MUELLER NATION SERIES OVERVIEW
Understanding Mueller’s strategic approach to the interlocking criminal allegations against Trump and his inner circle as a criminal conspiracy through the use of federal and state criminal indictments.
(This is Article #08 in our Mueller Nation series reporting on how Mueller strategically plans on taking down a corrupt U.S. President.)
Current public discourse is rampant with speculation that a Mueller U.S. vs. Trump federal RICO indictment case is possible and that just such an indictment could come as soon as this spring. But there is growing speculation that this is more political hype to force Congress into impeachment proceedings than the reality of what Mueller is actually trying to accomplish. Lets pause here a minute and examine three broad strategic approaches that Mueller seems to be taking that seems to fit the facts of Mueller’s investigation to a tee.
Indict all of the president’s inner circle and co-conspirators under one RICO umbrella.
This strategy involves pursuing one or more strategic RICO criminal grand jury trials convicting Trump’s entire family and all of his co-conspirators of the federal crime of obstruction of justice between the multiple entities of the White House, the Trump campaign and transition team, the Trump Organization and the RNC, while leaving the question of his presidency in the hands of Congress under the impeachment proceeding. A federal RICO criminal grand jury conviction against the Trump family, his aides, and outside associates would limit Trump’s ability to aid his co-conspirators by using his pardoning powers. This then allows Mueller to indict Trump’s inner circle while obtaining criminal convictions against all of Trump’s people, based on their participation in a pattern of obstruction of justice to protect themselves or their various enterprises. Then, rather than the difficult task of proving a single obstruction charge against Trump — which must prove Trump’s criminal state of mind to gain a conviction — all Mueller will have to do is prove that Trump participated in the cover-up.
Send a linked bill of impeachment to Congress forcing them into action.
This strategy involves the naming of Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in a larger federal RICO obstruction of justice case(s) that prevented Trump from being charged with crimes related to Russian interference with the presidential election that would have result in impeachment and that targeted one or more of Trump associate(s) in a federal RICO conspiracy to obstruct justice case. This then would put Mueller in a position of publishing the findings of his investigation by either – formally disclosing his evidence to Congress or – making a public grand jury report or – making one or more grand jury presentations in one or more of his grand jury cases. This strategy is intended to – force impeachment and/or force complete publication of all the evidence uncovered by Mueller’s investigation.
This strategy relies upon the fact that obstruction of justice is considered a High Crime within the definition of the constitution because the state is considered the victim of the offense. Because the pattern of obstructionoccurred while Trump is in office, it is not only an impeachable offense against the President, but it also cannot be pardoned under the rules of presidential pardons defined within the Constitution. Which means Mueller can pursue a federal RICO indictment against Trump at any time or at any point once he leaves office irrespective of the manner under which he leaves. This then could leave the open question of whether Trump will be allowed to leave scot free or meet with a constitutional challenge to his presidential pardon. Should Pence try to pardon Trump.
This strategy relies upon Mueller considering the possibility of a historic first: an indictment against a sitting president. It is widely believed that an effort by Mueller to initiate a case titled U.S. vs. Trump would, at a minimum, likely move quickly to the Supreme Court. There is no legal precedent for an indictment of a president — only a pair of Justice Department legal opinions, from 1973 and 2000 — saying it is not a viable option. The viability of this option only seems limited by the fact that Mueller’s powers and actions are limited by the fact he must follow all DOJ “rules, regulations, procedures, practices and policies.” Mueller’s mandate stipulates that the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, has oversight of and final say on all major decisions by Mueller — specifically including any indictments. Rosenstein is also required to submit a report to Congress on the grounds for closing the investigation. While both Mueller and Rosenstein can be expected to play this strategy strictly by the book, they will still need to get Mueller’s evidence, that the president committed a crime, into the hands of the only people to whom it really matters, which is Congress while forcing Congress to take impeachment action.
