Monday, July 24, 2017

2017 Special Counsel investigation

2017 Special Counsel investigation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Order appointing Special Counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
The 2017 Special Counsel investigation is an investigation led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel, investigating any coordination between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government as part of the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, and related matters that arise in the course of this investigation. Mueller has assembled a team of attorneys to conduct the investigation.
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Origin and powers[edit]

On May 17, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, a former Director of the FBI, to serve as special counsel for the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). In this capacity, Mueller oversees the investigation into "any links and/or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation".[1] As special counsel, Mueller has the power to issue subpoenas,[2] hire staff members, request funding, and prosecute federal crimes in connection with the election interference.[3]
The appointment followed a series of events which included President Donald Trump's firing of FBI director James Comeyand Comey's allegation that Trump asked him to drop the FBI investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.[4]
Rosenstein, in his role as Acting Attorney General due to the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has authority over the use of DOJ resources by Mueller and the investigation. In an interview with the Associated Press, Rosenstein said he would recuse from supervision of Mueller if he himself were to become a subject in the investigation due to his role in the dismissal of Comey.[5] If Rosenstein were to recuse, his duties in this matter would be assumed by the Justice Department's third-in-command, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand.[6]

Legal teams[edit]

Mueller's investigation team[edit]

Special Counsel Robert Mueller
Politico reported that the "ideal team" would likely have six to eight prosecutors, along with administrative assistants and experts in areas such as money laundering or interpreting tax returns.[7] By mid June, 2017, Mueller, who has an active role in managing the inquiry,[8] hired thirteen lawyers,[9] and was in the process of hiring more.
Members of the team include:[7][10][11][12][13][14]
Upon his appointment as Special Counsel, Mueller resigned his position at the Washington office of law firm WilmerHale, along with two colleagues, Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles III.[22][11] On May 23, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice ethics experts announced they had declared Mueller ethically able to function as special counsel.[23]

Trump's defense team[edit]

Members of the team include or have included:

Topics of investigations[edit]

Russian election interference[edit]

Main article: Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
The primary responsibility of the special counsel is "to investigate Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election". U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded "with high confidence" that the Russian government interfered in the election by hacking into the computer server of the hacked the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the personal Google email account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and forwarded their contents to WikiLeaks,[27][28][29] as well as by disseminating fake news promoted on social media[30] and by penetrating, or trying to penetrate, the election systems and databases of multiple U.S. states.[31] In July 2016 the FBI began looking into these issues, as well as the question of whether members of the Trump campaign might have coordinated or cooperated with Russia's activities.[32] Those investigations became part of the special counsel's portfolio.[33]

Links between Trump associates and Russian officials[edit]

Main article: Links between Trump associates and Russian officials
As early as spring 2015, US intelligence agencies started overhearing conversations in which Russian government officials, some within the Kremlin, discussed associates of Donald Trump.[34][35] In one such conversation, Russian officials said they had cultivated a strong relationship with Michael Flynn and believed they could use him to influence Donald Trump and his team.[36]
Multiple Trump associates, including Flynn, Paul Manafort, and other members of the Trump campaign, had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials during 2016.[37] In particular, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak met with several Trump campaign members and administration nominees. National Security AdvisorMichael Flynn was forced to resign on February 13, 2017, after it was revealed that on December 29, 2016, the day that Obama announced sanctions against Russia, Flynn had discussed the sanctions with Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. Flynn had earlier acknowledged speaking to Kislyak but denied discussing the sanctions.[38][39] Also in December 2016, Flynn and presidential advisor Jared Kushner met with Kislyak hoping to set up a direct, secure line of communication with Russian officials that American intelligence agencies would be unaware of.[40] [41] Kushner also met with Sergei Gorkov, the head of the Russian state-owned bank Vnesheconombank.[42] Flynn and Kushner failed to report these meetings on their security clearance forms.[43].[42]
The Trump team issued multiple denials of any contacts between Trump associates and Russia, but many of those denials turned out to be false.[44] [45]

Trump campaign–Russian meeting[edit]

Main article: Trump campaign–Russian meeting
On June 9, 2016, a meeting was held in Trump Tower in New York City between three senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump – Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort – and at least five other people, including Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.[46] British publicist Rob Goldstone had suggested the meeting to Trump Jr., and it was arranged in a series of emails later made public.
Trump Jr. initially told the press that the meeting was held to discuss adoptions of Russian children by Americans. He added that he agreed to the meeting with the understanding that he would receive information damaging to Hillary Clinton.[47] Goldstone had stated in his email that the Russian government was involved as part of its support for the Trump campaign.[48] Mueller's team is investigating the emails and the meeting.[49]

Obstruction of justice[edit]

