Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Analysis | May 6, 2019) – After a deep dive with the Mueller Report, fully consumed for a week, it seems baffling that Mueller did not charge Trump and/or his campaign with conspiracy, considering how many contacts there were between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and the mutual support each party had for the other. Additionally, both the Trump campaign and the Russians consistently showed appreciation for the other’s actions and conveyed this in plain sight for the public to see throughout the campaign.
With both Russia and Trump mutually supporting the other, for a full year before the election, and two plus years after, it almost seems incredulous that there was no conspiracy, since they still to this day give the impression that they’re conspiring. But since Mueller is a patriot, held in the highest esteem by the vast majority, there’s no doubt that his finding of no collusion or conspiracy is accurate based on the information he had in his possession at the time he concluded the investigation.
So then the collision of these two divergent realities, does create cognitive dissonance for some of us, and has resulted in my extended analysis in order for the glaring incongruity to be resolved. During this extended analysis, I’ve made several deductions:
The black & white legal definition of conspiracy (18 U.S.C. 951) is what Mueller appears to have used to base his decision
The word “agreement” appears to be the critical word that becomes the game-changer (I’m not a lawyer so don’t know the history of this word and generally how it may or may not impact a prosecutor’s ability to charge someone for a crime, it does appear to be pivotal though in determining conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia)
How was agreement defined for this investigation? Perhaps the House Judiciary Committee will have the opportunity to ask Mueller.
Another factor to consider in analyzing the Mueller Report in the hopes of reducing cognitive dissonance, is the various methods of communication that were used. It appears that much of the evidence (or lack there of in some cases) was eyewitness account, emails, texts, and phone calls.
Repeatedly throughout the Mueller Report, the vast majority of the 500 witnesses gave the reply of “I don’t recall” at one time or another during an interview. Saying “I don’t recall” doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, it simply means that it can’t be proven to have happened
There were several examples of texts being deleted, Steve Bannon and Eric Prince for example, this despite the fact that all texts and emails were supposed to be preserved. Bannon’s and Prince’s response to a direct question about the missing texts was something to the effect that they didn’t know how the texts vanished from their phone. Reading something like this about such a serious matter, and understanding that there were no consequences for this offense, is quite unsettling.
There were multiple examples provided in the Mueller Report revealing that Trump campaign members were cautioned about communicating with Russians, and advised not to, especially after the media began reporting on it. It appears that after being warned, several parties followed the advice. However, they may have simply altered the way they communicated rather than break off all interaction with the Russians.
There weren’t very many examples of alternative forms of communication that may have been used between the Trump Campaign and Russians, but there was at least one example of coded messaging that was cited in the Mueller Report. There are several questions that can hopefully be asked about the many forms of alternative communication:
Russians are notorious for the symbols and signs used by spies (NYC International Spy Museum); Trumps uses numerous symbols and signs and seems to speak in code when he gives a speech (CPAC, NRA Convention, his rallies); communicating may be as simple as wearing a red MAGA hat on a specific day or tweeting “Make America Great Again” the way he was doing repeatedly back in March; there are many books about how to signal messages in the public
Trump says that he doesn’t email or text, but is that really true? Trump’s a chronic liar, so why should we believe this. If he tweets, it’s very possible he texts and emails, using an alias of course. He then tells everyone “I never email or text” so he doesn’t have two explain using a private server. Seriously. I can picture this so clearly.
Since we’re dealing with the Russians, the possibilities of alternate forms of communication are endless. According to many blockbuster films, (Sum of All Fears and Hunt for Red October to name two) Russian spies are incredibly sophisticated and know not to send an official written agreement to conspire, but can certainly craft a coded agreement.
So much to think about. So many questions to ask Mueller.
Lastly, can the Trump campaign’s decision NOT to report Russia’s offer to help Trump win the election be considered as evidence that Trump did communicate directly with Putin his “agreement” to conspire with Russia? It certainly appears like an agreement commitment. Trump’s actions since his inauguration further convey committed agreement. The Russians have reached out to presidential candidates for decades. In the past, the presidential candidates have gone straight to the FBI and reported it. Why didn’t Trump? It seems obvious why he didn’t. Trump’s decision to not go to the FBI, which he extended toward a foreign enemy that’s in direct conflict with our laws, may not by definition be considered “conspiracy,” but may in spirit strongly communicate to a foreign enemy that the Trump campaign and Russia entered into an agreement before the election.
