Special investigation into the 2016 election campaign in the United States

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Robert Mueller (2011): US Department of Justice special investigator

The special investigation into influencing the 2016 election campaign in the United States was an investigation ordered by the US Department of Justice in 2017 into a possible influence by the Russian government on the presidential election in the United States in 2016 , in particular Donald Trump's election campaign , as well as directly related matters and possible criminal offenses.

After the start of the presidential Trumps appointed deputy attorney general of the United States , Rod Rosenstein , on May 17, 2017. Former FBI -Director Robert Mueller to special prosecutor . Rosenstein was in charge of the investigation because US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had declared himself biased as a supporter of Trump. In the course of the investigation, high-ranking members of the election campaign team of US President Donald Trump were charged with various crimes and some were found guilty. On March 22, 2019, Mueller presented a report of the results of his investigation to US Attorney General William Barr , who has since replaced Sessions. Two days later, Barr published his conclusions from the investigation; he ruled out further legal action against Trump and his campaign team; the full, partially blackened report was made available to the public on April 18, 2019.

background

Vladimir Putin (2017)

During the presidential election campaign in 2016 in the United States, the communication infrastructure and the digital electoral system of the United States and the were campaign team of the candidate of the Democrats , Hillary Clinton , repeatedly the target of hacker attacks from abroad. Investigations indicated that the attacks were commissioned by the Russian government to sway the US presidential election in favor of eventual winner Donald Trump .

The US government, in office until January 2017, accused the Russian government of influencing the election campaign. On the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin , the Russian secret service hacked the servers of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign team and forwarded documents to WikiLeaks using cyber attacks and other methods . The United States Intelligence Community made particularly grave allegations against President Putin and the Russian intelligence services in this regard:

Statement from the United States Intelligence Services

“ Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election are the latest expression of Moscow’s longstanding efforts to undermine the US-led democratic order […] We believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered operations aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election. Russia aimed to undermine public confidence in the democratic processes, denigrate Hillary Clinton and damage their electoral chances. [...] It is still our assessment that Putin and the Russian government wanted to help the now elected President Trump to get elected. "

- Statement on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign : United States Intelligence Services

The acting CIA director John O. Brennan at the time in question and the then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed this assessment in later interviews with the television station PBS . Attempts to influence elections by Russian government organizations have been observed for many years and it is very likely that Putin personally ordered or at least approved it. These activities were carried out much more aggressively and intensively in summer 2016 than in the past.

Connections between Trump and members of his campaign team to Russia's President Putin, Russian oligarchs and other politicians who are pro-Russia politicians had already been discussed during the election campaign. Trump's temporary campaign manager Paul Manafort had previously supported the former President of Ukraine, who is considered pro-Russian, Viktor Yanukovych , and his Party of Regions as political advisor for many years . Trump's campaign advisor and later National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had close contacts with the Russian ambassador Sergei Kisljak and the Russian state broadcaster Russia Today . Trump himself had a variety of business relationships with Russian partners for decades. The Russia affair was sometimes called Trumpgate in journalistic terms .

The Russian government and Trump himself repeatedly denied the allegations of involvement in potential election rigging as irrelevant, but did not deny that there were links between Russia and Trump's campaign team. However, these were based on understandable and legitimate business relationships. Kisljak told a Russian TV station in November 2017 that it would take “more than 20 minutes” to list all the names from Trump's team with whom he had been in contact. Putin himself said that "patriotically minded hackers" could be responsible for the influence. However, these are private individuals. At the "state level" Russia does not carry out any such operations.

In the spring of 2017, a bipartisan initiative set up commissions of inquiry into the manipulation allegations in the United States Congress . The counter-espionage department of the US Federal Police FBI had already started its own investigations into the matter under the leadership of the director James Comey, who was still appointed by Barack Obama . The executive attorney general Sally Yates reportedly informed White House legal advisor Don McGahn shortly after Trump took office in January 2017 about her assessment that Trump's security advisor at the time, Michael Flynn, was “ compromised ” and possibly subject to blackmail because of his contacts with Russia . A few days later, Yates was fired by Trump. As a reason for his dismissal, Trump stated that Yates was not ready to support his restrictive immigration policy.

