I find it helpful to reiterate what I hear Republicans saying so that I understand better what they are saying, understand both sides of an argument, and to learn. After all, without an open mind, why discuss.

The Republican Argument Against the Mueller Investigation

First off, I’m a Democrat. I think I have the current Republican position correct, but contact me to educate me if I missed something. My counter argument follows.

Here goes…

Mueller should never have been appointed because there either was no Russian interference, or if there was, it was no big deal.

Jeff Sessions should not have recused himself so that he could control the Mueller investigation, and protect Trump. By protect Trump we mean Sessions should have limited the scope of the investigation to foreign interference and blocked any attempt to investigate Trump, or anyone on Trump’s campaign.

If Mueller’s investigation includes more than foreign interference, it should not include Trump. If it does include Trump, it should not include anything he did prior to running, nor prior to becoming president because you cannot charge a sitting president, nor can you impeach him for crimes committed before Trump was president.

The few things Mueller has found are not that big a deal and can be ignored. Especially because Mueller is an Obama-Bush guy and his team is almost entirely democratic. Nothing Trump did rises to the level of impeachment.

The people saying Trump did something wrong are lying in order to get a reduced sentence for the crimes they committed.

At this point, the Mueller investigation should be shut down because Mueller has found nothing. There is no evidence a single vote was changed, nor any evidence that Russia changed anyone’s mind prior to voting, nor collusion by any Americans let alone by Trump.

Finally, Trump did not obstruct justice. But if he did, there was no underlying crime so it doesn’t matter.

A Reply to the Republican Argument

The Republican argument against the Mueller investigation is not a valid argument. The reasoning, including many denials and red herring logical fallacies, is jarring. Let’s break it down.

Mueller’s Appointment, Scope, and Bias

Most of us knew Russia was interfering with the 2016 election during the election so it had to be investigated. The fact that Trump and Republicans were unwilling to investigate required a special prosecutor. This became especially true when Trump fired Come and said in an interview that he did it because of the Russia investigation. The fact that Russia also interfered in the 2018 election and Trump and Republicans did practically nothing to stop it, announce it, nor punish it.

Special Counsel Not Limited in Scope

The scope of special prosecutors is determined by the DOJ. When law enforcement is investigating a crime, they do not ignore additional crimes they stumble into during the regular course of the investigation.

Mueller Bias

As for bias, Mueller, a life-long Republican, was appointed by Bush for the usual 10-year term in 2001. The Senate unanimously confirmed his appointment 98-0. Obama did extend his 10-year term by about 2 years while he found a replacement, but he never worked for Obama. And, he overlapped with Obama’s administration for only 4 years.

AG and the DOJ Protecting Trump

The fact that Trump wants protection by someone from the DOJ is circumstantial evidence of his guilt. It’s important to understand the importance of Trump saying, “Where is my Roy Cohn?” It’s important to understand Trump is embracing unethical and trickster practices.

Roy Marcus Cohn was Senator Joseph McCarthy’s henchman and was closely associated with McCarthyism. Cohn represented Roger Stone, Rupert Murdoch, and is credited with introducing Trump and Rupert Murdoch. Cohn was so unethical that the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court disbarred him for unethical conduct in 1986.

Current Results, Shut it Down Early

The current results of the Mueller investigation are mute. It doesn’t matter. Investigations need to be completed prior to judging their effectiveness.

Questions Mueller is investigating:

• Is what Mueller found on Trump significant? Or, can it be ignored?
• Should the Mueller investigation be shut down?
• Is there any evidence a single vote was changed?
• Is there any evidence that Russia changed minds prior to voting?
• Is there any evidence of collusion? If yes, does it rise to conspiracy? Was Trump involved?
• Did Trump did obstruct justice? If he did, was there an underlying crime? If not, is it still obstruction.

We also know many other things but if you’re not looking then of course you will not see.

No Votes were Changed

First of all, no one is claiming as of yet that votes were directly changed after they were cast. Claiming that’s our argument is a straw-man logical fallacy. Secondly, you are correct that a lack of evidence, is not evidence. That’s why we are waiting for some evidence that Russia changed votes. Most of us don’t even think that happened. However, if it did, you’re right, that would be a big deal.

By the way, Russia did compromise 7 states. They had access to voter databases including voter registration rolls, but so far there is no evidence they changed any data. At least not that we know of yet, but that’s one of the questions that may be answered with Mueller’s report and just one of the many reasons we need to let Mueller finish.

