Hi everyone,
So the Special Counsel’s investigation is over, and we now have a quick summary of the final report offered by Attorney General William Barr. The summary states quite blandly that the investigation “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 election.” It then proceeds to offer part of the text of the Special Counsel’s report in support: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
The important thing to note is that there is no textual support for the assertion that the Special Counsel found no collusion on the part of the Trump campaign. The report simply states that the investigation “did not establish” such collusion. Given that this was an investigation into criminal behavior, the presumptive evidentiary standard would be beyond a reasonable doubt. It is possible that the Special Counsel found some evidence of conspiracy and coordination, but not enough to pass such a high evidentiary threshold. Based again on a strict reading of the Special Counsel’s text, it is also possible that the investigation turned up evidence of conspiracy or coordination with Russia in matters unrelated to electoral interference. Money laundering is still very much an open issue.
Open questions abound, in fact. I’m not sure how one could credibly close an investigation into conspiracy with Russia without interviewing all of the principals at the Trump Tower meeting. Were Trump family members interviewed by the Special Counsel in secret? Or were they left alone because they are targets in other, more sure-footed investigations? And how many additional investigations into the Trump team have been spawned, and then transferred to other parts of the Department of Justice?
In sum, the Attorney General releasing one sentence fragment from the Special Counsel’s report is not going to provide a satisfactory resolution to the issue. The longer the report is held secret, the greater the presumption should be that there is something damning and damaging contained within it.
Thanks for reading.
Love,
Zero