The FBI, under the direction of James Comeys, had already initiated an investigation into the suspected influence of Russia in the US election campaign, including a closer examination of Michael Flynn's contacts with Russia. In February and March 2017, Trump made several phone calls and face-to-face conversations with Comey, in which, after his portrayal, he asked the FBI director to stop the investigation against Flynn. Shortly before, Flynn had resigned from his position as National Security Advisor after the allegation emerged that he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Comey said he immediately made an official memo about the talks with Trump and noted that Trump had sent all the other participants out of the room and made him understand that he “hoped” that Comey could “let the matter rest” ( “ I hope you can let this go. " ). He took Trump's remarks as an order to end the investigation against Flynn. However, he opposed this.

Donald Trump's dismissal notice to James Comey

On May 9, 2017, President Trump sacked FBI Director Comey with immediate effect. Trump said he was acting on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein and emphasized in his letter that Comey had assured him several times that he was not being investigated. As a reason for the dismissal, he cited Comey's behavior in the Hillary Clinton email affair . However, numerous politicians, political analysts and journalists suspect that Trump wanted to get rid of Comey - an internal promoter of the investigation - and thereby possibly made himself guilty of obstruction of justice . Comey himself expressed this assumption.

The Comey affair increased the pressure on the Trump administration to investigate possible influence by Russia. On May 17, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment of Robert Mueller as a special investigator with broad powers. The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who was actually in charge, had previously declared himself biased because he had supported Trump in the election campaign, and therefore passed the matter on to his deputy. Rosenstein emphasized that Mueller's appointment did not mean that criminal offenses had been committed or that criminal prosecution had been reported. An investigation by a special investigator is necessary in the public interest and to avoid conflicts of interest .

research object

Deed of Appointment from the US Department of Justice

According to the Deed of Appointment, the Department of Justice authorizes the special investigator to perform a wide range of duties. Mueller's area of ​​responsibility extends to the investigation of the influence of Russia in the 2016 election campaign and related legal violations, in particular:

  • any links and / or collusion between the Russian government and persons on US President Donald Trump's campaign team
  • any [legal] matters that arose or arise directly from the investigation
  • Any federal criminal offenses that are related to the investigation and are intended to hinder the work of the special investigator, in particular perjury , obstruction of justice , blackout and intimidation of witnesses ( 28 CFR § 600.4 (a) )
  • Prosecution of federal criminal offenses resulting from the investigation into these matters, insofar as this is deemed necessary and appropriate by the special investigator

Investigation team

When selecting the investigators for his team, Mueller relied to a large extent on lawyers whom he had known personally through his decades of career in law enforcement agencies. The selected lawyers include renowned public prosecutors, including:

  • Michael Dreeben : Former Deputy Solicitor General in the US Department of Justice. Dreeben is considered a proven expert in criminal law. In April 2016, he tried his 100th case in the Supreme Court of the United States , a number only seven lawyers in the United States at the time matched.
  • Andrew Weissmann: Former Head of Justice Department fraud department and former chief investigator in the Enron scandal . Weismann is considered to be particularly effective at getting unwilling witnesses to cooperate.
  • Andrew D. Goldstein: Former anti-corruption leader in New York City under Preet Bharara .
  • Aaron Zebley: Former Mueller Chief of Staff during his tenure as FBI director.
  • James Quarles: Member of the Special Investigation Team into the Watergate Affair .
  • Ryan K. Dickey: Cybercrime expert . Previously involved in the investigation against the file sharing site Megaupload and the hacker Guccifer .

When he took up his post as a special investigator, Mueller gave up his previous work in the Washington office of the WilmerHale law firm and thus - as well as parts of his team - waived a seven-figure salary. His senior team members Aaron Zebley, James Quarles and Jeannie Rhee also worked for the firm before joining the special investigator's team. Mueller, Zebley, Quarles, and Rhee have multi-million dollar interests in WilmerHale. In addition, it was later announced that WilmerHale also represents suspects in Mueller's investigation, including Paul Manafort. However, ethics experts at the Justice Department do not see any conflict of interest for Mueller, which would call his position as a special investigator into question.

