On Friday, July 13, the Justice Department announced indictments against 12 more Russian nationals as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in our 2016 election. Defendants are charged with engaging in a sustained and sophisticated effort to hack the computer networks of members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an effort coordinated to release damaging information to sway the election.
All 12 are alleged to be members of the GRU, a Russian federation intelligence agency within the main intelligence directorate of the Russian military and acting in “their official capacities.” The actual indictment is available online; it provides details of a sophisticated assault on our 2016 elections.
To date, Robert Mueller’s team has either indicted or obtained guilty pleas from 32 people and three companies — that we know of. That group is composed of four former Trump advisers, 26 Russian nationals, three Russian companies, one California man, and one London-based lawyer. Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October to making false statements to the FBI. Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in December to making false statements to the FBI. Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort was indicted in October 2017 on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and false statements — all related to his work for Ukrainian politicians before he joined the Trump campaign. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
In February, Mueller filed a new case against Manafort in Virginia including tax, financial and bank fraud charges. Former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner Rick Gates was indicted on similar charges. In February Gates pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy and one charge of making a false statement to federal investigators.
More recently, Manafort was once again indicted, this time along with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national and a longtime business associate of Manafort and Gates, with attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses in one of Manafort’s other pending cases.
Alex van der Zwaan, a London lawyer, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Gates and another unnamed person based in Ukraine. Richard Pinedo, a California man, pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in connection with the Russian indictments, and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller.
While no Trump associate has as yet been charged with crimes, specifically related to helping Russia interfere with the 2016 election, both Papadopoulos and Flynn admit that they lied to the FBI about their contacts with people connected to the Russian government. Papadopoulos’s contacts took place before the election, and Flynn’s after the election but before Trump’s inauguration.
In April 2016, Papadopoulos received a tip from a foreign professor he understood to have Russian government connections that the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” Papadopoulos then proceeded to have extensive contacts with the professor and a Russian woman during which he tried to plan a Trump campaign trip to Russia.
Undisputed published email exchanges between Rob Goldstone and Donald Trump, Jr. in June 2016 should give us pause. They appear to implicate federal criminal “conspiracy” statutes. The language in the June 3, 2016 (10:36 a.m.), email from Rob Goldstone to Donald Jr. states:
“The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his [Emin’s] father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump helped along by Aras and Emin. What do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly. I can also send this info to your father via Rhona, but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first.”
Donald Jr.’s gleeful response, followed by ensuing email exchanges and a July 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, New York, with Donald, Jr., Jared Kushner, Manafort, and several Russian nationals are matters of public record.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th Edition, defines “collusion” as “An agreement to defraud another or to do or obtain something forbidden by law.”
Our conspiracy statutes would seem to cover collusion of the type being investigated by Mueller.
Federal criminal conspiracy is defined as an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime or to perpetrate an illegal act. “If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy (an overt act), each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” (18 U.S.C. § 371, italics added.)
Proof of the defendants’ specific intent to violate the law is not required, only an agreement to engage in an illegal act. Members of the conspiracy are also liable for the foreseeable crimes of their fellow conspirators committed in furtherance of the common plot. (Pinkerton v. United States (1946) 328 U.S. 640, 647.) Statements by one conspirator are admissible evidence against all co-conspirators. (16 Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 801(d)(2)(E).).
Federal law prohibits the solicitation or receipt of foreign contributions of “money or other thing of value” in United States elections.
“It shall be unlawful for a foreign national directly or through any other person to make any contribution of money or other thing of value, or to promise expressly or impliedly to make any such contribution, in connection with an election to any political office or in connection with any primary election, convention, or caucus held to select candidates for any political office; or for any person to solicit, accept, or receive any such contribution from a foreign national.” (52 U.S.C §30121, subds. (a) and (b) italics added.
Edward H. Schulman is a Kailua-Kona attorney.
