First things first. We cannot approach the analysis of Robert Mueller or any of the officials within the closed-circle of the DC fiefdom from a reference drawn from our own personal experiences. The people we are discussing are not connected to a frame of reference carried by 99% of the American population.
The DC elites are people born to live in a hierarchy of power and position disconnected from any external tribe. Their sense of importance is affirmed by perceived status and expressed through their daily conduct. A world of think-tanks, superiority training, traditions and policy-making enhances their sanctimonious self-importance at a pathological level. The common reference here is James Comey.
These cloistered communities generate people who find themselves in line during a vacation and cannot reconcile their wait-time amid those who do not recognize them. Their frame of reference is to stand aghast saying: “don’t you know who I am?”
Back in their tribal DC community their restaurant seating is determined by their status; an unspoken social structure where simple indulgences are afforded in relation to their inherent power and social position within the community.
If we attempt to reconcile corrupt behaviors and motives from our own social reference points, nothing they do makes sense. However, if we accept that inside their bubble their norms, customs and structures are exclusive to a particular sect of life amid those who make the rules everyone else must abide by; then their corrupt behavior -and more specifically their underlying motive- becomes more understandable.
Within this community Donald Trump was/is an unwelcome outsider. Trump has no appreciation for the cultural entitlement earned by honoring the status of those who have gained higher social rank.
There is also no party identity amid DC’s executive suites where the heavily indulged discuss legislating their wisdom to the unrefined outsiders. A vulgarian is to be rejected by both clubs within the political network of the UniParty.
This inherent sense of self-importance exists amid all of the officials discussed in the surrounding story of how the administrative state targeted Trump. Spend time reading the Page and Strzok text messages and the mindset drips from the transcript. Additionally, this social compact permits unlawful conduct if the tribe is threatened. Rules and laws do not apply when the DC tribe feels threatened.
With the Mueller probe officially concluding, people are starting to ask:
‘When exactly did Robert Mueller determine there was no Russian collusion/conspiracy?’
The answer is not complex, because all the characters knew there was no Russian collusion/conspiracy, ever. They knew the narrative was created; they participated in the creation; the Russian conspiracy narrative was a necessary element toward the goal of eliminating Trump. Remember what FBI Agent Peter Strzok said:
…”you and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.”
(Text Message Link – See Page #459, March 19th, 2017)
These investigative participants created the collusion narrative behind one-way glass that constructs their bubble. They have no idea that we, the unwashed masses, were/are looking at them; watching them.
These superior investigative minds cannot fathom that we have watched each part of the construct. Their current status is like the Wizard of Oz after Toto pulled back the curtain… They are still yelling into the microphone. In depositions and testimony they have to pretend not to know things. It looks silly to us, but not to them.
The most overlooked aspect is how the 2016 DOJ/FBI investigative unit that existed to investigate Trump before the election, is the same group of people who transferred into Mueller’s probe in 2017 to continue investigating Trump after the election. It always seems odd to me that people don’t realize this very basic point.
If what the investigators were doing in 2016 was unethical, corrupt and likely unlawful, it is not wise to think they suddenly became bastions of investigative moral integrity just because they transferred into the Mueller probe in 2017. In fact, the reality is, those same people held/hold a motive to cover-up for their prior conduct; and, for the purposes of Robert Mueller, their corrupt motives were perfectly aligned.
This investigative ‘small group’ are the people inside Main Justice (DOJ) and FBI headquarters who redacted the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages; removed messages and communication antithetical to their goals; kept key documents and information away from congress; stalled any effort to expose the unlawful aspects of “SpyGate’ and the fraudulent foundation behind the Carter Page FISA application; and undermined any adverse discoveries in the leak investigations (James Wolfe) writ large.
This investigative small group didn’t change when Mueller arrived, they just retooled the focus of their effort based on new leadership and new objectives. Those who created the Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy case of 2016, evolved into creating the Trump obstructing justice case of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
In an interview yesterday Trump’s former lawyer John Dowd described the moment Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein blindsided everyone with the Special Counsel. [Interview Link at 49:00] Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in the oval office when White House counsel Don McGhan informed President Trump of the public announcement. A shocked Jeff Sessions immediately apologized to the President and offered to resign.
