Mueller Report Evidence Favors Impeachment

It’s been a week since the release of the redacted version of the long awaited Mueller report. As the policy of the Department of Justice is that a sitting president cannot be indicted no matter the crime, Special Counsel Robert Mueller ended his report with the following statement: "Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President 's conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

That’s quite different from what Attorney General William Barr claimed when he first summarized the 448 page document. Barr tried to use Obi Wan Kenobi’s “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” Jedi mind trick. Fortunately the American public aren’t all weak minded Imperial Stormtroopers and we aren’t buying it.

The section identified as Trump Campaign and the Dissemination of Hacked Materials has a high concentration of material redacted and labelled as “Harmful to ongoing matters”, meaning releasing that information might jeopardize ongoing investigations and possible prosecutions. According to the report there are thirteen such ongoing investigations, other sources indicate that half of those are being conducted by the US Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York, at least one in New Jersey and one in California.

The un-redacted majority of the report makes clear that senior members of the Trump campaign went so far as to setup a meeting with a group of Russians with the intent to conspire with them and likely would have if only the Russians had real dirt on Hillary. My understanding of the law is that such behavior qualifies as conspiracy with a foreign power against the United States and that’s a crime even if it was ultimately unsuccessful. That being said there is no clear evidence that Donald Trump, Senior was a party to that conspiracy.

On the other hand the case for obstruction of justice by Trump is most compelling. Trump committed clearly criminal acts repeatedly, speaking both publicly and privately to subordinates suborning perjury and tampering with witnesses by suggesting pardons and issuing threats of retribution. Trump’s efforts to get Don McGahn to change the record of his conversations with Trump so there would be no evidence that he demanded FBI Director James Comey be fired is just the most egregious of several such criminal acts.

We should all remember that impeachment is not the same as a criminal trial and the same standards of evidence don’t apply nor at the penalties the same. Unlike a criminal trial the standard isn’t guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it’s more can Congress and the American people trust this individual to act in the best interest of the nation. As to penalties there is no provision in the constitution for fines or imprisonment simply removal from office.

One of my major complaints about the Obama administration is that he failed to hold George W. Bush and his staff accountable lying to start the Iraq war and the torture and other war crimes committed. I hope Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t make the same mistake.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 26, 2019

Can Will Hurd Save America? Does he Want to?

Last week the New York Times published an op-ed by Representative Will Hurd who represents the Texas 23rd congressional district spanning from San Antonio almost to El Paso. Hurd wrote of his concerns that Russia’s interference in U.S. elections weren’t being addressed by the Trump administration. Hurd is a former C.I.A. undercover officer so he has deeper knowledge of spying, disinformation and politics than many of his colleagues.

Hurd called out Trump for actively participating in the misinformation campaign to cover up Russia’s actions and at the same time weaken the credibility of and confidence in the United States government at home and abroad. Hurd points out that Russia is working to “sow chaos in our electoral system”. He also reminds us that the United States isn’t Russia’s only target and in fact is just one of many including Great Britain, France, Montenegro, Georgia and Ukraine.

Hurd also refers to comments by director national intelligence Dan Coats continued cyber-attacks by Russia as well as other adversaries on our digital infrastructure involving elections systems as well as electric power grids, water treatment facilities, and oil and gas pipelines.

I am not a fan of Will Hurd, but he deserves credit for calling out Trump and making it clear to Republicans around the country that Russia and Putin are not our friends. I hope that Hurd will follow-up on his concerns by standing up to Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes should he continue to try to cover up Russian interference. Hurd also needs to speak out in support of the work being done by Robert Mueller to expose any conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, especially Paul Manafort whose trial starts Tuesday next week.

A few months ago the White House cybersecurity advisors all resigned response to Trump’s inattention to their concerns about the same kinds of attacks that Hurd and Coats spoke of. Last week Trump eliminated the cybersecurity coordinator position which makes it quite clear that the advisors were right and he isn’t paying attention to the threat.

Does Trump just not get it that the strength and stability of our government is at risk? Is he simply willing to take advantage of Russian interference for the sake of winning elections? Or is he an active participant in a conspiracy to disrupt our nation for his own ends? Given that during the campaign Trump publicly called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s computers and within hours they did so one is left wondering just how cozy he is with Putin.

It’s important the Hurd not follow the example of Senator Jeff Flake who calls out Trump at every opportunity and then votes for whatever Trump wants. It’s time that Republican leaders put country over party and stand on the brakes so that our nation has a chance to recover from the damage already done and not continue to crumble under attacks that we have the power to stop or at least mitigate.