Party affiliation

The special investigator Mueller himself belongs to the Republican Party like US President Trump . The same applies to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who commissioned the special investigation. Of the 17 other prosecutors in Mueller's team 13 were previously in elections as voters the Democrats registered. The remaining four members were not registered as voters of any particular party. In the US electoral system, voters can voluntarily indicate a party affiliation when registering and thus participate in the primary elections of the respective party to determine the candidate who will stand in the election. The registration is publicly available for every voter. However, registration is not linked to formal party affiliation. 9 of the 17 members in Mueller's team had donated to the Democrats in the past, 6 of them to Trump's rival Hillary Clinton. Trump himself and some of his political and media supporters have claimed to see this composition as an indication of possible bias on the part of the investigation team.

Examination of witnesses and preservation of evidence

Among the witnesses who media reports have heard during the investigation include various members of Trump's campaign team, as well as current and former members of his administration, including Sam Clovis, Hope Hicks , Reince Priebus , Rod Rosenstein , Sean Spicer and James Comey .

In addition, Mueller forced an unnamed lawyer in the service of Paul Manafort by court order to face a witness hearing, which is only possible under strict conditions due to legal confidentiality . The reasoning of the court was that the so-called "crime-fraud" fraud exception applies here, since Manafort and Gates instructed the lawyer, with or without her knowledge, to make false statements in letters to federal authorities about her lobbying activities for the Ukrainian government.

At the end of July 2017, Mueller ordered a house search of Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort. For this purpose, due to the high sensitivity of the subject of investigation, Mueller had received a special judicial search warrant ( no-knock warrant ), which allowed him to break open the door lock of Manafort's house and enter his property without prior notice, in order not to give the occupants any time Destruction of evidence ( risk of blackout ). The search served to secure evidence regarding possible contacts between Manafort and the Russian government and possible tax offenses. Written documents and data carriers were secured.

As part of the house search, several news channels also reported unanimously that the US authorities had been investigating Manafort since 2014 as part of counter-espionage and that Manafort was using a secret one because of his lobbying activities for the Ukrainian government based on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) judicial decision was tapped. The surveillance measures ordered extended into 2017, including his work as Donald Trump's campaign manager. Manafort's lawyer called on the US authorities on behalf of his client to publish the contents of the wiretapping. This could prove that there was “nothing wrong” with the allegations.

The German bank received a subpoena .

In December 2017, various media reported that the special investigator was in possession of thousands of emails from campaign staff and later members of the government from the transition period between the election of Donald Trump as US president in November 2016 and his inauguration in January 2017. Trump's lawyers then accused the special investigator of having come into possession of the e-mail through illegal means. Mueller's team explained that wherever the investigation team came into possession of e-mails, this was done with the consent of the owner of the e-mail accounts or within the framework of permitted investigative methods.

In January 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed by Mueller's team in a voluntary interview lasting several hours, according to a spokesman for the US Department of Justice.

On March 5, 2018, the former Trump advisor Sam Nunberg confirmed that he had received a summons from the special investigator's office before a grand jury, according to his own statement, to testify against the former high-ranking employee on Trump's campaign team, Roger Stone . Nunberg also said the special investigator had requested the release of emails to a number of people in Trump's environment. Nunberg announced that he did not want to comply with this request and the court subpoena. The MSNBC presenter Ari Melber pointed out that the judge in this case coercive detention might impose. In view of the possible consequences, Nunberg finally agreed to make a statement, the content of which has not yet been made available to the public.

Investigation results

Since the investigation began, a number of people have been charged and some have already been convicted, as evidenced by publicly available court records. Beyond that, however, little confirmed information from informed circles reaches the public. Mueller's team is described by observers as being extremely disciplined in handling sensitive information. He has not given any press conferences or statements since his appointment. The same applies to the members of his team.

Charges against Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen , the former chief executive of the Trump Organization, who has served as his personal attorney since Trump took office in January 2017, pleaded guilty to eight counts on August 21, 2018, including five tax evasion, bank false testimony and one donating excessive money to an election campaign on behalf of a candidate. In April 2018, the FBI searched Michael Cohen's office, apartment, hotel suite and lockers in New York and seized items such as phones, computers and financial records.