Main articles: Dismissal of James Comey and Comey memos
Early in Trump's presidency, senior White House officials reportedly asked intelligence officials if they could intervene with the FBI to stop the investigation into Michael Flynn.[50] In March Trump reportedly discussed the FBI's Russia investigation with Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and asked if they could intervene with Comey to limit or stop it.[51] When he was asked at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the report, Coats said he would not discuss conversations he had with the president but "I have never felt pressured to intervene in the Russia investigation in any way."[52]
In February 2017 it was reported that White House officials had asked the FBI to issue a statement that there had been no contact between Trump associates and Russian intelligence sources during the 2016 campaign. The FBI did not make the requested statement, and observers noted that the request violated established procedures about contact between the White House and the FBI regarding pending investigations.[53] After Comey revealed in March that the FBI was investigating the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Trump phoned Coats and Director of National Security Admiral Michael S. Rogers and asked them to publicly state there was no evidence of collusion between his campaign and the Russians.[50][54][55] Both Coats and Rogers believed that the request was inappropriate, though not illegal, and did not make the requested statement. The two exchanged notes about the incident, and Rogers made a contemporary memo to document the request.[56][57]
In May 2017 a February memo by James Comey was made public about an Oval Office conversation with Trump on February 14, 2017, in which Trump is described as attempting to persuade Comey to drop the FBI investigation into Flynn.[58][59] The memo notes that Trump said, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go." Comey made no commitments to Trump on the subject.[60] In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, Comey gave a detailed report on the February 14 conversation, including Trump's suggestion that he should "let go" the Flynn investigation. Comey said he "took it as a direction… I took it as, this is what he wants me to do." He added that it was "a very disturbing thing, very concerning", and that he discussed the incident with other FBI leaders.[61] Comey created similar memos about every phone call and meeting he had with the president.[62]
The FBI launched an investigation of Donald Trump for obstruction of justice a few days after the May 9 firing of Comey.[63] Many FBI insiders believed the real reason Comey was fired was because he had refused to end the investigation into Russian connections to the election.[64] The special prosecutor's office took over the obstruction of justice investigation and has reportedly interviewed Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Director of the National Security Agency Mike Rogers, and Deputy Director of the NSA Richard Ledgett.[63][65][66] ABC News reported in June that the special counsel was gathering preliminary information about possible obstruction of justice, but a full-scale investigation had not been launched.[67] On June 16, Trump tweeted: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."[68] However, Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow said Trump's tweet was referring to the June 14 Washington Postreport that he was under investigation for obstruction of justice,[63] and that Trump has not actually been notified of any investigation.[69][70]

Financial investigations[edit]

The special counsel team has contacted Deutsche Bank, which is the main banking institution doing business with The Trump Organization.[71]

Flynn activities[edit]

As part of the investigation, Special Counsel Mueller assumed control of a Virginia-based grand jury criminal probe into the relationship between Flynn and Turkish businessman Kamil Ekim Alptekin.[72] Flynn Intel Group, an intelligence consultancy, was paid $530,000 by Alptekin’s company Inovo BV to produce a documentary and conduct research on Fethullah Gülen, an exiled Turkish cleric who lives in the United States.[72]

Reactions[edit]

Mueller's appointment to oversee the investigation immediately garnered widespread support from Democrats and even some from Republicans in Congress.[73][74]Senator Charles Schumer (D–NY) said, "Former Director Mueller is exactly the right kind of individual for this job. I now have significantly greater confidence that the investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead." Senator Dianne Feinstein (D–CA) stated, "Bob was a fine U.S. attorney, a great FBI director and there’s no better person who could be asked to perform this function." She added, "He is respected, he is talented and he has the knowledge and ability to do the right thing." Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R–UT) tweeted that "Mueller is a great selection. Impeccable credentials. Should be widely accepted."[73] Much Republican support in Congress was lukewarm: Rep. Peter T. King (R–NY) said "It’s fine. I just don’t think there is any need for it."[75]
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wrote of the team that "Bob Mueller is recruiting the smartest and most seasoned professionals who have a long track record of independence and excellence".[11] Former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, who had investigated Bill Clinton during the Clinton Administration, said that the team was "a great, great team of complete professionals".[9]
Later some conservatives, including political commentators Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (who had initially praised Mueller for "integrity and honesty"), stated that Mueller should be dismissed and the investigation closed.[76][77][78] Christopher Ruddy, a friend of Trump, stated that the president has considered firing Mueller.[79]
On June 23, 2017, Trump stated that members of Mueller's team were "all Hillary Clinton supporters, some of them worked for Hillary Clinton." PolitiFact rated Trump's claim "Mostly False", noting that only three had made campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton and one had defended the Clinton Foundation in court. One member of the team had made contributions to Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz and Republican Senator George Allen.[80][14] In an interview with The New York Timespublished on July 19, 2017, Trump stated that he would have not appointed Sessions as Attorney General had he known that he was going to recuse himself from the investigation. Furthermore, Trump confirmed that he would view it as a violation if the special counsel investigated his and his family's finances, unrelated to Russia.[81]

Polling[edit]

A May 2017 Politico/Morning Consult poll showed that 81% of U.S. voters were for the special prosecutor's investigation.[82] A June 2017 Associated Press-NORCCenter for Public Affairs Research poll asked U.S. adults whether the special counsel's investigation could be fair and impartial: 26% were "extremely confident" or "very confident"; 36% were "moderately confident"; and an equal proportion of Americans were "not very confident" or "not at all confident."[83]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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