Impeachable Acts

Here is a list of act we know about now that could be used for charges of impeachment:

• Nixon was impeached because he knew people lied when they testified to Congress. Trump knew Michael Cohen lied to Congress about the Trump deals with Moscow. Trump is even named in the Michael Cohen’s guilty plea. Just like Nixon, this act is an impeachable act.
• Trump asked the FBI Director Comey not investigate Flynn — to let Flynn go. That’s obstructio plead n of justice and impeachable.
• Michael Flynn plead guilty to lying to an FBI agent about talking to the Russians about sanctions. If Trump directed him or even just knew Michael Flynn lied to the FBI, that can be an impeachable act.
• Conspiracy to lie to Congress — Michael Cohen plead guilty to lying to Congress. As part of lying to Congress he submitted false testimony to Congress in writing. That submission was approved by the Trump White House. That’s an impeachable offense.

There are so many impeachable acts based on obstruction of justice, I’ll list them separately here.

• The Trump administration gave Devin Nunes the documents Nunes used.

Crimes Prior to Becoming President

The Republicans were trying to impeach Bill Clinton for Whitewater which occurred in 1979, a full 13 years prior to his presidency. The Clintons were found 100% innocent. Only scumbag partisans say otherwise. Trump should be put to the same test. As it appears right now, Trump is one of the biggest financial criminals in American history. According to reporting, he may have committed tax evasion, money laundering, and other fraud crimes in the $500 to $900 million range, perhaps more! We need to find out. We cannot let rich people get away with crimes. No one is above the law.

Trump Did Not Colludee

I think you’re saying that you have not seen any evidence to convince you that Trump conspired with Russia, or at least not enough. To that I say fair enough, but please do wait for Mueller’s report. After all, as you pointed out above, a lack of evidence is not evidence.

But, let’s talk specifically about treason, collusion, and conspiracy with Russia. We are all awaiting Mueller’s report, so, like above, it’s fair to say you’re going to wait until that comes out. However, for most of us, including many Republicans, and many who voted for Trump, there’s already enough evidence.

For example and this is just one example, we know many things about June and July 2016 which is while Trump was running for President and telling his supporters that he had no ties with Russia.

We know…

1. Russia was interfering in our election on behave of Trump,
2. Trump knew Russia was helping him with the election (a crime),
3. Trump was communicating directly with Putin’s office,
4. Trump was negotiating building a Trump tower in Moscow,
5. Trump offered Putin a $50 million apartment (a crime),
6. on July 27, 2016, Trump asked Russia to find the HRC emails.
7. Two hours later, Russia was attempting to hack the HRC email servers.

Trump Did not Obstruct Justice

The evidence is clear that Trump obstructed justice but let’s wait for Mueller’s report if you’d like.

Cohen, Manafort, Flynn, etc. are all Lying

It’s true that you have to judge the character of a witness. It’s also true that you should only believe a known liar if you have collaborating evidence. Meaning, you can’t rely on the testimony of a witness who is getting a plea deal unless you have additional evidence to verify the testimony. The old trust but verify thing.

The truth is that prosecutors use plea deals frequently.

Journalistic Questions

Journalism is a good tool to evaluate a subject. Sometimes it’s a good idea to extract journalistic questions from both sides of an argument. That helps enable understanding by allowing you to ask these questions of others and listen and process their answers. You need to be open to the idea that you are wrong about some detail, and/or perhaps the whole argument. Journalism is like science, and the law. All three are truth-hammers.

Here are some of the major questions regarding Mueller, Russia, Trump, and the 2016 election:

• Should Jeff Sessions have recused himself?
• Who should control the Mueller investigation and how much?
• Should the AG and the DOJ protect Trump?
• Should the AG limit the scope of the investigation to foreign interference?
• Should the AG block Mueller from investigating Trump during the campaign?
• Should the AG block Mueller from investigating Trump after the election? After inauguration?
• Should the AG block Mueller from investigating crimes committed by Manafort, Trump, and others prior to the 2016 campaign? If no, then should the AG block Mueller from investigating unrelated crimes like tax evasion, bank fraud, and money laundering?
• Is what Mueller found on Trump significant? Or, can it be ignored?
• Does it matter that Mueller is an Obama-Bush guy and his team is almost entirely democratic?
• Should the Mueller investigation be shut down?
• Is there any evidence a single vote was changed?
• Is there any evidence that Russia changed minds prior to voting?
• Is there any evidence of collusion? If yes, does it rise to conspiracy? Was Trump involved?
• Did Trump did obstruct justice? If he did, was there an underlying crime? If not, is it still obstruction?