Thread by @Teri_Kanefield

(Thread) What's in the Mueller docs?

@ggreenwald wants to know if anyone can answer a few questions, like if Mueller indicted any Americans for crimes in the 2016 election or for criminally conspiring with Russians.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1081550830808023040

🙋‍♀️I can answer your questions, Glenn!

1/ Mueller’s mandate wasn't to indict Americans.

His mandate was to find “links and/or coordination” between the Russian government and Trump campaign people. See⤵️

Let's keep the goalposts where they belong. OK?

2/ So we are looking in the Mueller docs for “links and/or coordination” between Trump campaign folks and the Russian government.

Papadopoulos, Trump campaign advisor, pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russians during the campaign. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4776…

3/ Papadopoulos had a series of communications over a period of months with a “Russian national connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

They discussed setting up secret meetings with Trump campaign and Russian government officials. justice.gov/file/1007346/d…

4/ Papadopoulos also learned the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”
He passed that info to the Trump team.
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4776…
This is sounding a lot like “links and/or coordination” to me.
Wouldn't you agree?

5/ Flynn (Trump’s national security advisor) was instructed by a Trump campaign official to secretly negotiate with Russians in December of 2016 while Obama was still president.
lawfareblog.com/michael-flynn-…
🤔It seems to me that would indicate more links and coordination.

6/ Richard Pinedo, an American, pleaded guilty to stealing the identities of Americans and selling hundreds of bank accounts to Russia to help them infiltrate the American electorate.
lawfareblog.com/document-richa…
There. An American pleaded guilty to a crime in 2016. With Russians.

7/ Alex van der Zwaan pleaded guilty to communicating with Gates, a member of Trump’s campaign, and “Person A” [Konstantin Kilimnik, who of course, has ties to Russian intelligence.]
lawfareblog.com/documents-alex…
Gates + Trump Campaign member + Russian Government official.

8/ 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies were indicted for a massive and well organized campaign to interfere with the US election.

An “unnamed political” activist and person associated with a “grassroots” Texas-based organization knowingly helped them.
justice.gov/file/1035477/d…

9/ Americans turn up in the Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, et al indictment. Russian military officials hacked Democrats and weaponized stolen emails. (Aside: notice the "military" part) justice.gov/file/1080281/d…

A few interesting facts from the Netyksho indictment:

10/ “A person who was in regular contact with senior members” of the Trump campaign began communicating with Gucifer 2.0”

Here’s the oddest one: The Russian hacker received and responded to a request for documents from a candidate for US Congressman.
justice.gov/file/1080281/d…

11/ Gates, in his guilty plea, admitted to defrauding the US and committing crimes through 2017 — while Gates helped lead the Trump campaign and transition. lawfareblog.com/documents-gate…
There you go. More crimes. By Americans. In 2016.

12/ Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, negotiated with Russian government officials about building Trump Tower Moscow.
lawfareblog.com/document-micha…
More “links and/or coordination.” Right?

13/ Michael Cohen also committed a campaign finance violation in 2016 at Trump’s direction. lawfareblog.com/document-micha…
The “at Trump’s direction” was offered under oath in court. But it was still a serious crime.
And it had to do with the 2016 election.
Satisfied yet?

14/ If not, that's okay. There's more we don't know about.
This is what an addendum to Flynn’s sentencing memo looks like⤵️

Perhaps you're confused, Glenn, because there are so many “links and/or coordination” that it’s hard to keep track of them all.

14/ It’s definitely easier to focus on a single lie (“her emails!) than genuine crimes — particularly when they're too complex for Fox News sound bites.

It’s also hard to focus when the president is continually manufacturing crises and spectacle👇

https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield/status/1030481252187402240

15/ You see, the question isn’t: “Did any top Trump officials have links to Russia?”

The question is: “Did any Trump officials did NOT have links to Russia?”

If you wonder how I came up with all of this so quickly, I've been keeping track here⤵️
russia-investigation-summary.com

All of my threads are now blog posts. You can view this one here: terikanefield-blog.com/whats-in-the-m…
If you haven't visited my blog, the threads are even categorized. (I feel like an Internet Whiz.)