On November 29, 2018, Cohen admitted that he lied in his testimony before the US Congress in 2017. In order not to contradict Donald Trump's public statements that he has no financial connections to Russia and out of personal loyalty to Trump, Cohen made false statements before Congress about a real estate project planned in Moscow. Cohen had lied that negotiations on the construction of a Trump Tower in Moscow between Trump and his organization and the Kremlin were stopped in January 2016. In fact, in his role as representative of the Trump Organization at the time, Cohen had communicated with Kremlin officials until June 2016 - right into the election campaign - and further developed the project. Trump himself signed the letter of intent to build the building on August 28, 2015. A trip to Moscow by Trump to personally discuss the real estate project with the Kremlin was also planned, which Cohen had denied before the Congress. Cohen also lied about the number of talks with Trump about the project. Trump and others on Trump's campaign staff were kept informed by Cohen as the negotiations were developing. Trump's children, Don Jr. and Ivanka , who held senior positions in the Trump Organization, were also privy to and involved. With Trump and Felix Sater, a Russian-born real estate developer and former mafioso, Cohen discussed the plan to build a 100-story Trump Tower in the Russian capital and to donate the penthouse worth US $ 50 million to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sater believed that the value of the other apartments would rise sharply and oligarchs would buy the units for $ 250 million if Putin settled in the building.

Charges against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates

On October 30, 2017, Special Counsel Mueller announced the indictment of Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former senior associate Rick Gates by a grand jury. The two defendants are charged with tax offenses , fraud , money laundering and conspiracy against the United States , among other things . Both defendants surrendered to the police and were provisionally arrested . Both defendants pleaded not guilty in a first hearing on the same day and were subsequently released and, at the request of the prosecutors, placed under house arrest because of a possible risk of escape . Manafort's passport has been confiscated by the FBI. The bail was set at $ 10 million. In view of the charges mentioned, Mueller's team gives the expected possible range of sentences with a prison term of approx. 12 years for Gates and approx. 15 years for Manafort. Manafort's lawyers criticized Mueller's actions in a letter to the court. The indictment only mentions violated disclosure obligations, but no allegation of tax evasion can be found. The evidence was " embellished" , evidence had been obtained unlawfully and the charge of money laundering was based on a questionable legal understanding . In addition, Manafort had already been informed of an imminent indictment in August and has since returned to the USA after traveling abroad. Therefore, given his personal and economic ties to the United States, there is no risk of escape. The ordered house arrest is therefore unjustified.

On November 30, 2017, the parties agreed that the house arrest imposed on Manafort could be largely lifted on bail of $ 11.7 million. For this purpose, Manafort pledged a large part of collateral in the form of real estate . His wife and daughter made themselves available as guarantors for partial amounts . A few days later, the prosecution announced that they were withdrawing from the agreement, as Manafort was trying to influence public opinion, contrary to the court's instructions.

In January 2018 handed Manafort before a District Court civil suit against Mueller and Rosenstein one to explain with the aim of the appointment of the special prosecutor for invalid and the pending trial against Manafort by injunction ( injunctive relief ) to finish. Mueller's appointment was made without a proper legal basis. The criminal prosecution of Manafort is therefore unlawful and exceeds the competencies of the special investigator ( Ultra Vires ).

In February 2018, Mueller informed the court that his team had uncovered various other bank fraud cases related to Manafort. Against this background and in view of the fact that, contrary to the original information, Manafort could not present any guarantors , the offered coverage of the deposit amount should mainly be reassessed by the court through the pledging of real estate. A few days later, Mueller announced that he was bringing further charges against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates of alleged tax offenses and collective bank fraud.

US journalist Rachel Maddow pointed out that Manafort took a full-time unpaid job as Trump's campaign manager during the same period that he was fraudulently indicted - largely unsuccessfully - trying to get new lines of credit to finance his real estate. A few weeks after taking up his position on Trump's campaign team, Manafort received a new loan of $ 16 million, according to the indictment.

On February 23, 2018, the special investigator announced that Gates had pleaded guilty on two counts and had agreed to testify against Manafort in the confession of guilt agreement with the prosecutor. The special investigator also brought additional charges against Paul Manafort for conspiracy against the United States, money laundering , breach of disclosure requirements in lobbying activities and false testimony to the Department of Justice. He faces a prison sentence of up to 305 years if he is found guilty on all charges.

In light of the circumstances, the court ordered strict 24-hour house arrest, GPS monitoring of Manafort's whereabouts, and an unsecured bail of $ 10 million. The deposit would be paid if Manafort fails to show up for his court dates. Whether in view of the charges and evidence - the court - a "very real possibility" ( very real Possibility ) that Manafort had to spend the rest of his life in prison. In addition, Manafort has financial resources and international contacts. There is therefore both the incentive and the practical opportunity to flee, which is why the strict house arrest and the high amount of bail are justified. The court pointed out that Manafort's house arrest could be lifted or relaxed if he could provide security for the bail, which has not yet been done.

