After Mueller

For John, BLUF:  I am thinking Special Counsel will find President Trump did NOT commit collusion with the Russians.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Trump Says Russia Inquiry Makes U.S. ‘Look Very Bad’

From The Old Gray Lady by Reporters Michael S Schmidt and Michael D Shear, 28 December 2017.

Here is the lede plus two:

President Trump said Thursday that he believes Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, will treat him fairly, contradicting some members of his party who have waged a weekslong campaign to try to discredit Mr. Mueller and the continuing inquiry.

During an impromptu 30-minute interview with The New York Times at his golf club in West Palm Beach, the president did not demand an end to the Russia investigations swirling around his administration, but insisted 16 times that there has been “no collusion” discovered by the inquiry.

“It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position,” Mr. Trump said of the investigation. “So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”

I am pleased that the President is happy to let Mr Mueller's investigation play out.  Of course the President is confident that he is innocent and the investigation will bear that out.

However, this raises a question.  Let us assume that Special Counsel Mueller finds no collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia.  How does that inform us about the functioning of the Intelligence Community.  Are they incompetent?  Or, are they conducting a political campaign against an an elected official who they find unfit?  Neither seems compatible with our understanding of how our Government should operate.

Democrats whinging about accusations against the FBI seemed to have overlooked this problem.  Best they hold their fire for now.

Regards  —  Cliff