Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Mueller Should Use Obstruction to Pursue Money Laundering

Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller III is drawing ever closer to wrongdoing in the Oval Office. The media reports move the story forward on a daily, in some cases hourly, basis. The names Flynn, Manafort, and Page may someday be as well known as Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman from the Watergate scandal. Recently published articles suggest the investigation is focusing on obstruction of justice, specifically the firing of FBI Director Comey to take the pressure off the Russia investigation. If this is the end goal of the investigation, that would be a grave injustice. Money laundering is a much more serious thing in the mind of the electorate, and for that reason, proof of financial misconduct needs to be the final goal if it exists.

The obstruction of justice is, to lawyers, a serious offense because it strikes at the heart of the legal system. When those in power engage in behavior that covers up any wrongdoing on their part, the principle of equality before the law is threatened. However, to the voting public, and especially supporters of the president, the investigation is a fishing trip (or even a witch-hunt) driven not by a desire for justice but by a desire to undo an election. If the president's people, or the president himself, face trials for obstruction, it begs the question of what were they covering up? If that can't be answered concisely and clearly, they won't accept the result.

This journal has no proof other than what has been published or reported. However, there are prima facie grounds for investigating money laundering possibilities. If a Russian oligarch wanted to hide money in the west (and many have done so), one of the more effective and secret ways of doing so would be to work with an established western firm. Ideally, that entity would be privately held, even a family operation, with interests in numerous countries. A real estate firm would provide other benefits, like grounds for visas to be issued. In other words, such an oligarch would likely consider doing some kind of business with the Trump Organization.

Bank robber Willie Sutton said he robbed banks because that's where the money was. At the same time, some banks were easier to rob than others. So it is with Russian oligarchs and western real estate companies. Those western firms with strong lines of credit and solid reputations in their markets would probably decline to accept any funds that were not squeaky clean. The Trump Organization is unable to secure loans in the US owing to numerous defaults.

"We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia,"Donald Trump, Jr. said of Trump Organization properties in 2008. "There's indeed a lot of money coming for new-builds and resale reflecting a trend in the Russian economy and, of course, the weak dollar versus the ruble."

If every kopeck of those rubles was clean, it should be easy to prove. If not, the Trump Organization may have been deceived and is guilty of nothing more than bad luck. Then again, maybe dirty money came in and no one cared about its source.

This is important because laundering money, violating sanctions and doing so before any presidential bid in the 2016 cycle would show there is no political dimension to the investigation. If the Trump Organization laundered Russian mob money, even the most ardent supporter of the president would have to admit a real crime (as opposed to a manufactured one) occurred.

Obstruction is what took Nixon down, but it was tied to a burglary, a crime in everyone's books. Mr. Mueller needs to remember that obstruction is an incidental crime. It is not the original sin.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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