Charges against Russian citizens

On February 16, 2018, the special investigator announced the indictment against 13 Russian citizens and three Russian companies by a grand jury. One of the defendants is Russian billionaire Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin . The charges included US conspiracy, wire fraud , bank fraud, and identity theft . According to the indictment, the defendants are charged with illegally influencing the 2016 presidential election through social media and other channels in order to give Trump an advantage over his rival Clinton. In addition, the defendants had acquired documents with false identities and committed various forms of financial fraud.

On July 13, 2018, the responsible Deputy Justice Minister Rod Rosenstein announced the official indictment of twelve Russian citizens, all allegedly members of the Russian military intelligence service GRU . These people were involved in the 2016 Russian hacking attacks in the United States, including email accounts of Democratic Party organizations and Clinton's presidential campaign.

Condemnation of George Papadopoulos

On July 27, 2017, Trump's former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington DC on charges of false testimony to the FBI . Such a false testimony is considered a crime ( felony ) under US law and carries a prison sentence of up to 5 years ( 18 USC 1001 ). As later became known, Papadopoulos was released a short time later and as a result cooperated with the FBI.

On October 30, the Special Counsel's office announced that Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to false testimony to the FBI ( 18 USC 1001 ). Papadopoulos had admitted that he lied to investigators about his contacts with an undisclosed person with close ties to the Russian government. Papadopoulos said he had spoken to them while working for Trump's campaign team about the exchange of "thousands of e-mails" from Trump's competitor Hillary Clinton and the possible transfer of other incriminating materials. In addition, meetings with Russian government officials were arranged through the contact person. According to matching media reports, the unnamed person is the Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud .

The confession of guilt and the description of the events took place on oath . Papadopoulos is therefore considered to be legally convicted. His confession of guilt reduces the expected possible range of penalties from up to five years to a period of up to six months or a fine.

Conviction of Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn (2012)

On December 1, 2017, the Special Counsel's office announced that Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to false testimony to the FBI ( 18 USC 1001 ). Shortly before, Flynn's defense team had stopped exchanging information with Trump's lawyers, which was interpreted as a sign that Flynn might have cooperated with Mueller or reached an mitigation agreement.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in a voluntary FBI interview on January 24, 2017 about members of Trump's campaign team having contacts with the Russian government and his talks with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December 2016. In these talks, Flynn had asked the ambassador about to take any escalating countermeasures against the fines imposed at the end of the reign of Barack Obama against Russia sanctions and adopted on 23 December 2016 against the Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank directed UN Resolution 2334 does not support . In his FBI interview he had truthfully denied this. Flynn also admitted violations of the disclosure requirements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for the cooperation of his lobbying firm Flynn Intel Group, Inc. with the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . The confession of guilt and the description of the events took place on oath . Flynn is therefore considered to be legally convicted. His confession of guilt reduces the expected possible range of penalties from up to five years to a period of up to six months or a fine. Flynn said in a public press release that he would now cooperate with the special investigator's team.

Condemnation of Richard Pinedo

On February 17, 2018, the special investigator's office announced that California resident Richard Pinedo pleaded guilty to identity fraud in connection with special investigative offenses. Pinedo had admitted that he had also helped alleged Russian secret service employees, who were also indicted in the special investigation, in obtaining bank accounts under false names. The confession of guilt and the description of the events took place on oath . Pinedo is therefore deemed to have been legally convicted. The expected penalty range is 12 to 18 months imprisonment and a fine of $ 5,500 to $ 55,000.

Conviction of Alex van der Zwaan

On February 20, 2018, the Special Counsel's Office announced that London-based Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan pleaded guilty to false testimony to the FBI ( 18 USC 1001 ). Van der Zwaan had admitted to having lied to investigators about his communication in 2016 with Rick Gates, the high-ranking campaign employee on Donald Trump's team who was also accused by Mueller, and about his communication with other people. Specifically, the special investigator refers to communications and telephone calls between van der Zwaan, Gates and a currently unnamed "Person A", which concerned the public presentation of the criminal case against Yulia Tymoshenko . Van der Zwaan recorded the phone calls secretly and possibly illegally. Van der Zwaan was advising the Ukrainian government under the leadership of Viktor Yanukovych , a political opponent of Tymoshenko at the time. In addition, van der Zwaan had untruthfully claimed to the FBI that he did not know why the special investigator could not be provided with an email from the time in question from van der Zwaan's unnamed employer. According to his confession of guilt, van der Zwaan had previously deleted this email himself and was therefore informed of its whereabouts.

