Anticipating a beehive of activity in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office, the press waits to see new filings in D.C.’s U.S. District Court. While anything’s possible, it looks like Mueller wants to throw the book at former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort for violating his cooperation agreement with the Special Counsel. Accusing Manafort of witness tampering and failing to cooperate with the Special Counsel, Mueller will likely strike Manafort hard, asking U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis to deliver strict verdicts. On the other hand, Mueller looks to show some leniency of President Donald Trump’s former personal Attorney Michael Cohen, who’s recent cooperation hopes to earn him no jail time when Ellis weighs out Cohen’s sentencing recommendations. Federal judges don’t have to heed sentencing guidelines from the U.S. prosecutors or the Special Counsel’s office.
Mueller already signaled Dec. 5 that former National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn should face no jail time for his cooperation. However Flynn implicated Trump is anyone’s guess. What’s known about Flynn was that he did nothing wrong talking to former Russian Amb. Sergei Kislyak during the campaign ,transition and after sworn in as National Security Adviser.Jan.20, 2017. Flynn was caught in a perjury trap telling FBI agents that he had no contact with Kislyak, when, in fact, he was wiretapped speaking with the retired Russian U.S. ambassador on several occasions. Flynn told Mueller he was asked by transition team and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner to make contact with the Russians for the purpose of working to improve deteriorated U.S.-Russian relations. Reviewing transcripts of Flynn’s wiretapped conversations show nothing unusual or noteworthy.
Focusing on Muller’s next move in the way of new filings indicates there may be no final report to Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Anytime the press mention’s Trump firing former FBI Director James Comey, they never mention anything about Rosenstein’s April 10, 2017 three-page memo detailing the reasons for Comey’s termination. Democrats and media’s narrative over Comey’s firing accuses Trump of trying to obstruct justice. If the media read Rosenstein’s memo, they’d conclude he had gone rogue as FBI Director, exonerating former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and agreeing to seek Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Act [FISA] warrants to wiretap Trump campaign officials. Mueller’s filed no criminal charges against anyone accused of spying or acting as a double-agent in the 2016 presidential campaign or transition team.
Since Muellar was appointed Special Counsel by Rosenstein May 17, 2017, not one person subject to FISA Court warrants was charged or convicted of anything. Former part-time foreign policy aid Carters Page, subject to Comey’s FISA Court warrant, was never charged-or-convicted of anything. Page was subjected to charges that he spied on the U.S., serving as a double agent, but, when the facts were weighed, Page was acquitted.. Mueller instead prefers to go after low-hanging fruit, charging various individuals with perjury, over essentially saying nothing. When you consider Trump’s formal personal attorney Michael Cohen was charged-convicted of perjury for getting details wrong about Trump Tower talks with Russia, it highlights Mueller’s desperate attempts for convictions. Former U.S. Attorney Renatto Mariotti wondered about Cohen’s hush money payouts in the 2016 campaign.
Cohen was the Trump campaign official directed, presumably by Trump, to pay off porn queen Stormy Daniels and former Playboy centerfold Susan McDougall. Mariotti and others wants to know whether Mueller found the payoffs to violate federal campaign finance reform laws. “If the government does not contest that, it indicates that it is consistent with the evidence they do have,” Mariotti told the press. “It could be a big day,” Mariotti said, regarding to more Mueller filings. Whether Cohen’s payouts to Stormy Daniels or McDougall’s deal with the National Enquirer violates campaign finance laws in anyone’s guess. Trump could argue that he was extorted of cash by both women. All charges-or-convictions associated with the Russian probe have not turned up anything resembling collusion. Trump’s called the investigation a witch-hunt, denying any Russian involvement.
Mueller has preferred to go after no-brainer convictions, especially for perjury with Trump campaign officials. Whether Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen engaged in money laundering, bank and tax fraud, etc., doesn’t mean his plea deal with the Special Counsel’s office was significant. It looks less likely that Mueller plans to indict former Trump campaign aid Roger Stone or his conspiracy theorist buddy Jerome Corsi. Unable to get perjury plea deals or convictions from Stone and Corsi, Mueller looks content to wrap up the investigation throwing the book at Manafort, and, to a lesser extent, Cohen. “They [the Special Counsel] want the judge [Ellis] to throw the book at Manafort, sending a message to him and everyone else,” Mariotti said. Judging by past plea deals and convictions, Mueller looks content to go after the easy stuff, ending his investigation on positive note.
