The Department of Justice has released a memo written on August 2, 2017 that outlined the scope of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. The investigation concluded that the campaign did not, in fact, collude with Russia.
The newly released document sheds some light on the scope of the investigation with regards to five individuals who were targeted: Carter Page, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn, and a fifth person whose name was redacted. The memo was released thanks to a request from Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which Attorney General William Barr granted. Barr provided an unclassified version of the “Scope Memo,” which can be viewed here, thanks to The New York Post.
The original memo was written by Rod Rosenstein while he was the Acting Attorney General and noted that he had issued an order on May 17, 2017 that appointed Mueller as special counsel and authorized him to conduct an investigation that had been authorized by then-FBI Director James Comey during testimony to the House Intelligence committee on March 20, 2017. The May 17, 2017 order, Rosenstein wrote, was worded in such a way to “permit its public release without confirmed specific investigations involving specific individuals.” The August 2, 2017 memo that was just released provided specifics.
The memo outlines the allegations that “were within the scope of the investigation,” including “Allegations that Carter Page committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law.” As we now know, not only did Page not collude with Russia, but the FBI left out key exculpatory evidence to continue targeting him through FISA warrants.
The memo further outlines the allegations against Manafort, Papadopoulos, and Flynn:
Allegations that Paul Manafort:
- Committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law;
- Committed a crime or crimes arising out of payments he received from the Ukrainian government before and during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych;
- Committed a crime or crimes arising out of his receipt of loans from a bank whose Chief Executive Officer was then seeking a position in the Trump Administration;
Allegations that George Papadopoulos:
- Committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law;
- Committed a crime or crimes by acting as an unregistered agent of the government of Israel;
Allegations that Michael Flynn:
- Committed a crime or crimes by engaging in conversations with Russian government officials during the period of the Trump transition;
- Committed a crime or crimes by making false statements to the FBI when interviewed about his contacts with the Russian government;
- Committed a crime or crimes by failing to report foreign contacts and income on a Fonn SF-86 that he completed in anticipation of his being selected to serve as the National Security Adviser to President Trump;
- Committed a crime or crimes by acting as an unregistered agent for the government of Turkey
All collusion claims against these individuals were unfounded, and recently released information appears to show that Flynn was set up in order to get him fired.
Following the release of the memo, Graham said it showed the “entire Mueller investigation was illegitimate to begin with,” according to a transcript from CNS News.