The confession of guilt and the description of the events took place on oath . Van der Zwaan is therefore considered to be legally convicted. His confession of guilt reduces the expected possible range of penalties from up to five years to a period of up to six months or a fine.

Van der Zwaans is the son-in-law of the Russian oligarch German Khan . His employer at the time he was lobbying for the Yanukovych government was identified by various media as the major US law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom . The company said it was cooperating with the US authorities on the matter. Van der Zwaan was released in 2017.

Conviction of Rick Gates

On February 23, 2018, Rick Gates , the former deputy campaign manager of Donald Trump, who was indicted by Special Counsel Mueller in October 2017, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy against the United States and false testimony to the FBI. Gates had pleaded guilty to lobbying a foreign government or party - namely, the Party of Regions - in the United States without officially registering as required by law under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and over Providing false or fictitious information to the US Department of Justice. He also admitted to having lied to the special investigator's officers on February 1, 2018 about the content of a conversation with his former superior Paul Manafort.

The confession of guilt and the description of the events took place on oath . In return for a reduction in sentence and the prospect of a termination of the proceedings on the remaining charges, Gates agreed to cooperate fully with the special investigator. According to the agreement, this includes the provision of complete and truthful information about all facts relevant to the special investigation, the transfer of all files and documents relevant to the special investigation, the willingness to testify against suspects in other criminal proceedings, the willingness to participate in undercover investigations and a confidentiality clause. Gates is therefore considered to be legally convicted. His confession of guilt reduces the expected possible range of punishment for both counts from 10 years to a period of around 4.5 to 6 years or a fine. Trial observers assume that in the course of the cooperation with the special investigator, all other charges against Gates will be dropped. If convicted on all counts, Gates would face a decade-long prison sentence.

On February 27, 2018, Mueller requested the termination of the proceedings against Gates in the indictment of February 22, 2018.

Sentencing of Roger Stone

Roger Stone , a long-time adviser to Trump who had met with people from Russia on several occasions to offer the sale of derogatory financial information about Hillary Clinton, was charged with false testimony in Congress and witness manipulation on seven counts. He pleaded innocent. The jury found him guilty in all seven cases. He was sentenced to 40 months' imprisonment without parole.

Final report

Final report

On March 22, 2019, Mueller presented the results of his investigations in a report to US Attorney General William Barr , who has since replaced Sessions, and thus concluded his investigation. Two days later, Barr published first excerpts of the investigation in a letter to Congress; In his letter he ruled out further legal action against Trump and his campaign team. According to the US Department of Justice, the report concludes that there were no secret agreements between Trump's camp and Russia during the election campaign. Although Russian state actors have tried to influence the election campaign, he does not come to the conclusion that "the Trump campaign or an associate has cooperated with the Russian government in these efforts or has conspired to do so". On the question of whether Trump had obstructed the judiciary, the report would remain open and present "evidence in both directions".

Trump took this on the same evening in a Twitter message as a discharge on all allegations.

" No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT! "

- Donald Trump : Twitter message (official account), March 24, 2019

On April 18, the full 448-page final report was published, some of which were blacked out. The blackening was justified with the preservation of confidential information and the protection of ongoing proceedings. According to commentators, the report does not exonerate Trump from suspicion of obstruction of justice.

The original wording of the non-definitive conclusion on the obstruction of justice is as follows:

" 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. "

“Since we have chosen not to pass a traditional law enforcement judgment, we have not drawn any definitive conclusions about the President's conduct. The evidence we have received of the President's actions and intentions raises difficult questions that would have to be resolved if we were to deliver a traditional prosecutor's judgment.

