Mueller the new Eliot Ness

Donald Trump and his supporters and enablers claim that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation hasn’t shown collusion with Russia so it’s time to end it. The thing is that from what’s been made public so far we know that Mueller’s authority to investigate Trump is far broader just his campaign’s possible conspiracy with Russian agents to interfere in the 2016 election. Just like other criminals of the past the conviction may not be related directly related to the most news worthy crimes. Just look at Al Capone, the notorious Chicago mobster of the 1920’s. Eliot Ness and has team famously known as “The Untouchables” made all the headlines raiding Capone breweries and other illegal enterprises, they gathered evidence and even convictions of Capone subordinates including his brother. Ness had a tough time convicting Capone of anything though and in the end it was accountant Frank J. Wilson of the Internal Revenue Service who made the case for tax evasion that put Capone in jail for 11 years.

Trump may be every bit as slippery as Capone but in the end there is a paper trail and the press has brought much of it to light over the last couple of years. Mueller’s team includes attorneys with experience in both organized crime prosecution and financial crimes. It’s important to realize that Mueller has gotten guilty pleas from five Trump associates and one of them Rick Gates is now a cooperating witness and likely so is Michael Flynn. There are eight or more others under indictment including former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

The first week in April Mueller's investigators made an unannounced visit to the home of an unnamed business associate of the Trump Organization who had worked on foreign deals for the company in recent years. The investigators had warrants for electronic records and to compel sworn testimony.

Among the transactions under investigation are Russian purchases of Trump apartments, a SoHo development with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, transactions with the Bank of Cyprus which is widely known for money laundering which and one of the banks used by Paul Manafort, and Trump's sale of a Florida mansion for $30 million over its appraised value to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. In addition Mueller’s team has contacted Deutsche Bank, which is the main banking institution doing business with The Trump Organization since no U.S. bank will loan him funds. Reports indicate that Deutsche Bank received a subpoena from Mueller's office concerning people or entities affiliated with President Trump.

The Mueller team took over an existing money laundering investigation into former Trump campaign chairman Manafort and a federal grand jury indicted him and his associate Rick Gates on charges including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, being an unregistered agent of foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, and false statements.

Other potential crimes Mueller’s team is likely to investigate include possible money laundering at Trump Hotel in Panama and a quid pro quo deal with China investing $500 million in Trump project in Indonesia and Trump’s statement that he’s working to help save jobs at Chinese electronics manufacturer ZTE which is under sanctions for selling prohibited technology to Iran and the list goes on.

Just like with Capone it may be near impossible to get the evidence needed to convict Trump of conspiring against the United States but there’s plenty of potential in other areas. I’m all for seeing him go to jail for tax evasion. Three cheers for forensic accountants.

Published in the Seguin Gazette June 8, 218

Trump the Russian Nesting Doll

Evidence of Trump and his associates’ connections to Russia has continued to expand since the first revelation that his first campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had such connections and resigned in August. Manafort was shown to have worked for Ukraine’s former president, the Russian backed strongman Viktor Yanukovych and is believed to have been paid millions for his work.

Even before he ran for office Trump’s family has admitted that his business had huge investments from Russians which accounted for a significant percentage of his working capital. Several newspapers have followed the money trail as well as they can given the number of shell companies involved and found that there are numerous Russian investors in his real estate businesses and buyers of his development properties.

Rex Tillerson, former Exxon chairman and now Secretary of State, has had dealings with the Russians for a long time and shepherded a billion dollar deal with Putin to conclusion before leaving the company.

Since then further revelations have tied numerous staff members to Russian oligarchs and Putin himself. In July last year Carter Page, a member of Trump’s National Security Advisory Committee, made a trip to Russia ostensibly as a private citizen. That trip is getting a closer look due to new disclosures about his contact two weeks later with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Republican convention in Cleveland. Just days after Kislyak talked to Page, and two other campaign officials, WikiLeaks posted thousands of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee’s servers which U.S. intelligence recently attributed to the Russian government.

Until this week retired Gen. Michael Flynn was the most notorious Trump associate having served as National Security Advisor for all of three weeks before being forced out when it was revealed he had spoken to the Russian ambassador about sanctions imposed by the Obama administration before Trump took office and then lied about to Vice President Pence. Flynn also was paid handsomely by Russia Today, Putin’s television channel.

Now Trump’s Attorney General has been revealed to have perjured himself when testifying under oath at his Senate confirmation hearings. Sen. Al Franken’s question: "...if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?" Sessions responded: "Senator Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn't have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I'm unable to comment on it." But it has since been revealed that Sessions twice met Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., including once during the Republican National Convention.

There’s been enough political pressure on Sessions that he has recused himself from any investigations into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election. Given that the Attorney General has so obviously perjured himself he needs to resign or be impeached. This country cannot tolerate its chief law enforcement officer lying to Congress under oath.

When will the next shoe drop?

Published in the Seguin Gazette March 10, 2017