Why Did Corsi Stand Up to Mueller while Cohen and Flynn Didn't

CORSI AND COHEN AND FLYNN. It is a tale of different approaches to the Mueller Inquisition. • • • JEROME CORSI STOOD FAST BUT MICHAEL COHEN COLLAPSED. As the American Thinker's Elad Hakim put it this week : "Perhaps the media and the various 'experts' should reconsider salivating over the recent information stemming from the Michael Cohen plea agreement in light of the lawsuit filed by Jerome Corsi. According to Fox News, 'Corsi filed a 'criminal and ethics complaint' against Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team, accusing investigators of trying to bully him into giving 'false testimony' against President Trump.' If this is true, Michel Cohen's 'admissions' will be rendered virtually meaningless, and Robert Mueller's investigation should be immediately terminated." • We recall that in his plea agreement, Michael Cohen admitted to making false statements in a letter to Congress in 2017 regarding a 2016 Moscow building project that was being considered by the Trump administration. According to Cohen, the discussions regarding the deal continued until June 2016, as opposed to January 2016, as he previously stated in his letter. Many well respected legal scholars have suggested that Cohen's admission has no bearing on President Trump and the Russia investigation. Alan Dershowitz, for example, says : "Special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is creating crimes rather than uncovering past ones," and the "devastating" report he will write will be based on people "who have lied." Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett agreed with Dershowitz. National Review's Andrew McCarthy wrtoe that Mueller is building a report as opposed to a legal case : "With respect to the President and 'collusion,' Mueller does not have a crime he is investigating. He is investigating in hopes of finding a crime, which is a day-and-night different thing." • American Thinker's Hakim says : "Together, these comments paint a picture of an investigation that is reeling and a prosecutor hoping to find something he can use against the President that would justify his interminable investigation. • While Mueller's investigation appears to rely on the statements of people whose credibility is, at best, highly questionable, Corsi's recent lawsuit, if verifiable, gives an entirely different view of what goes on inside the Mueller probe, and it will present a hugh problem for Robert Mueller and his team. Fox News reported that Corsi alleges in his complaint that "they wanted him to demonstrate that he acted as a liaison between Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on one side and the Trump campaign on the other, regarding the release of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee." In addition, Corsi alleges in the compalint that Robert Mueller's office is "knowingly and deceitfully threatened" to charge him with providing a false statement unless he provided "false testimony" against Trump and others. • As Hakim points out, there is a "major distinction between a case that relies on the word of less than credible witnesses (a weak case) and a case where the witnesses are allegedly told to lie or are blackmailed into testifying in a certain way. While prosecutors often make 'deals' in criminal cases, Mueller's alleged conduct, if true, is distinguishable because a prosecutor cannot knowingly support or encourage a witness to make false statements." • If Corsi's allegations are true, there is no way to accept the veracity of anybody's statements relating to the Mueller investigation, including Michael Cohen's most recent ones. ALL statements, including Mueller's, should be viewed with the greatest doubt. Hakim asks : "If this is the case, what basis is there to continue to investigate? To date, there is no evidence that President Trump committed any crime, including colluding with the Russians. While Robert Mueller's eventual report will likely lay out a damaging picture of the President and those with whom he associated, three things should be noted. First, the report will likely rely on the statements of people whose credibility has been tarnished. Second, the report will be one-sided and will most likely be refuted by the President and his legal team by way of written response. Third, and most importantly, if the allegations by Corsi turn out to be true, the Mueller investigation could be brought to an abrupt end, thereby rendering any possible report meaningless." • If only Cohen had resisted; as Corsi did, his world might look a whole lot brighter right now. • • • GENERAL FLYNN. This is a far more puzzling case. Fox News reported on Wednesday that : "Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed a memorandum Tuesday recommending a lenient sentence -- with the possibility of no prison time -- for convicted former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and stating that Flynn has offered 'substantial' help to investigators about 'several ongoing investigations.' The bombshell release comes as additional sentencing memorandums are expected within days in the cases of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, amid multiple reports and indications that the long-running Mueller probe into ties between President Trump's team and Russia is winding down." • The Mueller sentencing memorandum states : “Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range, including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration -- is appropriate and warranted." • Fox News states that : "Flynn sat for 19 interviews with the special counsel's office and other Department of Justice attorneys, according to the sentencing memorandum and a heavily redacted supplemental filing attached to the end of the primary memorandum. Responding to the documents' release, President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that Mueller was 'spitting on the sidewalk, with major repercussions for many.' He added that there was nothing in the sentencing memo to suggest collusion between the Trump team and Russia, and denounced the Mueller team as 'overzealous media inspired prosecutors' and 'sick puppies.' ” • The newly filed documents don't provide specifics about what exactly Mueller has learned from Flynn, but they indicate he provided "documents and communications" about his time working with the Trump administration during the presidential transition period. Mueller's addendum to the memorandum, according to Fox News, states that Flynn has "assisted with several ongoing investigations," including the Russia probe and an apparently separate "criminal investigation." Prosecutors added this : "Additionally, the defendant's decision to plead guilty and cooperate likely affected the decisions of related firsthand witnesses to be forthcoming with the [Special Counsel] and cooperate." Further information about the criminal investigation, including the subject of that probe, is redacted, says Fox News, but : "The document also suggests Flynn helped with a third ongoing investigation, but details on that probe are redacted in their entirety. It was not clear if Mueller is handling those investigations. 'The defendant provided firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials,' the addendum reads. 'For example, after the election, the defendant communicated with the Russian ambassador to the United States as a representative of the transition team on two sensitive matters : a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution calling for Israel to cease settlement activities in Palestinian territory and the Obama Administration’s imposition of sanctions and other measures on Russia for interfering in the 2016 election....Several senior members of the transition team publicly repeated false information conveyed to them by the defendant about communications between him and the Russian ambassador regarding the sanctions.' " NOTE : Is repeating a lie without knowing that it is a lie a criminal offense or evidence of "collusion?" Not likely. • The Mueller memo goes on to praise Flynn's military career and his decision to "accept responsibility in a timely fashion....defendant’s military and public service are exemplary. He served in the military for over 33 years, including five years of combat duty, led the Defense Intelligence Agency, and retired as a 3-star Lieutenant General." But, Mueller's team made clear they thought he should have known better : "Senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards," the filing concludes. • General Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to making false statements to the FBI with regard to his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In late 2016, the two allegedly spoke about the US sanctions imposed on Russia. Flynn was fired from the White House on February 13, 2017, after he misled Trump administration officials, including Vice President Pence, on his communications. Flynn also admitted to making false statements about his work as an unregistered foreign agent to benefit the Turkish government. Flynn was under investigation by the Justice Department for that work when he became national security advisor. But the special counsel’s team delayed Flynn’s sentencing date for more than a year, repeatedly saying that “due to the status” of the investigation, “the parties do not believe that this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time.” • DID FLYNN LIE? Now, questions have been raised about the Flynn plea itself, considering a congressional Republican report earlier this year claimed fired FBI boss James Comey once testified that FBI agents did not think Flynn intentionally lied. Besides Flynn and Cohen, Mueller’s team charged former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos with making false statements to the FBI. He is currently serving a 14-day prison sentence. • According to controversial memos written by Jim Comey while he was still FBI Director and interfacing with President Trump, the President tried to protect Flynn by asking Comey to let the investigation into his false statements go. Trump has denied asking Comey to drop the investigation, but that conversation between the later-fired FBI Director and the President is reportedly one under scrutiny by the special counsel’s office as he investigates whether Trump attempted to obstruct the Russia investigation. • Former senior Justice Department official James Trusty told Fox News that the guilty pleas related to making false statements “do not suggest a particularly successful investigation. It’s heavy on false statements charges, and that doesn’t suggest that it’s moving in the right direction for the prosecution. It doesn’t suggest to me that they’re making a lot of headway on the substance