Much Ado About Nothing-Burger: Trump and Mueller
Mark Twain famously wrote that rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated. These words seem to echo with doubled and, perhaps tripled force in the wake of the Mueller investigation.
As we all know, the preliminary outcome seems to be that there was absolutely no collusion on the part of Trump and this manumission extends to his entire, as it were, entourage. Dick Morris of the Western Journal went so far as to say in an op-ed piece today that "the myth of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin now stands exposed as the greatest political hoax in American history!".
All of you will know, perhaps some of you will have seen the report summary that was recently released by Attorney General Mr. Bill Barr regarding the conclusion of the investigation.
Before delving into specifics, I want to give you a brief tour of the actuarial. It seems strange to reduce two years of in-depth investigative labor to a balance sheet, but if it's good enough for Barr, it's good enough for me.
To date, there have been a total of:
The "butcher's bill" on this affair has most commonly been estimated at around $35 million dollars!
Regardless of the outrage many Americans do (and I would say, should) feel, I would say that my fellow traveling Conservatives and Libertarians at least now have the pleasure of throwing the following direct quote from the report itself directly in the face of the Russia-gate misfits as well as those suffering from generalized TDS (you should know this term by now, dear reader): “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”.
The American (let's be honest and just say liberal or Democrat) who is desperate to grab at any possible straw to justify the otherwise feckless investigation will likely say that (as "Fortune" has reported) there have been around $45 million in assets seized through the investigation thanks to Mr. Paul Manafort.
This perhaps would be impressive if it was in any way the purpose of the investigation, so I am inclined to return this "accomplishment" with a shrug of the most dismissive flavor.
So, what's the next step?
Well, the Democrats will not rest until a full release of the entire Mueller report has been issued. I do not necessarily disagree, after all we've come this far, we may as well see it to its conclusion. I look forward to reading that as well and perhaps following up this piece with another. I do have to say I am completely baffled as what could be in the full report that isn't implied or outright stated in the summary, but I'm all for detail, so have at it.
Sources:
https://www.westernjournal.com/dick-morris-collusion-hillarys-hoax/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=deepsix&utm_content=2018-03-26&utm_campaign=can
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/24/us/politics/barr-letter-mueller-report.html
http://fortune.com/2018/12/14/mueller-investigation-cost-tax-cheats/
As we all know, the preliminary outcome seems to be that there was absolutely no collusion on the part of Trump and this manumission extends to his entire, as it were, entourage. Dick Morris of the Western Journal went so far as to say in an op-ed piece today that "the myth of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin now stands exposed as the greatest political hoax in American history!".
All of you will know, perhaps some of you will have seen the report summary that was recently released by Attorney General Mr. Bill Barr regarding the conclusion of the investigation.
Before delving into specifics, I want to give you a brief tour of the actuarial. It seems strange to reduce two years of in-depth investigative labor to a balance sheet, but if it's good enough for Barr, it's good enough for me.
To date, there have been a total of:
- At least 2,800 subpoenas served
- 500 Search warrants served
- 500 Witnesses interviewed
- 230 orders of communication records
- 19 lawyers assisted by approx. 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants, and other professional staff.
- 13 requests made to foreign governments or agencies asking for evidence
The "butcher's bill" on this affair has most commonly been estimated at around $35 million dollars!
Regardless of the outrage many Americans do (and I would say, should) feel, I would say that my fellow traveling Conservatives and Libertarians at least now have the pleasure of throwing the following direct quote from the report itself directly in the face of the Russia-gate misfits as well as those suffering from generalized TDS (you should know this term by now, dear reader): “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”.
The American (let's be honest and just say liberal or Democrat) who is desperate to grab at any possible straw to justify the otherwise feckless investigation will likely say that (as "Fortune" has reported) there have been around $45 million in assets seized through the investigation thanks to Mr. Paul Manafort.
This perhaps would be impressive if it was in any way the purpose of the investigation, so I am inclined to return this "accomplishment" with a shrug of the most dismissive flavor.
So, what's the next step?
Well, the Democrats will not rest until a full release of the entire Mueller report has been issued. I do not necessarily disagree, after all we've come this far, we may as well see it to its conclusion. I look forward to reading that as well and perhaps following up this piece with another. I do have to say I am completely baffled as what could be in the full report that isn't implied or outright stated in the summary, but I'm all for detail, so have at it.
Sources:
https://www.westernjournal.com/dick-morris-collusion-hillarys-hoax/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=deepsix&utm_content=2018-03-26&utm_campaign=can
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/24/us/politics/barr-letter-mueller-report.html
http://fortune.com/2018/12/14/mueller-investigation-cost-tax-cheats/
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