The investigation resulted in the indictment of 34 different individuals, including 12 Russian intelligence officers and 13 other Russian nationals. Five of Trump's own associates pleaded guilty to federal crimes, and either spent time in jail, or are currently incarcerated for their crimes. The investigation conclusively demonstrated that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and tried to influence the outcome. Moreover, the investigation served as a warning to be vigilant over foreign powers planting false stories in social media in order to influence voters and call into question the integrity of the U.S. electoral process.
By most accounts, the investigation conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller was a success, and a much needed warning to the American people. Why, then, has Trump's Justice Department opened a criminal investigation looking into how that investigation was started?
The reason has much to do with President Donald Trump's warped perception of the investigation, and his narcissistic need to be praised and admired.
The investigation began not as a criminal investigation targeting Trump and his associates, but as a counterintelligence investigation based on warnings that Russia was attempting to influence the outcome of the election. When the FBI learned that Russian intelligence officers were having contacts with Trump campaign officials, such as Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, the agency turned to the special court created pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA") to apply for a warrant to permit domestic wire taps to determine exactly what Russian spies were doing. Because the Russian spies contacted Trump campaign officials, those wire taps focused on the Trump campaign and Trump properties. The original intention was not to target the Trump campaign for surveillance, but to learn what the Russians were up to and, if possible, thwart Russian intelligence operations in the United States.
Trump's ego, however, distorts his entire world perception, and therefore the reason behind the investigation. To Trump, the the FISA court approval of wire taps of Trump Tower in New York must have meant that the Government was spying on him, not the Russians. He thus saw the investigation into Russian meddling as an attack of him personally, and not on the Russian intelligence services. Because he could not stand to be questioned and criticized, he attempted numerous times, as detailed in the final Mueller Report, to obstruct that investigation. Indeed, because his first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from the investigation, Trump attacked his Attorney General repeatedly for being disloyal and failing to be able to stop the investigation. This is despite the fact that as an adviser to the Trump Campaign, Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and had legitimate reasons for the recusal.
Because Trump sees the investigation as an attack on the legitimacy of his presidency, he has been unable to accept its conclusions regarding Russian interference. Trump has continually rejected the verdict, not only of the Mueller investigation, but of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia attempted to influence the outcome of the election, favoring Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
His compulsive opposition to the investigation of Russia shaped many of his decisions, including the firing of Attorney General Sessions, and the nomination of William Barr as the new Attorney General. Barr was already an outspoken opponent of the Mueller investigation when Trump nominated him. It therefore came as no surprise when, as Attorney General, Barr distorted the findings of the Mueller report, before releasing a redacted version to the public. Through his summary of the report, Barr conveyed that the Mueller team had exonerated the President. In reality, in the report Mueller and his team noted that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians existed, but there was plenty of evidence of the President's multiple attempts to interfere in the investigation itself.
It is Trump's distorted view of the investigation that has, in part, led to the current impeach inquiry. Despite his claims that he was exonerated by the Mueller report, Trump has obsessed over proving the illegitimacy of the investigation. Throughout the investigation, he called it a witch hunt. Indeed, he continues to refer to the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt to this day. Trump latched onto a conspiracy theory that it was the Democratic Party that invited foreign interference into the 2016 election, which somehow involved Ukraine. Part of that conspiracy theory is that the server of the Democratic National Committee, which was hacked during the 2016 campaign, somehow ended up in Ukraine. Accordingly, part of the quid pro quo of releasing the congressional approved military aid to Ukraine was an announcement from the Zelensky Government that it was investigating where the DNC server ended up. Trump's private attorney, Rudolph Guiliani, has been pressuring Ukrainian officials to open investigations, both of the Bidens and of the DNC server, for months.
Indeed, as part of his campaign to discredit the Mueller investigation, Trump has reached out to other foreign countries for help. The Russian investigation began based on a warning from an Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, who had a conversation with Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos in London. Papadopoulos was bragging that the Russians had thousands of supposedly damaging emails from Hillary Clinton. Trump has asked that Australia cooperate with Attorney General Barr in investigating whether Downer was spying on Papadopoulos. As a result of the investigation into Russia, Papadopoulos served a fourteen day prison term after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump has also reportedly sent Barr to Italy seeking information on whether a Maltese professor, Josef Misfud, who also spoke with Papadopoulos concerning Clinton's emails, was somehow connected to Italian intelligence operations.
Given the lengths to which Trump has gone to discredit the Mueller investigation, the fact that the Justice Department may have opened a criminal investigation into how the Russian probe got started should come as no surprise. Trump is no stranger to intimidation tactics. Using the Justice Department against those whom he perceives as disloyal or as part of the deep state opposition to his presidency would be in line with his autocratic tendencies. Barr's demonstrated loyalty to Trump may indeed cause the Attorney General to permit the President to use the Justice Department as a tool to intimidate those who would oppose him.
The use of the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into how the probe of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election started is troubling to say the least. It raises serious concerns of Trump's willingness to use his office to retaliate against people he believes to be his enemies. This is not the act of a leader dedicated to the principles of freedom and democracy. It is more in line with a tactic of a despot attempting to quell opposition to his reign. Let us hope the United States has not slid that far in the direction of autocracy.
By: William J. Kovatch, Jr.
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