of their investigation which is Russian collusion. As an ex-prosecutor, false statements are a very distant second place.” Trusty said that during the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, investigators and Comey “swore off even pursuing false statements charges,” quoting a recent Justice Department inspector general report. “Are there two sets of rules?” Trusty asks. “It’s a fair question that someone in the FBI or Justice Department ought to answer at some point.” • • • DEAR READERS, General Flynn also disclosed to the Mueller team that he and his company began work on the Turkey project in August 2016. On Page 3 of 7 in the sentencing memorandum Mueller states : "Soon after a coup d’état was attempted in Turkey. Ultimately, the project lasted approximately three months and the defendant and his company were paid $530,000 for their work. The FARA filings omitted the material fact that officials from the Republic of Turkey provided supervision and direction over the Turkey project. At the time, the defendant was a national security advisor and surrogate for the Trump campaign who opined publicly on foreign policy and national security issues. The defendant’s business relationship with the Republic of Turkey was thus exactly the type of information FARA was designed to ensure was within the public sphere. The purpose of FARA is to ensure the United States government and the United States people are informed of the identity of foreign entities -- in this case a foreign government -- behind information or propaganda being used to influence public opinion, policy, and laws. On election day in 2016, the defendant published an op-ed for the Turkey project that called for the removal of a cleric residing in the United States whom the President of Turkey blamed for the failed coup in that country...Our ally Turkey is in crisis and needs our support....The cleric’s responsibility for the coup attempt was a subject of great debate, and the defendant’s op-ed about the cleric’s role was valuable to the Republic of Turkey’s efforts to shape public opinion. The defendant falsely represented in his FARA filings that the op-ed was written at his own initiative, as opposed to for the Turkey project and the Republic of Turkey, and thus again deprived the public of the very transparency FARA was designed to ensure....The defendant’s false statements impeded the ability of the public to learn about the Republic of Turkey’s efforts to influence public opinion. • There lies the problem for General Flynn. It is not a matter related to the Trump campaign and in no way suggests "collusion" of the Trump campaign with the Russians -- BUT, it does suggest improper conduct on the part of General Flynn. AND, if we consider the financial charges levied against Michael Cohen, we find the same thing because Mueller has evidence of Cohen's improper conduct totally unrelated to the Trump campaign and the issue of "collusion" with Russia. BUT, with Jerome Corsi, there is no evidence to date that Mueller has any evidence of anything except his charge of "lying" to Congress -- and Corsi says Mueller attempted to coerce him to admit to the "lie" when he clearly does not think he lied and will not swear to being guilty of a false charge. • That is why Michael Cohen and General Flynn are taking plea deals and "cooperating" with Mueller. They are trying to reduce or avoid sentences for what Mueller is telling them he will prosecute them for -- allegedly, emphasis on 'allegedly,' illegal acts completely unrelated to President Trump or his campaign, and certainly not to the Fake assertion that the campaign "colluded" with Russia to win the presidency. • Many conservatives think that General Flynn should be pardoned because he did absolutely nothing that was criminal in speaking to the Russian ambassador -- and "lying" to the Vice President-Elect was not a crime that last time I looked. BUT, this begs the question about what to do concerning the Turkey representation matter. That would have to be worked through in a separate legal proceeding before any decision about a presidential pardon for those acts of General Flynn could be decided. • On the other hand, it is clear that Robert Mueller and his probe team are taking a lot of heat because of the length of their investigation, its wandering off course into matters that have nothing to do with President Trump or his campaign team, and now, the very serious allegation that is being leveled in a lawsuit by Jerome Corsi -- that special counsel Mueller is in effect forcing a target to lie by saying that he did something in order to receive a reduced or no sentence for conduct that did not in fact take place. Asking for "leniency" for General Flynn should be seen in this context -- it is the cynical Public Relations ploy of a special counsel who at best has violated the lawyers' canons of professional ethics and at worst has himself committed illegal acts. The bottom line is that Robert Mueller was charged by the Deep State Department of Justice to "get" Donald Trump. He has failed, and now he is sweeping up crumbs in a last desperate attempt to find anything that he can wave at the media and present to his Deep State bosses as "proof" of the FAKE charge that there was "collusion” between the man they hate -- President Donald Trump and Russia. But, we say again -- THERE IS NO EVIDENCE because there was NO COLLUISON.