The special counsel was the evolution of investigating Trump.
Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein then worked together to create the obstruction case. I agree with Ristvan that people still don’t appreciate just how sinister this was. It was the obstruction case they hoped would build the impeachment outcome. {Go Deep}
The obstruction case was based on the updated Scope Memo written by Rosenstein on August 2nd, 2017.
The scope memo outlines the same targets that originally existed within Crossfire Hurricane and the Steele Dossier: Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen. This was how they hoped to get to Trump.
Mueller targeted these individuals on other issues, any issues, because he needed to shut them down, hide the fraudulent origin of the original operation…. and thereby protect his obstruction investigation… For Mueller’s purposes:
- The Obstruction investigation, building toward the impeachment narrative, was always the original goal of Mueller and Rosenstein. Therefore…
- The Obstruction investigation needed the precursor of the Trump-Russia investigation to remain standing; However,….
- The structure of the Trump-Russia investigation, the underlying evidence to support the effort, is predicated on the “Steele Dossier”. Therefore…
- Mueller needed to protect the Steele Dossier from scrutiny and deconstruction.
Remember, because there was no Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy, it was always the “obstruction” investigation that could lead to the desired result by Mueller’s team of taking down President Trump through impeachment. The “obstruction case” was the entirety of the case they were trying to make from August 2017 through to March 2019.
These targets would generate pressure points against President Trump. If they could not deliver direct evidence against Trump (on any criminal angle) they could be used to bait Trump into taking actions that would assist the obstruction case.
Obstruction was always the impeachment long-game, and their political plan needed the 2018 mid-term election and the House of Representatives in Pelosi’s hands to work.
This is why DAG Rod Rosenstein pressured Trump in September of 2018 not to declassify the underlying SpyGate/FISA documents. Rosenstein knew sunlight would have undermined the Russia narrative, and worse…. it might have upended the goal of winning the House (a key part of their long-term plan); so Rosenstein informed Trump declassification would be impeding the Mueller investigation.
Along the road toward building the obstruction case, Mueller and Rosenstein needed to retain the illusion of a “Russian Interference Investigation.
The need to keep up the “Muh Russia” appearances is why Mueller and Rosenstein had to pause every six months and throw out a few phony, structurally silly, Russia indictments.
Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann and Rod Rosenstein knew the people they accused would never show up to defend themselves. The Russian interference indictments were for appearances only, and always came with a specific disclaimer:
This disclaimer is purposeful for two reasons. Number one: there was no Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy; and number two: saying it satiated their target, President Trump.
Everything Mueller and Rosenstein were doing in late 2017 and throughout 2018 was intended to drag-out the Russia conspiracy narrative as long as possible, even though there was no actual Trump-Russia investigation taking place. They were working throughout this time period with the 2018 mid-term House changeover in mind.
While President Trump’s legal team were asking what was taking so long, the real program was for Mueller’s team to build the ‘obstruction’ case, which would be the launching point for the impeachment.
Andrew Weissmann and team were continually trying to bait and provoke President Trump into making statements, or taking action that could be added to the ‘obstruction’ file; while Mueller is simultaneously telling Trump’s legal team they were only a subject-witness in the Russia investigation.
PHILLIPS: Do you respect what Mueller is doing? I know you know Mueller well.
DOWD: Well, I respected it in the beginning. And I started out. And I– it’s my s– my style is I always trust the other side, until I didn’t. In my opinion, on March 5th [2018], we were done. He had everything. He said he had everything. He told me that no one had lied. He told me they had every document we asked for. He told me that it was nothing more. He told me that the president was not a target. That is, he did not have any exposure, that he was a witness subject, which is perfectly normal for someone’s conduct you’re looking at, but they don’t have exposure.