After so much reading, research and analysis, there’s still quite a bit of cognitive dissonance. How will this be resolved? It seems the only way possible is that Mueller have the opportunity to answer questions for the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing. Mueller seems concerned the American public may be confused because of Attorney General Barr’s partisan response. Yes, very confused. A Mueller hearing is essential.
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Analysis| May 2, 2019) – Attorney General William Barr’s testimony during the Senate Judiciary Hearing on the Mueller Report was so disturbing in its bias and lack of objectivity, that it undermines the pillars of our judicial system and the American Rule of Law. Barr’s arrogance and defiance, indicating that he, like the president, does not have to live or play by the rules, felt like an attack at the heart of America.
Senator Lindsey Graham, was equally as brazen, leaving millions around the country extremely concerned about the stability of our government. The most unsettling acknowledgement that both leaders made during the hearing, was that neither had fully read the underlying evidence on which Mueller based his conclusions. Why would Attorney General Barr publicly admit to Senator Harris that he hadn’t read the underlying evidence? This makes no sense. Especially in light of the fact that there were numerous questions that Barr just flat out refused to answer, for example Senator Harris’s first question:
Senator Harris: “Has the President or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?”
Barr: “I don’t know.”
So then how do we interpret such an egregious error on the part of our Attorney General? Well, honestly, there can be only one interpretation of Barr’s outright admittance to not reviewing the massive mountain of evidence in Mueller’s Report. Barr clearly did not want to own what the evidence reveals, for it forces one to act, particularly someone in his position.
The Mueller Report evidence proves irrefutably that Russia succeeded with their plan to install Trump into the Oval Office. If the US Attorney General admits to not reading and absorbing this alarming fact, then he can willy will pretend that it’s not true. And if he alerts the American public that he hasn’t read the evidence, after millions in the public reading every last word in the Mueller Report, Barr can plead forgiveness for not taking action to address this frightening reality.
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Opinion | May 1, 2019) – Attorney General William Barr’s Hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, presented himself as uninformed, out of touch and severely biased. It was a very sad day for American justice.
Russian interference was extensive and pervasive. The staggering number of details in Mueller’s report have so much meat, that by the end readers can easily conclude that Trump is an illegitimate president. Further, Trump has acted like he knows he’s an illegitimate president ever since his inauguration.
Links and/or coordination with Russian government. It seems that the operative word here is Russian “government.” What definition did Mueller and his team use when investigating the Russian government? The assumption is that Mueller’s Team went by the official definition of the Russian government:
Prime Minister
Deputy prime ministers
Federal ministers
The list of government officials is very straight forward. These are highly visible politicians. I can understand why Mueller didn’t find any evidence connecting Trump and his campaign to conspiring with Russian government officials. But did Mueller find evidence connecting Trump and his campaign to oligarchs, business professionals, and influential Russian citizens? It’s highly probable Mueller did. Was Mueller able to investigate these connections, or was it considered out of scope? Were these lower level Russians associated in anyway to the Russian government? So many questions still unanswered. If Mueller’s Report is narrow in scope, only addressing what Rosenstein stated in his original order, then Mueller’s summary makes sense, and seemingly Trump will be blindsided On November 3, 2020 when he leaves office.
But this troublesome void of not knowing whether or not Mueller’s summary was based solely on Trump and his campaign’s conspiring with Russian politicians, versus oligarchs and business professionals and other Russians, leaves many in the public feeling unsettled. Hopefully we’ll learn the answer to this sooner rather than later.
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Opinion | April 30, 2019) – There’s a very dark cloud hanging over the White House following the release of the Mueller Report. The extensive evidence outlined in Volume 1, the Russian Influence Campaign section of the report, is so dense, despite the large blacked out gaps, that halfway through it becomes clear that Trump is an illegitimate president.
Beginning in 2014, Russia became fixated on influencing our 2016 presidential election. Mueller has outlined the Russian plan of attack in a very systematic fashion, lining up all the dots of evidence very neatly, and in so doing proving that Russia was intent of installing a candidate who’d be open to accommodating Russia’s needs and wishes. They believed Trump was this man. Success. And now that we can see the boundless Russian efforts outlined, it doesn’t actually matter if Trump or his campaign colluded. Russia’s influence campaign worked. Period. And we’ve been suffering the consequences ever since.
