"Russian Seasons" in Washington. Act of the second

Donald Trump and his teams with Russia are investigated by three committees of Congress, the FBI and special prosecutor Robert Muller. When to wait for the results, I found out The New Times

Photo: Gr.News.ru

The summer ended, and with it the interrah in the Washington "Russian seasons." Spectators are looking forward to the second action of the drama. The actors return to the scene in anxious expectation: they have learned their roles well, but they still do not know what plot turns the playwright dispersed for them.

Either in disruption, then in unison

Investigating Rashagate, the US Congress (and as many as three committees are connected to the investigation), the FBI and special prosecutor Robert Muller act independently. Their goals and interests do not necessarily coincide, in connection with which they enter into an objective conflict among themselves. The FBI and the Ministry of Justice are denied the congress committees to provide documents demanded by the agenda - committees in response threaten the director of the FBI and the Minister of Justice with liability for disrespect for Congress, which in an extreme version may mean a prison term (the last high -ranking member of the government, for this reason, went for bars in 1983). In other cases, committees refuse to share their information with the FBI.

Special prosecutor Robert Müller. Photo: Screenshot Video from the site edition.cn.com

Not everything is smooth inside the committees either. The Chairman of the Committee of the House of Intelligence Representatives Devin Nunes was forced to take a self -setting from the investigation in April, as it turned out that he would coordinate his actions with the White House. The first violin passed to another Republican, Mike Konauay. He and the senior of the Democrat in the Committee, Adam Schiff, essentially, are conducted by two different investigations. So, for example, in July, Konauay sent two of his employees to London for negotiations with Christopher Steel - the author of the sensational dossier about the Russian compromise on Trump. But neither with the democratic half of his committee, nor with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting his negotiations with the styl, Konauay did not coordinate this decision.

But in the Senate Committee, on the contrary, the spirit of inter -party consent reigns. Its leaders, Republican Richard Barr and Democrat Mark Warner, publish joint statements and appear together before journalists. The Law Committee of the Senate, which is also engaged in Rashagate, is something between the two intelligence committees. His head Chuck Grassley and his deputy Dianne Fainstain sometimes speak in unison, sometimes aton -free.

Mark Warner and Richard Barr . Photo: screenshot video with Newsjs.com

Each committee has its own list of witnesses. Many names in these lists coincide, but the conditions under which witnesses will agree to testify may be different. Some of them may be offered immunity from criminal prosecution, but for such a proposal, a qualified majority is needed in two -thirds. In May, the former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn refused to appear in the Senate on the agenda on the basis of the fifth amendment to the constitution, which gives the right not to testify against himself. It is still unclear whether the intelligence committee intends to initiate in this connection the case of disrespect for Congress.

In July, the head of the Committee of the House of Intelligence Representatives Konauay sent two of his employees to London for negotiations with Christopher Steel - the author of the sensational dossier about the Russian compromising evidence of Trump. But neither with the democratic half of his committee, nor with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting his negotiations with the styl, Konauay did not agree on this decision

The Senate Law Committee seems to intend in the near future to interrogate at the open meeting of Donald Trump Jr., who had already testified to the door of closed in June (this protocol Senator Grassley refused to provide the special prosecutor Muller in response to the Ministry of Justice’s refusal to allow two FBR agents to testify to the committee). But the conditions under which the president’s son will agree to this are in the process of discussion.

Strictly secret muller

All this discord creates a constant headache for special prosecutor Robert Muller. He has huge powers and a team of the best investigators, at his disposal, the FBI agents at his disposal, and just the other day, lawyer Kyle Frini joined his team, who answered the US Ministry of Justice for the investigation of particularly important cases in the field of laundering and banking fraud. Frini, by the way, became 17 high -ranking lawyer the Ministry of Justice, officially transferred to the Muller group. But the task of this “group” is extremely complex. Members of the Congress are looking for publicity and conduct a political struggle. The result of their activities will be reports and, probably, legislative proposals. Müller needs to legally convincingly prove or refute criminal charges, including against the US president.

Unlike Congress, Muller does not make public statements and works in an atmosphere of strict secrecy. Even leaks from his apparatus are extremely limited. In any case, it is known that he had already convened a large jury. This jury decides the issue of the presence of a crime for the subsequent transfer of the case to the court. The convocation of a large jury means that the special prosecutor is convinced that he has enough evidence for the indictment. The whole question is who he intends to blame and what.

The other day, lawyer Kyle Frini, who was in charge of the US Ministry of Justice for investigating especially important cases in the field of money laundering and banking fraud, joined the Müller team

When investigating cases of this kind, voluminous and with a large number of defendants, the investigation, as a rule, tries to find a weak link - a suspect who is ready to make a deal with justice and give confessions in exchange for mitigating the fate. In this case, Michael Flynn may be such a link to whom you can impose the cottage of false testimonies of the FBI, and Paul Manafort, in the house of which the search has already taken place. It is also known that Müller intends to interrogate the former and current advisers of the president, in connection with which they hastily acquire expensive seasoned lawyers. Finally, Müller attracted federal agents investigating tax crimes to cooperate. So, he will subject the thoroughly verification of the finance of the suspects.