I hope we’ll see other Republicans recognize that the integrity of our democracy is at risk and there is no excuse for partisan acts in this critical moment.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 27, 2018

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 - Clinton or Capone?

Last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” episode was its highest rated in a decade. Americans turned in to watch the interview with Trumps alleged former mistress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels. I didn’t watch because I wasn’t interested in his randy behavior as it really is none of my concern.

Bill Clinton suffered through years of investigations attempting to find evidence of misdeeds but it was his libido and attempt to cover up that nearly brought him down. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Clinton had said “a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell” or “none of your business”, when being questioned under oath about his liaison with Monica Lewinsky. Or perhaps if he’d said “Yes, we had sex. So what?” It was his lie that allowed the impeachment to go forward. In the end even a dozen Republican senators didn’t believe his falsehood was significant enough to warrant removing him from the presidency though his law license was suspended by the state of Arkansas.

Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have learned anything from Clinton as he continues to deny affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. It’s pretty clear that both women have evidence to support their claims and are likely telling the truth. Given that he’s in office now and isn’t even up for election for another three years it would seem Trump would do well to admit these as well as any others might also come out and clear the air. Instead his continued denials may yet lead to his downfall.

Unfortunately for Trump, his extra-marital affair with Daniels isn’t his big problem, it’s the cover up that may end up his Waterloo. It appears likely that he or at the very least members of his campaign broke campaign finance laws when they paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money. The watchdog group Common Cause which has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission calls it an in kind contribution which is required to be reported on disclosure forms. Allegations of threats and intimidation by his lawyer don’t help his case but aren’t material to the campaign finance case. As in Watergate this is a case of “follow the money”.

I’ll laugh my head off if the Stormy Daniels cover-up turns out to lead to Trump’s impeachment when there seems to be so much more significant material to work with like money laundering for Russian mobsters and oligarchs through his hotels and real estate businesses. Of course, there’s also the possibility he was complicit in the Russian efforts to get him elected such as the theft and publication of the DNC emails. Then there’s the Russian bots unleashed on Twitter, Facebook and other social media that may have been coordinated with his campaign. And we still don’t know enough the possible connections between Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and Russian government operatives to say for sure whether or not there was a conspiracy though there’s plenty of smoke suggesting a good size fire.

Al Capone was never convicted of bootlegging, murder or any of his other violent and noteworthy crimes, instead it was tax evasion that put him in the federal penitentiary. Like Capone before him, I’m betting on Trump getting punished for something other than what most of us would consider his more substantial crimes.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - March 30, 2018

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

Trump's Ethical Dilemna

"Every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns" according to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. No major party nominee has failed to release tax returns since at least 1976 so what’s holding up Donald Trump? Perhaps it’s because they’ll show he isn’t the billionaire he claims to be. Perhaps it will simply show Trump has not made the millions of dollars of charitable contributions he claims to have made. Or more troubling it may be due to the connections to various Russian oligarchs whose wealth Trump relies on to fund his many ventures since no U.S. bank will lend to him. Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

Trump adviser Carter Page has extensive dealings with Gazprom, the Russian state-run energy company with strong ties to Putin and his inner circle. Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort consulted for former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich, a key Putin ally, until his ouster in February 2014. There’s even a ledger, recently found in Ukraine, that was maintained by Yanukovich’s staff listing $12 million as fees to Manafort.

What will Trump do if Putin makes it known that he wants to complete the annexation of Crimea or perhaps all of Ukraine and if Trump protests Putin’s buddies will cutoff funding for Trump’s projects? That’s a question that concerns ethics lawyers who worked for President George W. Bush, presidential candidates Bob Dole, John Kerry, and Mitt Romney, among others. They all agree Trump would have more potential business conflicts than any prior president.

Trump’s conflicts of interest aren’t limited to Russian investors, he’s invested in 500+ companies around the world. Many are limited liability corporations related to real estate holdings, including properties in Panama, Istanbul, Mumbai, Puerto Rico and Dubai. How would Trump behave if one of those countries says they’ll nationalize his local assets if the U.S. doesn’t relent on some issue or give them preferential trade treatment?

Trump has said many times that his children and executives would manage his businesses instead of selling them off. "This is certainly going to present an unprecedented ethical dilemma if Trump wins," said Kenneth Gross, a partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, who provided legal assistance to several presidential candidates during their campaigns. "He can't just get amnesia. He's stuck with the knowledge of what he owns."

The Donald has waffled when describing his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump claims he's never spoken to Putin yet in 2014 Trump said he did. According to Trump, Putin "could not have been nicer" and has praised him as a canny leader who he respects. In the last week his daughter Ivanka posted on social media a photo of her and Putin’s girlfriend out sightseeing together.