Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Suddenly we have permission to say what everybody already knew

The New York Times story about the FBI investigation into whether Individual 1 is actually a Russian tool is maybe news to some people. Evidently it is news to Benjamin Wittes who is moved to fundamentally reexamine his understanding of the FBI investigation of which the Office of Special Counsel is just a part. The Wittes piece is long but it's important.

The Mueller investigation is fundamentally a counterintelligence operation. The focus of the investigation is Russian interference in our election, and Russian infiltration into our government. There is no distinction between the "collusion" and "obstruction" portions of the investigation either. Obstructing the counterintelligence investigation into Russian actions is collusion.

The conclusion that Donald J. Trump is a Russian asset has been apparent to many people for a long time. The formal, legal charge of treason requires that a state of war exist. However, it is not illegal to use the term in a vernacular sense. Perhaps Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell will reflect on that.

1 comment:

Don Quixote said...

When American language recovers from the long-term shock dealt to it by the Republicans, starting in the time of the porcine Gingrich (anagram: GI Grinch) and culminating in the thoroughly dissembling T. Rump, the dominoes will fall with a breathtaking acceleration that will place Shitler in prison if he's still around.