Mueller says Stone's still convicted, and Trump's campaign thinks 45* wearing a mask defeats Biden
The Trump crime spree continues and the carnage cannot be commuted because Roger Stone remains a convicted felon.
Trump’s minions have all but declared victory now that Trump put on a mask, like 134,000 deaths don’t count.
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) July 12, 2020
Following FBI Director James B. Comey’s termination in May 2017, the acting attorney general named me as special counsel and directed the special counsel’s office to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The order specified lines of investigation for us to pursue, including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. One of our cases involved Stone, an official on the campaign until mid-2015 and a supporter of the campaign throughout 2016. Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers.
We now have a detailed picture of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel’s office identified two principal operations directed at our election: hacking and dumping Clinton campaign emails, and an online social media campaign to disparage the Democratic candidate. We also identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel — Stone among them. We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities. The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. It also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.
The jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness. Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) July 11, 2020
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) July 11, 2020
— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) July 12, 2020
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) July 11, 2020
Tim Miller, former communications director for Jeb Bush and ex-spokesman for the Republican National Committee, recently interviewed nine campaign consultants for Republican candidates in Senate and House races for Rolling Stone magazine. Although the unnamed individuals expressed views such as “Every shred of evidence points to a likely ass kicking in the fall”, Miller writes, support for Trump remains “steadfast”.
“What I found in their answers was one part Stockholm syndrome, one part survival instinct,” he explains. “They all may not love the president, but most share his loathing for his enemies on the left, in the media, and the apostate Never Trump Republicans with a passion that engenders an alliance with the president, if not a kinship.
Responding to the Rolling Stone article, Tara Setmayer, host of the Honestly Speaking podcast, said: “It was disheartening to hear that because for those of us who are on the other side of this we’re like, ‘Come on! How much more are you going to take? Are you going to get off the ship or what? You’ve still got a chance here.’ It doesn’t look like they’re going to do that.
“They may go down with the ship because they feel as though the party faithful are so locked into Trump that they have zero chance if they separate themselves. That’s the calculation.”
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 4, 2020
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 11, 2020
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 12, 2020
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