The Russia-Trump collusion investigation

Will the Russia-trump collusion investigation please stop? This investigation -- and I use the term loosely -- was initiated under the pretense that there was some sort of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

The problem is there is nothing there. Yet, with the non-stop media coverage and the almost daily pronouncements by liberal Democrat politicians of some new evidence, you would think that this investigation of collusion between the Russian government and Trump would be on par with the Nixon/Watergate scandal.

It's not. Let me walk you through it.

The Russia collusion investigation timeline

This investigation into potential collusion started shortly after the election and inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. The basic premise of the investigation is that the Trump campaign met with various members of the Russian government who were "ordered" by Russian president Putin to interfere in the U.S. election.

The problem is that it has been over a year and there is nothing more than indictments of Trump officials that are going to go nowhere. Some of these indictments happened a while ago.

• Michael Flynn - Indicted December 2017 and agreed to cooperate with Mueller according to CNN and numerous other sources

The problem is what have we seen from this cooperation between Flynn and Mueller?

Absolutely nothing. Also, according to another CNN article that documents the entire timeline of the investigation, General Flynn is supposed to be a key figure of the whole Russian collusion situation.

Then it seems there is a whole different set of issues with the indictment of Flynn. These range from Mueller withholding evidence, according to an article from The Hill, to Flynn being the target of an improperly handled investigation led by Pete Strzok (who described himself anti-Trump), according to an article by National Review.

So, we have a man who is the target of an improper investigation that also included evidence being withheld from him that could prove his innocence. How in the world does this even make sense? Flynn has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion before he even had his day in a court of law.

• Paul Manafort/Rick Gates - 1st Indictment (October 2017); 2nd Indictment (February 2018)

Paul Manafort was Trump's campaign manager.

Rick Gates was a longtime associate and campaign aide. You would think with two different indictments against these individuals with a wide array of charges that there would be something substantive coming out of this Russia-Trump collusion investigation.

One of the charges is, according to Newsweek, Manafort's "failure to register as an agent of a foreign principal." Now, for the non-legal people reading this, that basically means Manafort was working for a foreign government or entity and did not state that he was doing so. Also, according to Newsweek, another charge from the first indictment is Manafort and Gates being a part of a "conspiracy against the United States." It makes sense from a legal standpoint.

If you are working for a foreign government (the assumed inference is Russia); then the "jump" to participating in a conspiracy against the United States is not a far jump at all. The problem is, and I will quote the Newsweek article, "As with the October indictment, the new one does not directly mention Trump or the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 election."

Multiple indictments have been handed down so far, no compelling evidence has been produced, and the Russia-Trump collusion investigation is continuing. Why? Mueller's track record for handing out indictments so far is less than spectacular.

• Thirteen Russian nationals, three Russian companies - Indicted February 2018

At this point, the investigation must be losing credibility with any reasonably intelligent American.

The only difference is that this indictment at least targets Russians for meddling in the 2016 election. According to the Department of Justice's own press release, there are eight counts in the indictment. However, the part that should get everyone's attention is:

"There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election."

Let that sink in for a moment. No evidence of American involvement of collusion with the Russian government, and no evidence that the alleged meddling affected the outcome of the election. Again, according to CNN, the Kremlin dismissed this indictment immediately as it showed no involvement of the Russian government on which this entire investigation is based.

There is no evidence even with indictments against Trump campaign officials. There is no evidence of American involvement, and no evidence that this even affected the outcome of the election. Why is this "investigation" continuing?

The liberal witch hunt begins

The so-called mainstream media is one reason this investigation into possible collusion continues. If you were to listen to the members of the mainstream media, there is a new bombshell of evidence about to be dropped in this investigation any day now. What's that old saying? Tomorrow never comes.

That means nothing to the media as they continue to produce various tidbits of information from anonymous sources that shed a dramatic new light on the Russia investigation.

As opposed to previous presidents, Trump has recognized the media as hostile territory, coining the term "Fake News" which went immediately viral on Twitter. At this point, it does not even need explanation due to its longevity in the social consciousness of Americans.

Without any substantive progress shown during the Russian collusion investigation, the mainstream media continues to beat a drum that should have been put away a long time ago.

From today's (April 10, 2018) headlines:

• CNN - New York Times: Mueller looking at $150K payment from Ukrainian billionaire
• CNN - Search warrant reveals Mueller's interest in Manafort's actions during Trump campaign

The articles are on the front page and in the center of the screen when you pull up the U.S. edition of their website. My question is: Why? Why is Mueller still investigating Manafort? Are two indictments not enough? Is he thinking he can change things with yet another indictment that will show no evidence of direct involvement with the Trump campaign?

Meanwhile, over at MSNBC, you have to click on the Russia link prominently displayed at the top of the page to get their listing of Russia stories.

Again, let that sink in. They created an entire page to simply list every story they have concerning the Russia-Trump Campaign collusion investigation. Then what do they lead off with?

• Matthews: Cohen raid is bad news for Trump

The Cohen story is that Trump's lawyer paid an adult movie star $130K to remain silent about the sexual relationship she had with Trump. However, the part that should jump out at you is the opening line of the video post: "Chris thinks the Cohen raid tells us that the FBI wants stuff on Trump that it has not been able to get otherwise."

This also tells you that the Russia collusion investigation is now out of control and has eerily wandered down the path of the 1950's McCarthy hearings.

They are literally grasping at everything in hopes of finding something to use against Trump.

But remember what I said earlier, the indictment against the Russians -- provided by the DOJ -- states that there is no evidence that the Russian collusion affected the outcome of the election. But we cannot have a little something like the truth get in our way. Liberal Democrat politicians are also joining in as well, making the claims that anything less than an unfettered investigation into possible collusion would be a constitutional crisis.

In this age of the meme culture, Maxine Waters pins this meme to the top of her Twitter feed to connect Trump to the Russian government specifically.

And even when they sound reasonable by directly associating the collusion investigating and witch hunt (in the second tweet of this thread), you must realize that there is still missing information.

The sanctions against the Russians (expulsion of 60 diplomats) was in response to the only reasonable indictment from this investigation of the thirteen Russian nationals.

It is also in response to the Russian spy murdered in Great Britain. It does not change anything or tell you anything about the collusion investigation itself. If it did, then the number of leaks in this investigation would have turned into geysers if there was actually something to these claims.

Yet, you cannot find anything more than rumor provided by anonymous sources, political punditry where you would already know what they are going to say depending on the TV channel, and more of the same nonsense repeating itself. There is nothing to this investigation. The Russian government and the Trump campaign will not be found guilty of collusion. It is time for this charade to end. It is time for people to move on. Let this liberal witch hunt die on the trash heap of failed political hit jobs where it belongs.