Analysis of the Mueller Report and of the Next Necessary Steps

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report has been published in a redacted form, but the vast majority of Americans have read little or none of it and thus are vulnerable to being misled by misinterpretations of it, especially because the United States Attorney General provided his own characterization of it that was not consistent with that of the Special Counsel and Trump and many of his supporters falsely declared the report an exoneration.  Some of Donald Trump’s supporters have discouraged people from reading the Mueller Report, which seems inconsistent with Trump’s boasts that it vindicates him.  I encourage people to read the report and consider its implications: https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf.  It is now time to begin to determine the next appropriate steps.

First, it is necessary to understand the scope and limitations of the Special Counsel investigation and the Mueller Report.  The Special Counsel investigation was both a counterintelligence and criminal investigation that was limited to certain questions about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.  The report observes the investigation was partly hindered by witnesses who lied, declined to testify (e.g. Trump refused to submit to an interview) or who had not retained electronic documentary evidence, and by some evidence remaining in out-of-reach foreign hands.  The entire second volume of the Mueller Report details Trump’s flagrant attempts to obstruct justice, a judgment about prosecuting for which was precluded by Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.  The Special Counsel documented the evidence for prosecution after Trump leaves office and left the broader political decision about impeachment on this question up to Congress.  Trump’s Attorney General made the decision not to prosecute, declaring Trump’s innocence, contrary to the entire point of having an independent Special Counsel.

The Mueller Report is also incomplete because it does not include all of the counter-intelligence part of the investigation.  For example, the report refers to additional Kremlin interference besides those that resulted in indictments of Russians by the Special Counsel’s grand jury.  The report notes ongoing prosecutions by the Special Counsel and his federal criminal referrals of numerous other matters, including the possible coordination between the Trump Campaign and Russia through Roger Stone and Wikileaks.  The Special Counsel’s investigation was itself only one of many partly overlapping investigations, including those by committees in both chambers of Congress. 

The office of Special Counsel conducted a thorough criminal investigation and was able to reach conclusions, within its limited parameters.  It brought numerous indictments and obtained several guilty pleas and convictions of Trump associates.  The Mueller Report explains how the Special Counsel reached the conclusions he could that were within his legal scope about criminal conspiracy, not the non-criminal law term “collusion,” while also uncovering some evidence of crimes that were not sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt and of wrongdoing that was short of criminality, while leaving judgments about its findings to Congress and the American people.

            The Mueller Report describes interference in American politics by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, starting in 2014, in a more “sweeping and systematic” active measures campaign of political influence than ever before conducted.  Note: ex-KGB officer Putin presides over an authoritarian, kleptocratic regime that is inimical to the United States, despite some common interests with Russia.  The Russian autocrat fostered doubts about sources of truth, exploited and exacerbated partisan and ideological divisions, and decreased confidence in elections.  Russia had long cultivated the far-left, but began also to cultivate the far-right and conservatives to improve Putin’s image among Americans.  These efforts set the stage for a pro-Putin presidential candidate, particularly in the Republican Party that had heretofore been unfavorable to him, although the Kremlin interfered in both major parties’ nomination processes.  His election interference specifically promoted Donald Trump’s candidacy both in the GOP primaries and the general election and included a voter suppression component that also discouraged voters on the left from voting for the Democratic presidential general election ticket.  Putin turned many ordinary Americans into unwitting agents who spread his propaganda and disinformation and even attended Russian-organized rallies, including in Pennsylvania.

            The Special Counsel reports that candidate Trump had business interests with Russia during the presidential campaign that he concealed and lied about, which left him potentially compromised by Putin.  The presidential candidate used his campaign to boost Putin’s favorability.  Trump accepted and even publicly welcomed Russian campaign interference on his behalf.  The Trump campaign coordinated its messaging with the publication of data stolen by the Russians and released through a Kremlin cutout.  Trump and his campaign, knowingly or not, amplified Putin’s pro-Trump propaganda and disinformation.  Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, who was convicted of and pleaded guilty of crimes through the Special Counsel’s investigation, including failing to register as a foreign agent for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians, shared internal campaign polling data and strategy with a Kremlin spy, including in regard to Pennsylvania.  The statewide election for presidential Electors was determined by a total of only 44,292 votes.

The Mueller Report must be followed up on by pursuing answers to the questions it left unanswered, further identifying vulnerabilities to foreign attacks on American sovereignty through political and election interference, developing and implementing countermeasures through improved cybersecurity, closing legal loopholes the report exposed and holding those complicit accountable.

Because Congress must see the fuller Mueller Report in order to fulfill its role of conducting oversight of the Executive Branch and of enacting laws, members with security authorizations must be able to see it, except only for those redactions that are legally necessary.  They must be able to see the exhibits that were included in the published report and need to hear the testimony of Special Counsel Mueller in order to understand better his decisions and whether he disagrees with the Attorney General’s characterizations of the report and the decision not to prosecute instead of leaving the decision to Congress and the people. Congress must be able to interview other witnesses or subpoena other documents. 

In addition to the role of federal prosecutors and that of Congress, the American people will have a role in rendering judgment on the findings of the Special Counsel’s report.