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Paul Cogan is a writer for the RDTDAILY.COM based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He specializes in coverage of justice, political, economic, and environmental news. You can follow Paul on
This strategy involves pursuing one or more strategic RICO criminal grand jury trials convicting Trump’s entire family and all of his co-conspirators of the federal crime of obstruction of justice between the multiple entities of the White House, the Trump campaign and transition team, the Trump Organization and the RNC, while leaving the question of his presidency in the hands of Congress under the impeachment proceeding. A federal RICO criminal grand jury conviction against the Trump family, his aides, and outside associates would limit Trump’s ability to aid his co-conspirators by using his pardoning powers. This then allows Mueller to indict Trump’s inner circle while obtaining criminal convictions against all of Trump’s people, based on their participation in a pattern of obstruction of justice to protect themselves or their various enterprises. Then, rather than the difficult task of proving a single obstruction charge against Trump — which must prove Trump’s criminal state of mind to gain a conviction — all Mueller will have to do is prove that Trump participated in the cover-up.
This strategy involves pursuing one or more strategic RICO criminal grand jury trials convicting Trump’s entire family and all of his co-conspirators of the federal crime of obstruction of justice between the multiple entities of the White House, the Trump campaign and transition team, the Trump Organization and the RNC, while leaving the question of his presidency in the hands of Congress under the impeachment proceeding. A federal RICO criminal grand jury conviction against the Trump family, his aides, and outside associates would limit Trump’s ability to aid his co-conspirators by using his pardoning powers. This then allows Mueller to indict Trump’s inner circle while obtaining criminal convictions against all of Trump’s people, based on their participation in a pattern of obstruction of justice to protect themselves or their various enterprises. Then, rather than the difficult task of proving a single obstruction charge against Trump — which must prove Trump’s criminal state of mind to gain a conviction — all Mueller will have to do is prove that Trump participated in the cover-up.
This strategy involves the naming of Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in a larger federal RICO obstruction of justice case(s) that prevented Trump from being charged with crimes related to Russian interference with the presidential election that would have result in impeachment and that targeted one or more of Trump associate(s) in a federal RICO conspiracy to obstruct justice case. This then would put Mueller in a position of publishing the findings of his investigation by either – formally disclosing his evidence to Congress or – making a public grand jury report or – making one or more grand jury presentations in one or more of his grand jury cases. This strategy is intended to – force impeachment and/or force complete publication of all the evidence uncovered by Mueller’s investigation.
This strategy relies upon the fact that obstruction of justice is considered a High Crime within the definition of the constitution because the state is considered the victim of the offense. Because the pattern of obstruction occurred while Trump is in office, it is not only an impeachable offense against the President, but it also cannot be pardoned under the rules of presidential pardons defined within the Constitution. Which means Mueller can pursue a federal RICO indictment against Trump at any time or at any point once he leaves office irrespective of the manner under which he leaves. This then could leave the open question of whether Trump will be allowed to leave scot free or meet with a constitutional challenge to his presidential pardon. Should Pence try to pardon Trump.
This strategy relies upon Mueller considering the possibility of a historic first: an indictment against a sitting president. It is widely believed that an effort by Mueller to initiate a case titled U.S. vs. Trump would, at a minimum, likely move quickly to the Supreme Court. There is no legal precedent for an indictment of a president — only a pair of Justice Department legal opinions, from 1973 and 2000 — saying it is not a viable option. The viability of this option only seems limited by the fact that Mueller’s powers and actions are limited by the fact he must follow all DOJ “rules, regulations, procedures, practices and policies.” Mueller’s mandate stipulates that the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, has oversight of and final say on all major decisions by Mueller — specifically including any indictments. Rosenstein is also required to submit a report to Congress on the grounds for closing the investigation. While both Mueller and Rosenstein can be expected to play this strategy strictly by the book, they will still need to get Mueller’s evidence, that the president committed a crime, into the hands of the only people to whom it really matters, which is Congress while forcing Congress to take impeachment action.
