Despite report findings, almost half of Americans think Trump colluded...: Reuters/Ipsos poll
MARCH 26, 2019 / 6:09 PM / UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO
Chris Kahn
4 MIN READ
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly half of all Americans still believe President Donald Trump worked with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after Special Counsel Robert Mueller cleared Trump of that allegation.
Americans did feel slightly more positive about Trump after learning the findings of the 22-month investigation into Russian meddling in the election, the national opinion poll released on Tuesday showed.
But U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of Mueller’s investigation did little to change public opinion about the president’s alleged ties to Russia or quench the public’s appetite to learn more.
According to Barr’s summary released on Sunday, Mueller found no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia in the 2016 election, but did not exonerate the president on the question of obstructing the investigation.
When asked specifically about accusations of collusion and obstruction of justice, 48 percent of poll respondents said they believed “Trump or someone from his campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election,” down 6 percentage points from last week.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-poll/despite-report-findings-almost-half-of-americans-think-trump-colluded-with-russia-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKCN1R72S0
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Did elements of his organization cooperate with the Russians during the campaign? Well yes, that much has been thoroughly established and documented.
Was any of the hard evidence enough to substantiate a prosecutable crime? What I get out of the DOJ report summary is that no, they were not able to find enough evidence to prosecute anyone involved in the campaign with a specific crime
My theory is that this is likely because their organization has a longstanding practice of managing their affairs much like the mob does, and they know how to avoid leaving a trail of hard evidence, and moreover in this situation there is the threat of the Russian mob taking action against/otherwise controlling people who might otherwise be inclined to bear witness to various crimes.
So, measures to obstruct the investigators from discovering hard evidence that would directly implicate the candidate's campaign were successful--and then for the obstruction part of the investigation, Mueller followed precedent by just presenting the evidence for Congress to evaluate and decide if it constituted obstruction, and merited action with respect to the administration, etc.
But if I had to answer, flat-out, do I think the orange fuckstick himself directed any of this or was otherwise personally involved in "collusion" with Russians (apart from being essentially under their control due to his longstanding relationship with the Russian mob, and from the sound of it also due to some seriously embarrassing "kompromat"
? I mean, I think sort of, in that he was coerced into the position he's in...but I've always thought that he didn't really want or expect to actually win the election (which he did not, so he was correct in that); and from all reports he fucking hates actually having to be President.
So, from that perspective, did he personally collude in order to cheat his way into office? No.
Does that make this all OK? I think you can guess my answer...
