Victoria Clark and others at Lawfare, in light of yesterday’s announcement of the indictment of the Russian Mariia Butina directly following the press conference of Trump and Putin, examine not only the new indictment, but more importantly the entire strategy the law enforcement agencies of the United States is pursuing in the face of Trump’s frantic denials of Russian culpability:
First, this was not an action by Mueller but by the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD) and the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington. Precisely why that is so is not entirely clear from the documents. The activity described in the criminal complaint and the accompanying affidavit certainly covers the period of the 2016 election campaign. It certainly includes allegations of Russian “meddling” or “interference” in the U.S. political system. Mueller would almost certainly have been within his rights had he considered this matter within his jurisdiction under a grant of authority that includes “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” Whether Mueller passed the matter off to the NSD, or whether it originated there, the fact that this investigation is being handled outside of the special counsel’s office shows the discipline Mueller is exercising in not taking on matters that aren’t strictly related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. He passed the Michael Cohen investigation off to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. And this one—though more obviously linked to the matter of Russian electoral interference—ended up, by one means or another, not in his shop but in the NSD and with the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
These decisions reflect discipline and modesty on Mueller’s part; he is not building an investigative empire the way Kenneth Starr did, to Starr’s own great cost. And they have a very happy collateral effect: They significantly reduce the potential consequences of a Mueller firing. If Trump were to fire Rod Rosenstein or Mueller or both in a fit of pique tomorrow, the Michael Cohen investigation would continue. This prosecution would continue. The Russian hacking indictment has been passed to the NSD.
A decentralized approach to this prosecution brings numerous positives to this debacle:
- As Clark notes, the demise of any single person, whether legally or physically, will only harm the investigation under their purview.
- It more easily includes the various judgments, talents, and skills that multiple individuals bring to the dinner table.
- As Clark, et al, mention Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Clinton, it’s worth noting that the multiple investigations are reflective of the ongoing and widespread corruption of the Trump Administration. Make no mistake, his failure to recognize Russia as an adversary, his moves in support of Russian objectives, and his subversion of an entire major U. S. political party will be a major and disgraceful chapter in many an indictment – whether they occur in the next 6 months or the next 10 years.
Trump’s voters may have wanted to drain the swamp in order to get rid of the alligators, but they’ve only replaced them with King Croc.
