Mueller Time - First Quarter 2019

On 05/17/2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert S. Mueller III as Special Council. Mueller was to investigate any possible collusion between the Trump presidential campaign or other Americans and the Russian government regarding the 2016 elections. The investigation was not limited to that issue and any crimes discovered while investigating were also subject to prosecution and/or being turned over to the Justice Department or state prosecutors.

A partial list of first quarter 2019 news about the investigation. The Mueller team remained remarkably tight-lipped about their activities. Most information comes from public court filings and hearings.  

• 01/08 - Court filings allege that Paul Manafort shared 2016 presidential campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik who has been tied to Russian intelligence.
• 01/08 - Supreme Court rules against mystery corporation from ‘Country A’ fighting subpoena in Mueller investigation. The corporation is a foreign financial institution. 
• 01/17 - In court filings, Mueller indicates that Manafort in February 2018 — four months after Manafort was first charged with crimes related to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine — still appears to have been working on a peace initiative for Ukraine, a topic of intense interest to Russia. 
• 01/25 - Trump cronie and self-admitted dirty trickster, Roger Stone, is indicted on seven counts, including witness tampering, by Mueller. 
• 02/13 - A federal judge has found that Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors on Mueller's team after he had made a plea deal and agreed to cooperate. 
• 03/07 - Manafort is sentenced to 47 months in prison in the financial fraud case in Virginia. An extremely light sentence based on a 19-year minimum guideline.
• 03/13 - Manafort is sentenced to 73 months in prison in his Washington DC case. Although the judge ruled that 30 of those months will be concurrent with the 47 month Virginia sentence, the other 43 months will be tacked on. That gives Manafort a total sentence of 7½ years. 
• 03/13 - Manafort is indicted on 16 felony counts in the state of New York. Charges include mortgage fraud and falsifying business records. Trump can not pardon people guilty of state charges. 
• 03/22 - Robert Mueller submits his final report to AG William Barr.
• 03/23 - William Barr states that there will be no additional indictments by the Mueller team.
• 03/24 - AG William Barr submits a four-page summary of the Mueller report to Congress. It states there was no provable collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It also states that the report does not exonerate or accuse Trump of obstruction of justice.

Mueller's job is essentially completed with the submission of his report to AG Barr. There are still some prosecutorial issues to wrap up such as the Roger Stone case. There may be some Congressional hearings that request or demand Mueller's testimony. I'm sure this issue will continue to be debated and written about for years to come. 

The next steps, for the most part, will be up to Congress, some US Attorneys, and several state and local attorneys general and prosecutors. One thing for sure, this ain't over yet.

I'll do at least one more Mueller Time post on this blog to go into the meat of the report. Stay tuned. 

wjh

Winning - February 2019

Keeping track of the GOP and Trump Administration:

• The Trump golf count - 159 visits to golf clubs in 110 weeks, 124 rounds of golf. 
• 02/04 - Trump's inaugural committee is ordered to turn over documents about donors, finances, and activities to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. 
• Leaked copies of Tump's "work" schedule show that about 60% of his time is unstructured ("executive time") spent watching TV, tweeting, and making phone calls. An exhausting regime.
• 02/07 - The Supreme Court votes 5-4 to block Louisiana's abortion law. 
• 02/11 - Former White House staffer and author, Cliff Sims, sues Trump.
• 02/13 - FEMA administrator William "Brock" Long resigns.
• 02/13 - The House votes 248-177 to end US military aid to Saudi Arabia in Yemen. 
• 02/13 - A federal judge has found that Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors after he had made a plea deal. 
• The Trump Organization had abandoned plans to start two new hotel lines, Scion and American Idea. 
• According to his 2019 physical, Trump is officially obese and his cholesterol is high.
• 02/15 - Trump caves and signs a government funding bill that includes $1.4 billion in border fence money, far less than was on the table before the shutdown or in 2017. The art of the deal by the great dealmaker.
• Trump's nominee for UN Ambassador, Heather Nauert, withdraws from consideration. 
• 16 states file suit to stop Trump from using emergency powers to build his wall.
• Another condo in New York City plans to remove the name Trump Place from the building.
• And then another Trump Place condo votes to remove the name. There were once six buildings in a row on Riverside Blvd. bearing the name. Soon there will be none. 
• Manhattan prosecutors are preparing state charges against Paul Manafort. Trump pardon proofing.
• 02/26 - The House voted 245-182 to block Trump's border emergency declaration. 
• 02/27 - Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee. Cohen calls Trump a racist and conman. Not exactly new news.
• 02/28 - Kim Jong-un and Trump abruptly cut short their summit with no agreement. The great dealmaker. 
• It looks like Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and others will be interviewed and/or testifying in Congress. Fallout from the Michael Cohen testimony.

wjh