Mueller exceeds original mandate, needs to lay cards on the table

Feb. 6, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting Special Counsel Robert Mueller for not sticking to the parameters that were set out for him when he was appointed last May:

“Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed last May to investigate ‘any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.’ But so far, in Mueller’s indictments of Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, there is no mention of Russian government officials, and the supposed crimes predate the election campaign of 2016. The guilty plea of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was for not correctly remembering the content of a conversation with the Russian ambassador that actually took place after the election, beyond the scope of Mueller’s probe. That leaves George Papadopoulos, who similarly has pled guilty, but not to colluding with the Russian government, but for lying with investigators. All this points to the conclusion that, actually, there was no Trump campaign-Russia collusion in 2016. If so, then what is the purpose of Mueller’s investigation?

“In the meantime, the Christopher Steele dossier, which was used to obtain at least one secret FISA court warrant against Trump campaign advisor Carter Page before the election has proven to be full of lies and turns out was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, a fact which was hidden from the FISA court.

“Since that time, former FBI Director James Comey testified that the dossier was ‘salacious and unverified.’ Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe testified that about the only thing they could corroborate from the Steele dossier was that Carter Page had traveled to Moscow to deliver a commencement address at a university, which was already a matter of public record, and that but for the dossier, there would not have been a FISA court warrant at all. FBI agent Peter Strzok, who had been leading the FBI’s investigation into Trump, told his mistress prior to joining the Mueller investigation that he was a afraid there was ‘no big there there’ on Trump campaign-Russia collusion. And Steele himself, in a libel suit over the dossier in the UK, said the dossier ‘did not represent (and did not purport to represent) verified facts.’ Also, per the testimony of Fusion GPS CEO Glenn Simpson, Steele never traveled to Russia himself and may not have even personally interviewed his sources, instead relying on go-betweens. In the end, nobody confirmed Steele’s sources, including apparently Steele himself. Not Simpson, not the FBI which used the dossier to get the spying warrant.

“Based on these bits of information we now know, it is clear there is little to no basis for an ongoing investigation of Trump campaign-Russia collusion in 2016 during the presidential campaign, because there was none. Special Counsel Mueller has gone far afield from his original mandate, and it’s time he lay his cards on the table.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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