Mueller, Trump and the Russians

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post have front page articles about the Mueller investigation. Hopefully, this means it is coming to a close. Hopefully Mueller's report and indictments will bring about the expulsion of Trump from the presidency. In America we have the rule of law. Before someone is convicted of a crime they are given due process meaning they have the right to a fair trial before their peers. Trump deserves this.

However, anyone who has followed the story and has any belief in the old saying 'where there is smoke, there's fire' knows in their heart that Trump is a criminal. Remember the house deal in Florida? Trump sold a house worth $40 million to a Russian oligarch for $100 million. Trump had just gone through bankruptcy and needed money. Some came his way. What a coincidence.

Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager briefly, was associated with the defunct Bank of Cyprus, owned by wealthy Russians and used for money laundering. This bank was associated with some of the deals the Donald was looking at in Russia. Trump was negotiating for building Trump hotels or condominiums in Moscow and in Batumi, Georgia (the country). Neither project came to completion although Trump was paid large sums of money during the negotiations. Was this money for services rendered or pre-payment for services yet to be provided should he be elected President? Smoke and fire.

Campaign workers and Trump children met with Russians during the campaign and subsequently material damaging to Hillary Clinton was released by Wikileaks; material provided by the Russian government through hacking the Democratic National Committee computers.

Millions or perhaps billions of social media post were made by Russian cyber-attackers. All were pro-Trump or anti-Clinton. The head of the Annenberg foundation, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, concluded in her book Cyber-War that the Russian provided the edge Trump needed to get elected.

So, if you think this is all coincidence, you are probably wrong. The thing that galls me most is that Trump, like Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, is using the right to free speech and the rule of law to hide behind, while carrying out clearly illegal activities. We created America to treat everyone with equal fairness. Trump is using this system of fairness for illegal personal gain. I hope he pays for it.

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