
3. I actually read the indictment. That seems to be something that most of the reporters in the mainstream media could not be bothered to do. There is no allegation that any American was involved in any way with the alleged hacking. There is no allegation of collusion between these hackers and the Trump campaign. There is mention of a cursory email exchange between the hackers (who were pretending to be someone else) and a person involved with the Trump campaign in which the hackers tried to interest the Trump campaign with the emails but that exchange went nowhere. In other words, this show indictment actually strengthens the view that there was no collusion. The media and many Democrats, however, play up the indictment as if it is terrible news for President Trump. It's not. Quite the opposite is true.
Six months ago, Mueller tried a similar tactic when he indicted some Russian individuals and companies. He figured he could do this for show and the whole thing would then go away. Much to Mueller's surprise, however, one of the companies appeared through its attorney and challenged the indictment. Mueller's team still hasn't figured out how to respond to that. It would be great if one of these Russians were to show up and fight the indictment. It would take a few weeks at most for Mueller either to withdraw the indictment or to see the indictment dismissed.
As they used to say, "there's no there there."
Consider these points:
1. All of the defendants are in Russia right now. They will not be arrested. They will not be tried. They will never go to prison if convicted because there cannot be a trial without the defendants voluntarily coming to the USA. So we have an indictment that will lead to NOTHING, ...no trial, no proof and no convictions. Mueller knows this, but he also knows that by releasing this indictment he can make it seem as if the special prosecutor has actually found something.
2. The FBI and the Special Prosecutor never actually examined the computer systems of the DNC that were allegedly hacked. Without examining the computer system, there is no way to tell who hacked those systems. All that the FBI has is the word of a consultant hired by the Clinton campaign and the DNC who reported on what they found in their supposed examination. That testimony of that consultant would not even be admissible at trial. In other words, if one of these defendants showed up in the USA, he could never be convicted because there is no proof that the hacking ever took place.
3. I actually read the indictment. That seems to be something that most of the reporters in the mainstream media could not be bothered to do. There is no allegation that any American was involved in any way with the alleged hacking. There is no allegation of collusion between these hackers and the Trump campaign. There is mention of a cursory email exchange between the hackers (who were pretending to be someone else) and a person involved with the Trump campaign in which the hackers tried to interest the Trump campaign with the emails but that exchange went nowhere. In other words, this show indictment actually strengthens the view that there was no collusion. The media and many Democrats, however, play up the indictment as if it is terrible news for President Trump. It's not. Quite the opposite is true.
Six months ago, Mueller tried a similar tactic when he indicted some Russian individuals and companies. He figured he could do this for show and the whole thing would then go away. Much to Mueller's surprise, however, one of the companies appeared through its attorney and challenged the indictment. Mueller's team still hasn't figured out how to respond to that. It would be great if one of these Russians were to show up and fight the indictment. It would take a few weeks at most for Mueller either to withdraw the indictment or to see the indictment dismissed.
As they used to say, "there's no there there."
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