Thread by @moscow_project

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony is about to begin. Watch it live here: c-span.org/video/?462628-…

.@RepJerryNadler notes that, contrary to Trump's continual attacks, Mueller and his team were essentially silent through their investigation—aside from the 37 indictments and seven guilty pleas they secured.

.@RepJerryNadler: "Any other person who acted in this way would have been charged with crimes."
More than 1,000 former federal prosecutors agree: medium.com/@dojalumni/sta…

.@RepDougCollins says that the Mueller investigation didn't find that the Trump campaign sought Russian help.
That's false.
He says Mueller found no collusion.
That's also false.
themoscowproject.org/dispatch/yes-m…

@RepDougCollins Another blatant falsehood from Collins: He says that the FBI investigation was begun on the basis of "baseless gossip."
Mueller outlines the investigation's origins in the *third paragraph* of his report.
justice.gov/storage/report…

Mueller notes that his investigation charged more than 30 people with crimes, seven of whom have been convicted or pled guilty. See all of those indictments and guilty pleas here: themoscowproject.org/resources/

Mueller emphasizes that "we did not address collusion, which is not a legal term."

Mueller says that their decision not to "make a determination as to whether the President committed a crime" because of "Justice Department policy and principles of fairness."
In other words: No, he didn't say there was "no obstruction."

Mueller says that he will be unable to discuss questions related to "the opening of the FBI's Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment, or matters related to the so-called 'Steele Dossier.'" assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6211…

Mueller confirms @RepJerryNadler's question:
-He did not say no collusion.
-He did not say no obstruction.
-He did not say "total exoneration."

@RepJerryNadler Mueller: "Let me say one more thing. Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious. As I said on May 29, this deserves the attention of every American."

@RepJerryNadler Mueller reaffirms that his investigation's conclusion was limited by the OLC's opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted:

Mueller shoots down @RepDougCollins's attempt to spin "insufficient evidence of conspiracy" into "no collusion":
Collins: "In the colloquial context, collusion and conspiracy are essentially synonymous texts. Correct?"
Mueller: "No."

@RepDougCollins .@RepZoeLofgren confirms with Mueller that Trump's campaign chairman repeatedly shared internal polling data and discussed campaign strategy with a Russian operative.
There's no innocent explanation for that.

We broke down Konstantin Kilimnik's relationship with Paul Manafort and the Trump campaign here #BDMR:
themoscowproject.org/dispatch/break…

From the man who wrote the Special Counsel regulations:

https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/1154017455234342912

Chabot asks why Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson aren't mentioned in the report.
That's because neither of them was the reason the investigation began, as Mueller outlines on the literal first page of the report:
justice.gov/storage/report…

.@RepHankJohnson raises an important point: Trump's own advisers told him the claim that Mueller had conflicts of interest were entirely unfounded, and that trying to remove Mueller would be more evidence of obstruction of justice.
Trump kept trying to get Mueller removed anyway.

Louie Gohmert brings up Mueller's press conference about his report. Here's our analysis of what he said: themoscowproject.org/dispatch/muell…

.@RepTedDeutch recounts how Trump directed Don McGahn to have Mueller removed. Those demands ultimately led McGahn to pack his bags and threaten to quit.

@RepTedDeutch .@RepTedDeutch: "Anyone else who blatantly interfered with a criminal investigation like yours would be arrested and indicted on charges of obstruction of justice."

Jim Jordan asks Mueller why he didn't charge Joseph Mifsud. That's likely because he was obstructed from doing so while Mifsud was in the country, thanks to George Papadopoulos's lies to investigators. Read all about it here: #BDMR themoscowproject.org/breaking-down-…

@RepTedDeutch Why the FBI was investigating Carter Page: Because in 2013, he was recruited by Russian spies, who were caught on tape saying that "his enthusiasm works for" them.
nytimes.com/2017/04/04/us/…

Learn all about how Russian spies recruited Carter Page on @ASsetPOdcast: theassetpodcast.org/episode/cultiv…

@AssetPodcast Jim Jordan describes how the Russia investigation started: Because a Kremlin-linked professor gave George Papadopoulos a heads-up that Russia was planning to release emails stolen from Trump's opponents.

@AssetPodcast .@RepJeffries outlines how the president met all three criteria for obstruction of justice: "This is the United States of America. No one is above the law. No one. The president must be held accountable one way or the other."

Ken Buck notes that Mueller found insufficient evidence to charge conspiracy, but that Mueller didn't say the same about obstruction.
That's because the president obstructed justice.