The massive Russian Influence Campaign:
Russian “Active Measures” Social Media Campaign
Structure of the Internet Research Agency (IRA)
Funding & oversight from Concord & Prigozhin
The IRA targets US elections
The IRA Ramps Up U.S. Operations as Early as 2014
U.S. Operations Through IRA-Controlled Social Media Accounts
U.S. Operations through Facebook
U.S. Operations through Twitter
Individual Twitter Accounts
IRA Botnet Activities
U.S. Operations involving Political Rallies
Targeting and Recruitment of U.S. Persons
Interactions and Contacts with the Trump Campaign
Trump Campaign Promotion of IRA Political Materials
Contact with Trump Campaign Officials in Connection to rallies
Russian Hacking and Dumping Operations
GRU Hacking Directed at the Clinton Campaign
5 sub headings
Dissemination of the Hacked Materials
7 sub headings
Additional GRU Cyber Operations
2 sub headings
Trump Campaign and the Dissemination of Hacked Materials
9 sub headings
Russian Government Links to and Contacts with the Trump Campaign
Campaign Period (September 2015 – November 8, 2016)
51 sub headings (extremely disturbing)
Post-Election and Transition Period Contacts
18 sub headings
With Trump now refusing to comply with House Investigations, in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, on the heels of Mueller’s big reveal, it appears we’re a government in crisis. The House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have a plan. They need the support of the American people. The key to understanding the depth and breadth of this crisis is reading the Mueller Report.
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Opinion | March 30, 2019) – During this short week, Barr and the Mueller Report and the public’s perception of both, now seem like a strange concoction of extensive facts outlining Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, extensive connections between Donald Trump, his children and the Trump Organization and Russia, the public’s perception of Trump’s connection to Russia, Trump’s bizarre behavior toward Putin including their secret meetings and conversations, all mixed together in a massive witch’s kettle.
In less than a week, Bill Barr has sent three letters explaining and countering the Mueller Report:
After stirring everything together, around and around, and thrashing it out for six days, what do we get?
Are we supposed to factor into the equation that Bill Barr began his career in public service with the CIA and served there for four years, from 1973-1977… the Watergate years and its aftermath? Does this have any bearing on the weird way this Mueller Report release is going down?
The one positive about Barr’s unbelievable summary that revealed “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” despite mountains of information in public domain that highlights the many strong connections between Trump, his business, Russian oligarchs and Putin, leaving any reasonable person to deduce that Trump indeed conspired with the Russians in the 2016 presidential election. Thus, it’s imperative we see the full Mueller Report so we have a better understanding of why Mueller concluded otherwise.
Because Barr is an attorney, and worked for the CIA, we have to hyper analyze the words he chose to express his personal opinion about the Mueller Report in his summary. These may be tactical word choices. We’ll know more when we see the full report. But Trump will continue exploiting Barr’s phraseology to his benefit in the short term.
The silver lining of Barr’s personal conclusion in his summary is that we’re safer right now because of the way Barr phrased his summary. Thus Trump’s white nationalist army didn’t feel compelled to retaliate and slaughter Democrats in the short term, the way they seemed to be plotting if the Mueller Report had immediately been released, and boldly stated that Trump had colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has spent two years heating up this fierce conflict into an intense, raging boil. The mystifying Barr summary seems to have defused the situation, thankfully.
This being said, the American public needs to have the real facts, not selective facts that paint another picture. Has the public ever been this engaged toward a single issue? The internet didn’t exist during Watergate. We know too much to be told so little.
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” ~ Aristotle
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report |Perspective | March 24, 2019) – This weekend, with the warmer spring temperatures finally arriving, and the cherry blossoms wrapping National Mall in a cheerful radiance, the breaking news that Mueller found no collusion between Trump and the Russians in the 2016 election felt like a debilitating blow, shrouding DC in a dark cloud despite the beautiful sunshine.
Clickhereto read Attorney General William Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report.
A vast majority were shocked by this seemingly incongruous outcome. Twitter was the platform for venting.
There are currently 200,000 tweeting about the Mueller Report, this number falling off a bit from the million who were tweeting in the late afternoon.
