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I read an opinion piece in the June 27, 2019 issue “The Epoch Times” written by Ms. Diana West. The title of her opinion column is “The Fraudulent Paper Trail Through the Anti-Trump Conspiracy.” Reading her opinion piece prompted the heading for this post, but first a bit of background. I have always been bothered by the widely-held view that Russia interfered with the 2016 Presidential Election. I cannot accept this assessment because I do not believe that anyone has provided forensic proof that the Russians interfered with the election in any substantive way; the key word in that sentence is substantive.
One difficult point for me to understand and accept is how Mr. Mueller and his team were able to link back to 12 Russian intelligence officers by name who were part of the GRU. The GRU is the Russian intelligence organization, which I assume is the equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plus the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). By the way, Mr. Mueller and his team indicted 31 individuals; of this total, 25 were Russian, including three Russian companies.
I cannot accept the Russian Connection without clear forensic proof that identifies these links back to the GRU. The Russians and the Indians on the sub-continent are two nationalities that are at the top of the food chain when it comes to technical expertise in the world of information technology (IT). If the Russians are the best, then I suspect they would not leave any footprints leading back to them. That latter assessment is a crucial point to keep in mind.
Ms. West provided a thought-provoking timeline for key documentation events. I want to comment on four of her data points. There were three other related points but the four below capture the essence of her opinion piece.
1. Neither the FBI nor the DOJ was allowed to inspect the DNC servers to determine if they were hacked and by whom. The DNC used a private-sector firm named Crowdstrike to evaluate and assess the so-called hacked servers and issue a technical report. The conclusion that the Russians hacked the DNC and the Democratic Campaign servers is based on the Crowdstrike technical report. This report has never been vetted or verified by any Federal intelligence or investigation agency.
2. The Steele Dossier was written by Mr. Christopher Steele from June 2016 to December 2016. The dossier has never been critically vetted or verified by a reputable agency or organization. The dossier was written as opposition research on Candidate Trump, funded by the DNC using the Perkins Coie Law Firm who hired GPS Fusion; GPS Fusion, in turn, hired Mr. Steele who is a retired MI6 agent.
3. In January 2017, the CIA, DNI, and the FBI issued an Intelligence Community Assessment. This ICA was incorrectly named because the other 14 intelligence agencies in the Intelligence Community were not part of the deliberations and analysis. The most telling point of the ICA is the following disclaimer that Ms. West quotes: “…Assessments are based on collected information, which is often incomplete or fragmentary, as well as logic, argumentation, and precedents. High confidence in a judgment does not imply that the assessment is a fact or a certainty; such judgments might be wrong.” The skeptic in me reads those two sentences in the disclaimer and concludes that the disclaimer is bureaucratic gobbledygook. How is it possible to add that the assessments are based on logic, argumentation, and precedents? Someone does not know how to write, and this ICA was not read or edited with a critical eye.
4. I have written at length on The Mueller Report in other posts on this website. It suffices here to repeat my main critical points. The Mueller Report was not written or read by Mr. Mueller. The report is sloppily structured, and the writing obfuscates rather than clarifies. Given the importance of this report, Mr. Mueller and his team did not serve the President, the nation, and the citizenry well.
Sadly, this report easily nullifies Mr. Mueller’s previous years of public service. I would submit that that was not his intention. I am reminded of what Margaret Thatcher said to Newt Gingrich when he was Speaker of the House: “Do what is right, and history will catch up to you.” I am afraid that history will catch up with Mr. Mueller for all the wrong reasons.