Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning

When I was a kid in Kettering, Ohio, Christmas was a big deal.  I remember waking up early, six-ish, and waiting in bed until I thought I could wake my parents.  But when I went up to their room, I was groggily admonished, “not until seven!!” So I sat on the end of their bed, counting the clicks on the stone faced clock they had on the dresser.

Nine hundred:  it was the number of “clicks” in fifteen minutes. Nine hundred:  counting anticipation on Christmas morning.  Now, I feel like I’ve been counting clicks for weeks; we must get to nine hundred soon.  It’s not just the Mueller Report were waiting for:  it’s the other half of the Russian indictments.  Thirteen Russian nationalshave been indicted on conspiracy to defraud the United States by putting false propaganda (is that redundant?) on social media.  It is the Russian “side” of the conspiracy, but there has been only one indictment on the American side,Richard Pinedo, the California man who helped launder the money paid to social media. He pled guilty, and was sentenced to six months in prison, and six month of house arrest.

It is the core of the Russia question.  Did Americans, and specifically members of the Trump Campaign, conspire with Russians, either in the use of Clinton Campaign emails, or social media.  There is a tremendous amount of “smoke,” it will be in indictments or the Report that we will discover if Mueller found a “fire.” 

It might include the “misfits;” Roger Stone, currently under indictment but not for Russian conspiracy;Jerome Corsi, who stated he was threatened with indictment by the Mueller team; and Carter Page, who has either effectively “played the fool” in the Russia saga, or is an exceptionally clever Russian agent.  And of course Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks and still hidden in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London.  Assange has been indicted in the US, though not directly on charges relating to the Trump Campaign.  But he clearly conspired with Russian Intelligence to put the Clinton Emails into the campaign.  There is circumstantial evidence that Stone, Corsi and Page were connected to either Wikileaks or Russian Intelligence itself.

Or it can be the secretive “dark forces” behind the Trump Campaign.  Steve Bannon, campaign director who was connected to Cambridge Analyticaand the Mercer family.  Brad Parscales, the social media director for the Trump Campaign, and the nexus of Facebook, Twitter and the Trump social media strategy.  Paul Manafort, already serving seven years in jail, but never charged with crimes directly linked to Russia, even though his associate, Konstantin Kilimnick, a “former” Russian Intelligence agent, was indicted for obstruction and witness tampering.  And, perhaps the Mercer familyitself,  the founders of Cambridge Analytica and the “big money” behind the Trump Campaign.  They providing  Bannon, Kelly-Ann Conway and the use of Cambridge Analytica for the general election campaign, and the fortune’s founder, Bob Mercer, is already on the hook for tax evasion.

Or, it could be the “family,” the central core of the Trump Campaign.  General Mike Flynn may be directly involved, but has a plea bargain with the Mueller team, and is providing them inside information.  Does he, or Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates, also with a deal; have details on conspiracy by Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, or Ivanka Trump.  They were the real forces directing the Trump Campaign; if the campaign was cooperating with Russian Intelligence or Wikileaks, it’s impossible that they wouldn’t have known, consented, and participated.

And finally, is there evidence against “the big enchilada,” the President of the United States.  Like it or not, the US Department of Justice won’t indict a sitting President, a determination made as a side note when they were indicting the Vice President, Spiro Agnew, in 1973.  So if there are indictable actions by Donald Trump, otherwise known as “individual one,” it will be seen either as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in other indictments, as was done by Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski to Richard Nixon, on in the text of the Report itself.

If the family knew, Trump knew.  If they are indicted, it’s difficult to see how he could not be, barring the “Presidential exception.”

Soon, the “nine hundred clicks,” and the arguments will be over.  We will know if the Trump Campaign cooperated, colluded, and most importantly, conspired with Russian Intelligence or their agents.  Robert Mueller will give us the answers: I have faith that the former FBI Director and Marine knows where his duty lies; to give honest answers to the people of the United States.  

Then we open the presents:  will we be excited, or will we be disappointed? Either way, the next fight will soon begin.