A universal consensus from Democrats, was that if there really was “no collusion,” then Barr should have no problem releasing Mueller’s full report.
Trump and his loyalists have been soaking up the euphoria.
While patiently waiting for next chapter, will work aggressively to unseat Trump and every single Trump loyalist in 2020.
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Perspective | March 5, 2019) – The bewildering news that Trump’s approval rating is at 46% following Michael Cohen’s public testimony is so mind boggling that one can’t help but wonder what lens some are using to process basic facts. Only 16 million watched Cohen’s public hearing, perhaps this is what created the perception bubble, and has proven to be yet another example of how important it is to stay informed.
Let’s think back. The entire world was stunned on August 21, 2017 to witness President Trump stare at the sun without protective solar eclipse glasses, going against the advice of every single professional on earth who was advising the global population on the best and safest protocols during an eclipse.
So why did Trump ignorantly stare at the sun while being broadcast on live television?
A reasonable deduction is that it appears Trump was trying to guide his devoted base of supporters to follow whatever he says and does, no matter how reckless and dangerous.
Why would any American leader wish their supporters such harm?
Trump seems to emphatically believe that his followers are lemmings and will happily tumble off a cliff with him, and for him. Every single day of the year we see Trump fanning this fire, feeding the flames, tweeting out more and more delusional notions for his supporters to gobble up and use as their lens through which to view the Mueller investigation, the environmental crisis, global warming, the national debt, southern border security, the dramatic erosion of our global leadership, and cherished American principles,.
Meanwhile the rest of us are in overdrive, processing everything we see through our specialized lenses that reveal the hidden clues – glasses like those used in National Treasure to find the missing treasure.
Consuming just a fraction of what’s available, we arrive at a feeling of overwhelming indebtedness to so many faithful American leaders who have shared their invaluable and profound career insights through recently published books, regular op-eds, podcast interviews, public speaking events, which has resulted in the public who’s seeking the truth, being able to process many investigative dots in public domain regarding the Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and the investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. The following recent best-sellers are excellent source material for creating National Treasure style trick lenses:
The Threat: How the FBI Protects America In The Age Of Terror and Trump | Andrew G. McCabe
“Flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob. The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.” ~ James Comey, ‘A Higher Loyalty’
It’s rare that this many have stepped up from leisurely retirement, and devoted so much of their time and energy to the public good. Surely it’s the same deep sense of duty that guided them throughout their careers. Duty, honor, sacrifice are so ingrained in their daily habits, it’s second nature. It’s doubtful we would have made it this far without their guidance.
“Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense and credulity to the breaking point. Less than eighty thousand votes in three key states swung the election. I have no doubt that more votes than that were influenced by this massive effort by the Russians.” ~James Clapper, ‘Facts and Fears’
These weighty realities create very powerful perspective to view current events, on the eve of the Mueller Report’s release. The fact that some Americans are happy and willing to join Trump and stare at the sun during a solar eclipse without protective eye shields (apparently following Trump’s intentional secret coded message to do so), while the majority of us have followed intelligent suggestions and are using potent, specialized lenses that help see the frightening nuances of having a Mob Boss placed by the Russians as our US President, and Mueller writing a report about it… means that we unfortunately won’t interpret the outcome the same way.
This is extremely worrisome. It indicates that many of us who have GOP family and friends – family and friends who’ve slowly but surely refused to turn away from delusional perceptions – that we’re on different tracks, and will most assuredly veer that much further in divergent directions when we come to yet another critical fork in the road up ahead.
Do we recall the traumatic tsunami that struck Sumatra December 26, 2004? When the tide was swept out so far, and for so long… and the wise ones recognized what was going on, and immediately ran inland and took cover, while 227,898 others ran towards the suddenly vast and empty shoreline, plucking up unique shells they’d never seen before, smiling and delighted by the unexpected wonder of the phenomenon, only to learn later (fifteen minutes to seven hours later, depending on which coastline), the hard way, when their glee turned to despair as they were swept out to sea and died. Some of these destructive coastal waves were as tall as 100 feet.
The heartbreaking aspect of this horrible tsunami tragedy was that there was time for everyone to escape safely. No animals were killed during the tsunami. But the majority of those who died wouldn’t heed the warnings. They didn’t follow the advice of those fleeing. They weren’t open to another perspective about what was actually taking place.
Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Perspective | February 24, 2019) – With the Mueller investigation wrapping up, and Mueller’s final report soon to be submitted to the Attorney General William Barr, Democrats and the American public have become worried that the report may not be released to the public, and we’ll instead have to settle for Barr’s summary, which has the potential to be very brief. In light of this possible reality, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) recently introduced S236 Special Counsel Transparency Act, a bill that would require Barr to release Mueller’s full report to the public within two weeks of its completion. Blumenthal’s S236 has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Lindsey Graham, for review, where it will likely die and never be heard from again.
Out of great concern that the full final report will most likely never be made public, we have to find an alternate path to uncovering as much information as possible about Trump Russia collusion, although aspects of the investigation will most surely remain classified, as should be the case considering Russia is a lethal enemy who plans to bring on our demise, and is still currently interfering in our democracy. But with so much information already in the public domain, which has resulted in a mountain of dots that we’ve been able to accumulate through:
countless news articles
best selling books
interviews
podcasts
Town Hall meetings
live video streams
youtube videos
public conversations
…we the public have the ability on our own to fit together these puzzle pieces and finally comprehend the expansive breadth and depth of Russia’s interference in our election, and the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia. With this many details though, and the landscape being as massive as it is, it’s been tricky connecting the many thousands of intricate pieces.
Right in time, fired FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe’s best selling book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, was released Friday February 22, 2018, and this has changed everything. We now have the framework we need to connect all the puzzle pieces. We can finally see the whole giant picture that previously had just been a jumbled mess of dots.
McCabe shares with the public detailed information about the FBI’s Enterprise Theory of Investigation (ETI) which appears to be the map Mueller has been using to investigate and prosecute Trump Russia collusion in the 2016 presidential election. The Enterprise Theory of Investigation is what the FBI uses to investigate and prosecute organized criminal enterprises such as the Mafia and Drug Cartels. ETI came to be following the U.S. Congress passing the 1970 Organized Crime Control Act which included the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations provision (RICO). Once this unique investigative process was established, the FBI was able to succeed at bringing down organized crime syndicates.
Again, it appears that the map Mueller has been following with his investigation was the organized criminal enterprise road map, the ETI.
“The ETI encourages a proactive attack on the structure of the criminal enterprise. Rather than viewing criminal acts as isolated crimes, the ETI attempts to show that individuals commit crimes in furtherance of the criminal enterprise itself.” ~Richard A. McFeely, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
“Enterprise Theory is to investigation as grammar is to language. Without grammar, language would be a sprawling mush of verbiage.” ~ Andrew G. McCabe, The Threat
There are specific requisites for an organization to be deemed criminal by the FBI:
collection of individuals
with a hierarchy
participating in extensive criminal activity
Interestingly, the head of the crime organization doesn’t have to actually commit any of the crimes to be prosecuted for them. In fact, each member of the organization is guilty of all the crimes whether or not a specific individual was the one who actually carried them out.
Once it’s been established that the group is a criminal organization, the FBI determines the scope using historic and current evaluations. Association evidence is critical. From there, investigators:
follow the money
attack the flow of money
asset forfeiture
make use of money laundering statutes
The scope of the Trump Russian collusion to interfere in the U.S. presidential election and undermine our democracy is vast. The following is a list of those who have either been convicted, plead guilty or charged in the Mueller investigation:
CONVICTED: Paul Manafort
PLEAD GUILTY: Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Alex van der Zwaan, George Papadopulous, Richard Pinedo
CHARGED/INDICTED: 13 Russian nationals & 3 entities, 12 Russian military intel officers, Konstantin Kilimnik, Roger Stone
To connect all these named criminals so that the jumbled collusion mess makes sense, the following short list of best-selling books contain thousands of dots of information that when read and plotted along the ETI framework seems to be the equivalent of what the Mueller report might have looked like.
The Threat: How the FBI Protects America In The Age Of Terror and Trump | Andrew G. McCabe
If it turns out that Mueller’s final report isn’t released to the public after all, we’ll be okay thanks to the extensive reporting across more than two years, combined with the structure necessary to connect all the dots. Thus, it appears that Mueller’s report is already hiding in plain sight.
Hill Report 