However, if, after a thorough investigation of the facts, we were certain that the President did not appear to have committed an obstruction of justice, we would state it. Based on the facts and the applicable legal provisions, we cannot reach such a judgment. While this report does not conclude that the president has committed a crime, it does not exonerate him. "

- Robert Mueller : Mueller Report, Volume 2, Executive Summary, page 8, last paragraph: "Conclusion"

The Justice Committee of the House of Representatives then requested the unredited report to be presented. This request was initially ignored by Barr and then dismissed by Trump with reference to his executive privilege.
Beryl Howell, Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia , gave the Department of Justice on October 25th until October 30th to submit the omitted information to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives.

Resistance to the investigation

Various politicians and commentators criticized Mueller's investigation, some of them strong. Moderators and reporters from the TV station Fox News and the media house Breitbart News Network, which is closely related to the alt-right movement, were particularly critical . The conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity described Mueller's investigation as a " witch hunt" and accused Mueller's investigators of being partisan in the interests of the Democrats. Lou Dobbs , another conservative moderator on the network, called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had appointed Mueller, to dismiss the special investigator. In addition, Rosenstein himself had to resign due to conflicts of interest. Fox News presenter Jesse Watters described Mueller's special investigation as a possible attempt at a coup against the Trump administration. The website Breitbart.com repeatedly published critical articles on Mueller's investigation, in which Mueller's team was accused of adopting a hostile attitude towards Trump. Some media, more centered on the political scene, also expressed criticism of Mueller's appointment. For example, two editorials by the newspaper's senior editors appeared in the Wall Street Journal calling on Mueller to resign, each alleging that the special investigator was biased. A lobby group close to Trump began broadcasting political commercials in June 2017 that cast doubt on the independence of special investigator Mueller.

During the investigation, the question of whether and under what circumstances Trump could dismiss the special investigator or force the investigation to be discontinued was repeatedly discussed in the media. In an interview with the New York Times in July 2017, Trump said the investigation of his personal dealings with Russia was a violation of Mueller's mandate and a "red line". When asked whether this meant that he would fire Mueller in this case, Trump replied that he could not give an answer, but also did not believe that it would come to that.

On November 2, 2017, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz moved in the United States House of Representatives that Parliament should demand Mueller's resignation, as Mueller's time as director of the FBI - partly during Barack Obama's presidency - did not match criminal matters related to Russia Wise and therefore biased. The motion was only supported by two other MPs and was not put to the vote. Conversely, MPs from both parties tried to legally protect Mueller's work from being influenced by the President, but this has not yet led to a law being passed either.

Trump's advisor and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway described Mueller's investigation as a waste of taxpayers' money. According to the special investigator's financial report, the cost through December 2017 is $ 6.7 million.

In March 2018, Trump himself was extremely negative about the Mueller investigation. The special investigation would be based on false and fraudulent activity by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats . Since there was no cooperation with Russia or any other legal violations on his part, the investigation should never have started. It is a witch hunt:

" The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a fake dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT! "

- Donald Trump : Twitter post (official account), March 18, 2018

Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and others then vigorously warned Trump against firing Special Counsel Mueller. If he tries, Graham said it would be “the beginning of the end” of his presidency .

Others

John M. Dowd, head of the legal team representing Trump in the Russia investigation since 2017, announced his withdrawal on March 22, 2018. Dowd had u. a. Negotiations with Mueller's team led to the question of the conditions under which Team Trump could possibly be questioned about the objects of investigation.

On October 17, 2018, Twitter published 10 million tweets from 3,400 accounts of the Russian troll farm Internet Research Agency and from 770 accounts with connections to Iran. The tweets contain around 2 million GIFs, videos, images, and the like.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US Department of Justice: Appointment of Special Counsel to investigate Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters, accessed October 30, 2017.
  2. ^ Q&A: Why the CIA, FBI differ on Russian election hacking , Kevin Johnson, Erin Kelly, USA Today , December 12, 2016
  3. ^ Statement by the US secret services on Russian activities in the US presidential election campaign , accessed on October 30, 2017.
  4. ↑ PBS October 25, 2017: The Putin Files: Interview with former CIA director John Brennan , accessed November 2, 2017.
  5. ↑ PBS October 25, 2017: The Putin Files: Interview with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper , accessed November 4, 2017.
  6. ^ WSJ: Candidates Sought Guidance From American Consultants , accessed October 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ Guardian: How Trump's campaign chief got a strongman elected president of Ukraine , accessed October 30, 2017.
  8. ↑ Guardian: Mike Flynn at risk of Russian blackmail, Sally Yates warned White House , accessed October 30, 2017.
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