There is no known evidence that Trump-campaign officials had any involvement in hacking by the Russian intelligence services. Mueller’s new indictment powerfully suggests that this could not have happened — the Russians were expert in their cyberespionage tactics, they did not need anyone’s help, and they took pains to conceal their identity from everyone with whom they dealt.
Moreover, even though Trump-campaign officials have been charged with other crimes (having nothing to do with the 2016 election), and some of those Trump officials had “contacts” with Russians, Mueller has never charged one of them with a crime related to Russia’s espionage attack on the election, nor has he ever elicited from any defendant who pled guilty an admission of any such crime.
Den eneste eksistensberettigelse for Robert Muellers ’specielle efterforskning’ var at afdække alting relateret til et muligt samarbejde, lovligt eller ej, mellem Trump og hans præsidentkampagne og russere. Det har længe været McCarthys pointe at den slags efterforskning hørte hjemme under kontraspionagevirksomhed, da det ikke er så vigtigt at få domsfældelser, som at få afdækket trusselsbilledet. Og som en bekræftelse på den logik har Mueller netop ved sine sigtelser af russere, der aldrig vil komme for en amerikansk domstol – og derfor aldrig vil udfordre validiteten af Muellers bevismateriale – begravet den videre efterforskning i justitsministeriets “National Security Division, the home of other non-prosecutable foreign counterintelligence work that is never intended to see the light of day in a public courtroom”
Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was never something that the Justice Department was unable to investigate in the normal course. In fact, for months, the Trump Justice Department was investigating it in the normal course, just as the Obama Justice Department had done. Then, President Trump fired FBI director James Comey. It was this event that prompted Rosenstein to appoint Mueller. We got a special counsel not because of Russia’s espionage or any evidence indicating actual Trump-campaign complicity in it; we got a special counsel because Rosenstein was deeply involved in Comey’s ouster and wanted to fend off Democratic attacks on him over it.
The only point of the new indictment is to justify Rosenstein’s decision and Mueller’s existence. Proponents of the unnecessary special counsel want to say, “See, we really needed this investigation.” But that can be said with a straight face only if the goalposts are moved.
Muellers efterforskning har kostet en del penge, så noget skal skatteyderne have for penge, om det så bare er lidt røg.