Mueller just confirmed to Ken Buck that the president could be charged with obstruction of justice after he leaves office:

1,000 former prosecutors signed a letter saying that Trump would have been indicted if he weren't president. Here's that letter: medium.com/@dojalumni/sta…

Mueller found "substantial evidence" that Trump tried to limit the investigation to future interference.
That would have stopped America from learning about not just his wrongdoing but also Russia's "sweeping and systemic attack" on American democracy. justice.gov/storage/report…

The president and his lawyers repeatedly reached out to Michael Cohen to praise him when he toed the party line. When he pleaded guilty, Trump repeatedly attacked him and threatened him and his family. For anybody who isn't president, that would be witness tampering.

.@RepJayapal: "Evidence concerning the president's conduct toward manafort indicates that the president intended to encourage manafort to not cooperate with the government ... Anyone else who did these things would be prosecuted for them."

@RepJayapal Mueller confirmed to @RepValDemings that Trump and his accomplices didn't just attempt to obstruct—they succeeded in impeding his investigation.

@RepJayapal @RepValDemings Mueller defends the integrity of his team: "I've been in this business for almost 25 years. In those 25 years I've not had occasion once to ask somebody about their political affiliation. It is not done. What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job."

Congressional Republicans like to point out that Mueller's investigation is unprecedented.
That's because it's unprecedented to have a presidential campaign collude with a hostile foreign power, then orchestrate a massive cover-up to hide it from the public.

.@RepMikeJohnson claims Trump never demanded that Mueller be terminated.
That is blatantly false. The Mueller report documents multiple times when Trump ordered his underlings to get Mueller removed or have his investigation curtailed—which Mueller has repeatedly confirmed today.

.@RepMikeJohnson says we can draw our own conclusions as to whether Mueller's findings warrant impeachment.
Here's our conclusion: The Mueller report, like the Watergate Roadmap, should be considered an impeachment referral. themoscowproject.org/dispatch/muell…

.@RepLucyMcBath lists the Trump campaign associates who have been indicted or pleaded guilty. That includes:
-Trump's campaign chairman
-Trump's deputy campaign chairman
-His National Security Adviser
-His personal lawyer
-His long-time friend and political adviser

@RepLucyMcBath .@RepEscobar asks what constitutional processes could be used to hold a president accountable.
Mueller: "I think I heard you mention at least one."
@RepEscobar: "Impeachment, correct?"

@RepLucyMcBath @RepEscobar .@RepAdamSchiff begins the afternoon by summarizing Mueller's "methodical" and "devastating" report: "The story of the 2016 election is also a story about disloyalty to country, about greed and about lies."

.@RepAdamSchiff emphasizes that everybody involved in collusion was in it for money—not just Trump, who wanted to build Trump Tower Moscow, but also Manafort, Flynn, and the Russians, who wanted to see sanctions on their country lifted.

.@RepAdamSchiff sums up congressional Republicans' position: "The real crime, they say, is not that the Russians intervened to elect Donald Trump, but that the FBI had the temerity to investigate it when they did."

As @RepAdamSchiff notes, Trump himself said *just last month* that he'd be willing to accept help from a hostile foreign power again. abcnews.go.com/Politics/id-ex…

@RepAdamSchiff Devin Nunes is once again going in with his conspiracy theories about how the Russia investigation started. Maybe he should check in with his buddy Jim Jordan, who summarized the real story this morning:

https://twitter.com/moscow_project/status/1154033606781788160

Last year, we ran down some of the many bizarre conspiracy theories Nunes has spread to try to undermine the Russia investigation. You can find the Nunes File here: themoscowproject.org/explainers/the…

FACT CHECK: Yes, the Mueller report did find collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. themoscowproject.org/dispatch/yes-m…

In this afternoon's opening statement, Mueller reenters his opening statement from this morning. Here was his most important takeaway from that statement:

https://twitter.com/moscow_project/status/1154012035035881472

Mueller confirms that the Russians "made outreach" to the Trump campaign.
There were at least 272 contacts, including 38 meetings. Read the whole list here: themoscowproject.org/explainers/tru…

Trump's WikiLeaks "messaging strategy" included citing WikiLeaks 164 times in the final month of the campaign. That's more than 5 times per day. thinkprogress.org/trump-mentione…

Collusion wasn't just about the election. Just about everybody involved was also in it to make money—in some cases, millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

Russia stole emails from Trump's opponents. They gave the Trump campaign advance warning. The Trump campaign built a messaging strategy surrounding it. Then, they worked to cover it all up.
That's collusion.

.@jahimes notes that the president still seems to refuse to accept that Russia interfered in the campaign on his behalf—and that Trump and his accomplices seem to refuse to acknowledge that Russia wanted Trump to win.

