Bob Mueller, the special prosecutor looking into the Trump organization and possible connections with the Russian government has set up a grand jury in Washington, District of Columbia.
- This is an interesting development as a grand jury gives Mueller the ability to subpoena witnesses and documents; and if the evidence warrants it, Mueller has a panel of jurors who he can present his evidence for a determination on the ultimate questions: (1) Did the president or members of his campaign commit a crime or crimes in meeting with Russian officials; (2) Did the Trump campaign collude with Russian to tilt the election to Trump; and (3) If Russian interfered in the 2016 general election, what measures can be undertaken to prohibit Russia from interfering in future elections.
It is this third scenario that has been lost in the partisan push back over both the congressional investigations and the special counsel’s investigation.
If in fact Russia attempted to sway American public opinion through cyber espionage, American citizens have a right to know it and to expect their government to take steps to prevent cyber espionage that could lead to a foreign government manipulating the debate on the issues that are in the best interest of Americans.
Mueller has quickly and quietly gone about his investigation in spite of the pointed barbs hurled, or more aptly, tweeted in his direction by Trump.
So what does the impaneling of a grand jury means:
Some political pundits speculate that it means Muller is close to bringing indictments in this case.
This writer is of the opinion that Mueller has not completely figured out what transpired between the Russian officials and the Trump campaign, or whether the President has engaged in efforts to cover up any involvement with the Russians, but he has put himself one step closer to figuring it all out.
The grand jury will give Mueller the vehicle he needs to issue a Comprehensive report on the question of collusion or administration attempts to cover up or otherwise impede the investigation.
The latter two questions could lead to criminal charges. If they do, Mueller’s grand jury is in place to issue what the law calls “a true bill of indictment” against the person or persons the grand jury believe have committed crimes against the people of the United States of America.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a contributing writer at The Hill, The SCLC Magazine and Southern Changes Magazine. He can be contacted at www.haroldmichaelharvey.com
I agree Michael. Mueller nor anyone else has figured out what transpired between Trump and Russian officials. I am going on the record as saying that I think the whole “Trump and Russia” issue is a diversion from other things. Yet, if Russian officials did interfere with this past presidential election, the question that no one seems able to ask is “HOW did Russia manage to interfere with our presidential election with cyber espionage?” What kind of technology do they have that enables them to pull something like this off? If Russia can do this, what is stopping them from emptying our bank accounts, retirement accounts, stealing our identities, erasing our business records, and etcetera. Of course, they are welcome to erase my student loan debt anytime they wish. Yet, something about this whole probe makes me wonder who is in charge of the store; and what is going on that we don’t know about. Great piece!
Politically speaking, at the end of the day, Clinton still received more votes than Trump, so the public was not swayed by Russian meddling. However, the cyber-nizing of espionage does give me some concern. I hope Mueller’s investigation yields some answers on the technology and methods used in the DNC hack and the fake news sites and stories that were plentiful last summer and fall. As always, thanks for reading and commenting.