DOWD: […] I know what the case is. There is no case. And my job is to sorta bring that home. And we did the very best we could to bring it home. I think it is coming’ home. And I think it’s coming’ home in the same shape. And you know, and then, you know, there are people in the press, who say, “Well, he must have s– surprise.” He didn’t have– I know exactly what he [Mueller] has. I know exactly what every witness said, what every document said. It’s– I know exactly what he asked. And I know what– I know what– you know, what the –what the conclusion or the result is. So–
PHILLIPS: What does he have? What’s the result? What’s the conclusion?
DOWD: Decline [to prosecute]. There’s no basis. There’s no exposure. It’s been a terrible waste of time.
What’s worse is let’s get on the other side of this, how it all happened. This is one of the greatest frauds this country’s ever seen. And I’m just shocked that Bob Mueller didn’t call it that way and say, “I’m being used.” I would’ve done that. If I were in his shoes in this thing, I’d have gone to the– I’d have gone to Sessions and Rosenstein and said, “Look. This is nonsense. We are being used by a cabal in the F.B.I. to get even.”
This is awful. I mean, the corruption — at the top of the F.B.I. is staggering. And that’s how this all happened. And by the way, look at what the F.B.I. witnesses have said. “I know w– I know about no collusion.” I mean, Comey knew nothing about collusion. So what are we doing then?
VLASTO: How do you think history will look at the Mueller investigation ten years from now, 20 years from now?
DOWD: Not well.
PHILLIPS: Robert Mueller. How will he go down in history?
DOWD: I don’t know. He’s gonna have to decide that. (link)
The entire Mueller team were working to goad President Trump into something Mueller could then color/construe as obstruction and then open House impeachment grounds; and they were having fun doing it.
The manner of the pre-dawn raid on Paul Manafort, and the way they treated him, along with the manner of the raid on Michael Cohen was all done purposefully hoping to draw a reaction from Trump, which they would add to the obstruction file. Simultaneously they had to keep the ‘Muh Russia’ narrative going to help Democrats win the House in 2018.
Once Rosenstein and Mueller had the mid-term election goal secure (Dec ’18), then they set about enhancing the impeachment narrative with even stronger ‘obstruction‘ provocations.
The outrageous manner of arrest of Roger Stone is an example. The scale of it; heavily armed swat teams, tanks etc; and the fact that Weissmann enlisted CNN for the purpose of intentionally broadcasting the outrageous nature of the arrest, was by design. Mueller and Rosenstein were trying to provoke a response from Trump:
When we realize that a Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy was known by investigators to be demonstrably ridiculous in mid-2017 (no ‘there’ there); and the Mueller/Rosenstein goal was always to establish an obstruction/impeachment result; then everything starts to make sense.
Everything was done to goad and bait President Trump into a response. None of this was happenstance. The goal of structuring the obstruction case and subsequent impeachment was designed into each event. The unnecessary postponement of Flynn sentencing, the financial death by 1,000 legal cuts, is another example.
After the 2018 election the type of provocations increased. From all appearances they had no intention of not continuing to ramp up the provocation. It’s likely Andrew Weissmann has prepared indictments for Trump’s family, including Donald Trump-Jr and Jared Kushner, that have absolutely nothing to do with Russia. All designed to make Trump lash out and give the appearance needed for obstruction.
All of that stuff assembled for use against other members of Trump’s family and social orbit is likely inside the Mueller report. None of it has anything to do with Russia because investigating Trump and Russia was never the real purpose of the past twenty months.
The reason why Mueller’s team ended up stopping the scheme is because William Barr showed up and refused to participate. This would explain why a disgruntled Weissmann and Mueller team punted on the obstruction decision to AG William Barr. It was their last desperate effort, amid a failure to construct a solid legal case, to politicize the possibility and innuendo, and force Barr to be the one to say: “no obstruction.”
However, it’s also likely William Barr realized this was going to be one hell of a mess to clean up and he wasn’t going to let Rosenstein exit without participating in the process.
Once it became obvious Barr was not going to tolerate this agenda, that’s when Nancy Pelosi shifted her public tone on impeachment. However, it’s probable the salacious, unused and innuendo material is still inside the Mueller report; that’s why Nadler and Schiff want to get hold of it.
Centinel2012 