.@JAHimes: "Which presidential candidate was Russia's hacking and dumping operation designed to benefit, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?"
Mueller: "Donald Trump."

@jahimes Mueller confirms that candidates should report any offers of dirt from a foreign government—and that accepting that dirt, as Trump has said he'd be happy to do again, could be a crime.

When Carter Page found out that he'd been recruited by Russian spies, he went out of his way to clear his name—not with U.S. authorities, but with the Russians. Hear all about it on @AssetPodcast: theassetpodcast.org/episode/cultiv…

It couldn't be clearer: The Trump Tower meeting was collusion. Read all the emails from before and after the meeting here: themoscowproject.org/explainers/col…

.@RepTerriSewell gets to the heart of the June 9 meeting: The Trump campaign eagerly accepted an offer of assistance from a hostile foreign power, then chose not to alert law enforcement or the intel community about an attack on American democracy.

Paul Manafort repeatedly shared internal polling data and discussed campaign strategy with a Russian operative. Read what the Mueller report has to say about it here: #BDMR themoscowproject.org/dispatch/break…

Mueller confirms it: Paul Manafort sharing polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik was compromising, leaving him vulnerable to blackmail by a hostile foreign power.

The Internet Research Agency spent $1.25 million *per month* on its efforts to influence the 2016 election. We went deep on those efforts and their impact on @AssetPodcast: theassetpodcast.org/episode/runnin…

@AssetPodcast Mueller summarizes his report: "It also is a signal, a flag, to those of us who have some responsibility in this area to exercise those responsibilities swiftly and don't let this problem continue to linger as it has over so many years."

@AssetPodcast Special Counsel Mueller: The Trump campaign's messaging around WikiLeaks was "giving some hope or boost to what is and should be illegal activity."

Reminder: Mueller spends almost five full pages of his report (p. 44-49) outlining WikiLeaks's communications with Russian hackers—and how WikiLeaks then repeatedly lied, pushing conspiracy theories about the real origin of the emails.
justice.gov/storage/report…

.@RepSwalwell runs down the Trump team's litany of lies and obstruction—and Mueller confirms that, yes, they impeded his investigation.

The Trump Tower Moscow project wasn't just a conflict of interest—it was compromising. Listen to @AssetPodcast to learn all about how the Russians could have used it as leverage over Trump: theassetpodcast.org/episode/runnin…

.@RepAdamSchiff also discussed why that was the case when he sat down yesterday with Moscow Project Director @MaxBergmann: americanprogress.org/events/2019/07…

Will Hurd is emphasizing the need for the intelligence community to warn candidates if their campaign has been the target of active measures.
The Trump campaign was briefed on exactly that in 2016. They chose to continue colluding with Russia.
themoscowproject.org/explainers/aid…

Mueller warns that Russia's interference in 2016 wasn't a singular attack, and that they will likely try again in 2020—and why wouldn't they, given how Trump himself seems to be rolling out the red carpet for them?

.@RepDennyHeck brings up Jared Kushner's meetings with Russian officials during the transition. You can read all about those contacts here: #BDMR themoscowproject.org/dispatch/break…

We also broke down what the Mueller report has to say about the meeting in the Seychelles: #BDMR themoscowproject.org/breaking-down-…

We also broke them down in this week's episode of @AssetPodcast, which breaks down how Putin has benefited from Trump's presidency: theassetpodcast.org/episode/payoff/

@AssetPodcast Mueller: "I fear" that it is the new normal that candidates can take dirt on their opponents from a hostile foreign power—and that "there would be no repercussions whatsoever to Russia if they did this again."

@AssetPodcast Mueller confirms that many of Trump's written answers to his questions "contradicted other evidence that [he] had gathered during the investigation ..."

@AssetPodcast ... and that Trump's answers were "not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn't answer many of [Mueller's] questions, but where he did, his answers showed he wasn't always being truthful."

@AssetPodcast Mueller confirms to @CongressmanRaja that "individuals can be subject to blackmail if they lie about their interactions with foreign countries"—and that the FBI is in fact currently investigating counterintelligence concerns related to Trump officials' lies.

@AssetPodcast @CongressmanRaja .@RepAdamSchiff summarizes Mueller's findings: "Your work speaks of a president who committed countless acts of obstruction of justice that, in my opinion and that of many other prosecutors, had it been anyone else in the country, they would have been indicted."

@AssetPodcast @CongressmanRaja @RepAdamSchiff .@RepAdamSchiff: "The standard of behavior for a presidential candidate, or any candidate for that matter, shouldn't be merely whether something is criminal. It should be held to a higher standard, you would agree?"