Some Revelations from the Mueller Report—Yes, Virginia, the Issue Was Russia

April 21, 2019 (EIRNS)—Two of the ten so-called “obstruction episodes” covered in the Mueller Report make crystal clear that the entire issue with Donald Trump was his desire for a peaceful accommodation with Russia.

In recounting episode (1) titled, “The Campaign’s Response to Reports about Russian Support of Trump,” Mueller matter-of-factly reports the following as justifying an FBI counterintelligence investigation:

“On June 16, 2015 Donald J. Trump declared his intent to seek nomination as the Republican candidate for President. By early 2016, he distinguished himself among Republican candidates by speaking of closer ties with Russia, saying he would get along well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioning whether the NATO alliance was obsolete, and praising Putin as a ‘strong leader.’ The press reported that Russian political analysts and commentators perceived Trump as favorable to Russia.”

The report continues that beginning in February of 2016, the “press” began to report the connections of various campaign figures with Russia, namely, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page. Trump, they report, pursued WikiLeaks during the campaign regarding the timing of further releases of documents; said that he doubted that the Russians hacked the DNC and John Podesta; said that he had no business dealings in Russia; and the Campaign was involved in changing a plank in the Republican Party platform about providing lethal assistance to Ukraine. Of course, we know, that the “press” consisted of British intelligence, the British Integrity Initiative and Christopher Steele, the CIA and State Department here, but Mueller, of course does not mention this. It is such an accepted premise of this entire exercise that political views advocating peace with Russia justify government investigation, that the implications of episode (1) being grist for such an investigation is never referenced.

In recounting episode (4), the firing of James Comey, it is revealed that the President, all along, wanted to explicitly state that he was firing Comey because Comey refused to specify, publicly, that the President was not under investigation, despite telling the President and Congressional Committees privately that this was the case, and this was interfering with his ability to conduct foreign policy with Russia. In the original letter which Trump dictated to Stephen Miller, firing Comey, Donald Trump said that Comey’s refusal to do this was specifically inhibiting what the President wanted to do with Russia, with respect to trade and with respect to collaboration on eliminating ISIS. With the intervention of the same staff who the media are portraying as unsung heroes, Rod Rosenstein’s screed referencing Comey’s misconduct in the Clinton investigation was substituted as the reason for Comey’s being fired. This, of course, created the entirely false narrative that the President had covered up his real reason for firing Comey.