Guest post by Techno Fog
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that an agreement has been reached for Robert Mueller to testify before Congress.
The House Dems are reportedly in direct contact with Mueller’s team about his testimony and want a May 15 hearing, however, nothing has been finalized.
Here are the questions Republican lawmakers should ask Robert Mueller about his investigation and final report:
Initiation of the FBI Investigation
Your report states that the FBI opened its investigation of potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign in late July 2016.
Had any governmental agency or US government-affiliated individual – whether the FBI, CIA, DIA, or any other agency – investigated, or requested the initiation of an investigation, of potential coordination/collusion between the Campaign and Russia before then?
Trump Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor George Papadopoulos
Your report notes that “on May 6, 2016, 10 days after that meeting with Mifsud, Papadopoulos suggested to a representative of a foreign government that it could assist the Campaign through the
anonymous release of information that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton.” The individual Papadopoulos spoke with on May 6, 2016 was Erika Thompson, who worked for Alexander Downer.
Did the US, or anyone acting on behalf of the US, request that the Australians make contact with Papadopoulos?
Did your team interview Erika Thompson?
Why did Thompson reach out to Papadopoulos?
Reports during the last two years stated that Papadopoulos made this statement during his May 10, 2016 meeting with Downer. Was that conversation recorded? If so, what does the transcript say?
The report states in footnote 465 that “the foreign government conveyed this information [discussed on the May 6, 2016].” Which foreign government was that, and to whom was this information conveyed?
You mention when the foreign government “conveyed” the information. But when did the US find out about the May 6, 2016 conversation?
And when did it find out about the May 10, 2016 meeting with Downer?
Who in the foreign government reported the meeting with Thompson?
Why did the Special Counsel’s Office investigate whether George Papadopoulos acted as an agent of Israel?
Your report cites many email exchanges Papadopoulos had in September of 2016, yet it omits his emails between honeypot “Azra Turk” who was an FBI investigator posing as Stefan Halper’s assistant. Why didn’t you include these email exchanges in the footnotes?
Trump Campaign Advisor Carter Page
The Carter Page FISA application alleges he was an agent of a foreign power (Russia) as defined by 50 USC § 1801(b)(2)(E). This statute defines an “agent of a foreign power” as any person who aids or abets those who knowingly engage in clandestine activities for a foreign power, knowingly engage in sabotage for or on behalf of a foreign power, or fraudulently enters the US under a false identity for or on behalf of a foreign power, or knowingly assumes a false or fraudulent identity while in the US on behalf of a foreign power.
When and from whom did those accusations originate? In other words, who in particular accused Carter Page of acting as a foreign agent? And who conveyed that information to the FBI or US intelligence community?
Did any of the activity alleged in the FISA regarding Page acting as an agent for Russia occur before Page’s involvement with the campaign?
Was the accusation that Page was acting as a foreign agent in any way related to the 2015 case where Page served as an FBI informant and helped convict two Russian nationals?
Or, were the accusations that Page was acting as a foreign agent solely from the Steele dossier?
Why wasn’t Carter Page ever charged with any crimes if you had enough incriminating evidence on him to obtain a total of 4 FISA warrants to spy on him for nearly a year?
Joseph Mifsud
You had the authority to “prosecute federal crimes arising from [your] investigation.” Agents working for you interviewed Mifsud and your report concluded he lied.
Why didn’t you charge Mifsud with lying to federal investigators?
Did any member of the United States government contact Mifsud, whether directly or through an intermediary, before he started communicating with George Papadopoulos?
Why did the FBI wait to interview Mifsud on the date he was leaving the US? Didn’t that hamstring the ability of investigators to ask follow-up questions or potentially detain Mifsud for giving false statements?
Trump Tower Meeting
Why did your report fail to mention that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya met with Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, the oppo research firm paid by Hillary Clinton and the DNC, before and after the Trump Tower meeting?
Did you interview Glenn Simpson about that meeting? If so, why weren’t his statements mentioned in your report?
If Simpson wasn’t interviewed about these meetings – why not? Was it not important to discover if they discussed the meeting and if Veselnitskaya told Simpson about her impression of the meeting?
The report states that the Trump Tower meeting could “implicate the federal election-law ban on contributions by foreign nationals.” It further states that providing a campaign “documents and information” – or anything of value – would constitute prohibited campaign contributions. Your report even says that “a foreign entity that engaged in [opposition] research and provided resulting information to a campaign could exert a greater effect on an election, and a greater tendency to ingratiate the donor to the candidate, than a gift of money or tangible things of value.”
Why wasn’t this same law applied to the Hillary Clinton campaign’s payment to Fusion GPS and former British spy Christopher Steele?
Why did your investigation completely ignore these links?
You were FBI Director for a long time. If that’s your interpretation, then why wasn’t the law ever
enforced in that manner?And why wasn’t there an analysis of the Constitutional considerations of applying federal election laws to opposition research?
Did the campaign staff not have a First Amendment right to meet with an individual to discuss their opponent?
Conversation with Dowd
In an interview with ABC News, former Trump lawyer John Dowd stated that you told him on March 5, 2017 that Trump “was not a target” and that Trump “did not have any exposure.”
Is that an accurate reflection of your conversation with Mr. Dowd?
If you determined that Trump wasn’t a target and had no exposure in early 2018, then why did it take another year conclude the investigation? Why let the accusations linger?
Christopher Steele/Fusion GPS
When did the FBI first issue payment to Christopher Steele?
How many payments were made to Steele?
When did the payments stop?
How much in total was Steele paid?
Are there any agreements, written or otherwise, between the US government and Steele? If so, do any of those agreements put limitations on Steele’s ability to discuss this matter?
What did Steele tell the FBI about his disclosures to the media – did he deceive his handlers about media leaks? If so, why wasn’t he charged with making false statements to investigators?
General Mike Flynn
General Flynn’s plea deal before Judge Contreras took place on December 1, 2017. The very next day, the Washington Post reported that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page had been removed from their assignment to the Special Counsel’s Office.
When did the Special Counsel’s Office learn that the Washington Post had this story?
When did the Washington Post request a comment on this story?
Were there any efforts to get the Post to push-back or delay the story until Flynn’s plea deal took place?
The Special Counsel’s Final Report
28 CFR § 600.8(c) required you to “provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.”
Your report says you did not “make a traditional prosecutorial judgment” on obstruction and “did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President’s conduct.”
Why did you refuse to follow this Federal Regulation?
The post Here Are the Questions Republican Lawmakers Should Ask Robert Mueller During His Testimony Before Congress appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