FBI: Slowly but steadily

About the state in which another investigation is in the direction - which the FBI conducts - we know almost nothing, except that it began in July 2012 and will continue regardless of the maneuvers and tricks of the executive branch. Rashagate simply cannot be closed halfway - agents leading this business must put an end to it. This was well understood by Richard Nixon, who tried to lower the case of hacking the headquarters of the democrats on the brakes. Neither the change of leadership of the Ministry of Justice, nor the removal of a special prosecutor, nor a reference to the right of the president not to disclose the content of his meetings with advisers, helped him. The main informant of the journalists Robert Woodword and Karl Bernstin - a deep throat - was then none other than the Deputy Director of the FBI Mark Felt, who oversaw the investigation.

Unlike Congress, Muller does not make public statements and works in an atmosphere of strict secrecy. Even leaks from his apparatus are extremely limited in nature

Three lines

What is known today and what, in fact, is the case?

First of all, the investigation should be established whether Trump’s team was conspired with a foreign power - this, one might say, is the first line of the investigation. At the moment, it is confirmed that, not counting the numerous phone calls and electronic messages, people from Trump's entourage had at least 10 meetings with persons who, to one degree or another representing the Russian government. This in itself does not mean anything - we must prove that there was coordination between the Kremlin and the candidate Trump, that they agreed on their actions, that Moscow helped Trump win the elections.

• It is difficult to prove it. Firstly, the meetings could not have any special consequences, which the defendants say about. For example, the Trump Jr., who became one of the defendants in the scandal, says he did not receive from Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, with whom he met in the summer of 2016, the promised compromising evidence of Hillary Clinton. (I already talked about the ups and downs of this plot in detail NT). Yes, of course, he longed to get, behaved ugly, but still did not receive, and this is not that, and it is not clear whether there is a corpus delicti.

• Secondly, the dubious personalities that consisted of the Trump election headquarters could catch each of his fish in muddy water, and the boss could well know anything about it. (Once, a former press secretary of the White House, Sean Spicer, called these adventurers “holler”-Hanges-on, who, they say, in fact, had almost nothing to do with the Trump team, simply frenzied nearby. This, of course, is a miserable trick).

• Thirdly, “after that” does not mean “because of that”. And although some coincidences in the plot called “Trump’s election campaign” look suspicious, from the point of view of the law they still remain coincidences - exactly until the criminal intent is proved.

Russian lawyer Natalya Veselnitskaya *. *Photo: edition.cnn.com

Here is an example. On August 14, 2016, The New York Times reports that the Ukrainian Anti -Corruption Bureau discovered a payment statement by which the manager of the Trump Paul Manafort is due to almost $ 13 million. On August 19, Manafort is resigned. On August 21, Trump Advisor Roger Stone announces on Twitter that the head of the election headquarters Hillary Clinton John Podesta will soon be left without work. On October 7, 2016, WikiLeaks begins to publish a hacked dance correspondence. At the same time, it was established that Stone maintained constant contact with the head of Wikileaks Julian Assange. For a newspaper article, there are enough evidence, for the court - few.

Rashagate simply cannot be closed halfway - agents leading this business must put an end to it. This was well understood by Richard Nixon, who tried to lower the case of hacking the headquarters of the democrats on the brakes

However, on September 26, 2017, Roger Stone, a colorful character who calls himself “Dirty Trickster) and having a tattoo on the form of a portrait of Nixon on his back, gives evidence of the Committee of the Lower Chamber, and the congressmen are already eager for impatience.

The second line of the investigation is a possible obstacle to justice. President Trump tried to persuade the director of the FBI of Komi to turn the investigation, and when he failed, he fired Komi, having no other good reasons. However, this accusation has so far been based on the testimony of Komi himself, the conversation took place in private, and the meaning of the president’s key replicas was blurred due to the tongue -tied tongue characteristic of Trump. President’s motives may clarify official documents related to the dismissal procedure, but it is not yet clear whether their special prosecutor Müller received, and is it fully.

And finally, a separate line is the actions of Russian hackers. She, apparently, goes beyond the competence of the special prosecutor, but Congress is engaged in it. Today it is already clear that it is necessary not to talk about hacking individual servers, but about large -scale penetration into computer networks of election commissions in order to cause a technical failure, confuse registration or “twist the counter” in the vote calculation system (there was no need to fabricate the result in some electoral districts of the three states, unexpectedly and contrary to surveys of Trumpa).

The investigation must be proved that there was coordination between the Kremlin and the candidate Trump that they coordinated their actions, that Moscow helped Trump win the elections. But it is difficult to prove it

Perhaps this is the most serious cyberosis that the United States is faced with today. If it is not reflected, it will not be possible to believe the election results. Ultimately, it was this goal that was pursued by the whole special operation - to undermine faith into institutes of American democracy. When on July 7 in Hamburg, Donald Trump agreed with Vladimir Putin’s proposal to establish a joint working group to combat cyberosis, in the United States this agreement was regarded as consent to let the goat into the garden, and the president quickly revealed. Today it is known that two months before the Hamburg summit, in April, Moscow offered Washington a comprehensive restart plan, including cooperation in the field of cybersecurity. Characteristic perseverance.

America will have to independently deal with the vulnerability of its electoral systems. So far, it is imperceptible that the current administration perceived the threat seriously. Back in January, Donald Trump appointed Rudi Juliani, a former mayor of the foundation and his many years of friend, and gave him three months to develop a plan. Hackers noted the appointment of a hack by Juliani's own site. Since then, he has no hearing or spirit.