Mueller’s Investigation A Farce: Files Joke Indictment Against Russian Trolls

Desert Storm said:

So they committed identity theft and defrauded a bunch of people??
How exactly is that influencing the election??

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Deuce said:

Ahh, because the people reside in Russia, the crimes didn't happen!

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Object of the Conspiracy

In or around 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators also used, possessed, and transferred, without lawful authority, the social security numbers and dates of birth of real U.S. persons without those persons' knowledge or consent. Using these means of identification, Defendants and their co-conspirators opened accounts at PayPal, a digital payment service provider; created false means of identification, including fake driver's licenses; and posted on ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts using the identities of these U.S. victims. Defendants and their co-conspirators also obtained, and attempted to obtain, false identification documents to use as proof of identity in connection with maintaining accounts and purchasing advertisements on social media sites.

By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online personas to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.

On or about February 10, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators internally circulated an outline of themes for future content to be posted to ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts. Specialists were instructed to post content that focused on "politics in the USA" and to "use any opportunity to critcize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we support them)."

On or about September 14, 2016, in an internal review of an ORGANIZATION-created and controlled Facebook group called "Secured Borders," the account specialist was criticized for having a "low number of posts dedicated to criticizing Hillary Clinton" and was told "it is imperative to intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton" in future posts.

In or around the latter half of 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through their ORGANIZATION-controlled personas, began to encourage U.S. minority groups not to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election or to vote for a third-party U.S. presidential candidate. (That's pretty insidious. The 3rd party candidate voting was a topic of lengthy discussion earlier in this thread - evidently the Russians thought it could be helpful in achieving their goals.)

Starting in or around the summer of 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators also began to promote allegations of voter fraud by the Democratic Party through their fictitious U.S. personas and groups on social media. Defendants and their co-conspirators purchased advertisements on Facebook to further promote the allegations.

From at least April 2016 through November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, while concealing their Russian identities and ORGANIZATION affiliation through false personas, began to produce, purchase, and post advertisements on U.S. social media and other online sites expressly advocating for the election of then-candidate Trump or expressly opposing Clinton. Defendants and their co-conspirators did not report their expenditures to the Federal Election Commission, or register as foreign agents with the U.S. Department of Justice.

To pay for the political advertisements, Defendants and their co-conspirators established various Russian bank accounts and credit cards, often registered in the names of fictitious U.S. personas created and used by the ORGANIZATION on social media. Defendants and their co-conspirators also paid for other political advertisements using PayPal accounts. (Sounds like money laundering)

Starting in approximately June 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators organized and coordinated political rallies in the United States. To conceal the fact that they were based in Russia, Defendants and their co-conspirators promoted these rallies while pretending to be U.S. grassroots activists who were located in the United States but unable to meet or participate in person. Defendants and their co-conspirators did not register as foreign agents with the U.S. Department of Justice. (Russians running campaign rallies for U.S. elections sounds like it should be a much more serious offense then just failing to register as a foreign agent. It seems like it should be equivalent to spying. If it's not then there's a hole in U.S. law.)

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Redress said:

DO read the indictment. Get back to me when you have a basic knowledge of the topic

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volsrock said:

So what crime has Trump committed?

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Thoreau72 said:

But the point is that there is no evidence, apparently, that showed he colluded with the Russians, or that they "stole" our election. As many of us have known for the past year, this has all been a distraction--political theater meant to distract from other issues

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Desert Storm said:

You really think Putin will extradite those 13 Russians to the US?? Unlikely.

This whole RussiaGate is one big facade. Sometimes when I turn on CNN it feels like I'm watching the theatre of the absurd

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Desert Storm said:

You really think 13 people have enough power to influence the US election??

It's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard

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Desert Storm said:

Its also meant to make Trump look bad, thats why they're dragging the investigation on as long as possible.
Its not working though, the economy keeps getting better and so are Trump's approval rates

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Rob Larrikin said:

It's embarrassing. Democrats are red-faced and ashamed. The loud minority of Left winged lunatics go on as though nothing happened, but millions of liberals are feeling very stupid about this.

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iliveonramen said:

Why would Democrats feel red-faced and ashamed....?

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Rob Larrikin said:

You know exactly why. Liberals and their cohorts, Fake News, have been raving on for a year about the Big Trump Conspiracy, and now it turns out to be a few idiots on Facebook. That's all Mueller came up with. EMBARRASSING. This is your nothingburger. :3oops: :3oops: :3oops: :3oops:

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Rob Larrikin said:

You know exactly why. Liberals and their cohorts, Fake News, have been raving on for a year about the Big Trump Conspiracy, and now it turns out to be a few idiots on Facebook. That's all Mueller came up with. EMBARRASSING. This is your nothingburger. :3oops: :3oops: :3oops: :3oops:

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Redress said:

The indictment was not for posting on facebook, but for identity theft and things of that nature. It really helps if you read the indictment instead of a retarded blog.

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"Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted foreign citizens for trying to influence the American public about an election because those citizens did not register as a foreign agent nor record their financial expenditures to the Federal Elections Commission. By that theory, when will Mueller indict Christopher Steele, FusionGPS, PerkinsCoie, the DNC and the Clinton Campaign? Mueller’s indictment against 13 Russian trolls claimed their social media political activity was criminal because: they were foreign citizens; they tried to influence an election; and they neither registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act nor reported their funding to the Federal Elections Commission.

First, if Mueller’s theory is correct, three things make Steele a criminal: first, he is a foreign citizen; second, he tried to influence an election, which he received payments to do (including from the FBI itself); and third, he neither registered as a foreign agent nor listed his receipts and expenditures to the Federal Election Commission. Also, according to the FBI, along the way, Steele lied…a lot, while the dossier he disseminated contained its own lies based on bought-and-paid for smears from foreign sources reliant on rumors and innuendo.

Second, if Mueller’s theory is correct, three things make FusionGPS a criminal co-conspirator: it knew Steele was a foreign citizen; it knew, and paid, Steele to influence an election; and it knew, and facilitated, Steele neither registering as a foreign agent nor reporting his funding from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign to the Federal Election Commission.

Third, if Mueller’s theory is correct, then three things make PerkinsCoie a potential target: it knew Steele was a foreign citizen; it knew, and paid, Steele to influence an election; and it knew, and facilitated, Steele neither registering as a foreign agent nor reporting his funding from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign to the Federal Election Commission, by disguising its receipt of payments from the Clinton campaign as a “legal expense.”

Fourth, if Mueller’s theory is correct, then three things make the DNC a potential target: it knew Steele was a foreign citizen; it knew, and paid, Steele to influence an election; and it knew, and facilitated, Steele neither registering as a foreign agent nor reporting his funding from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign to the Federal Election Commission, by disguising its payments to Steele as laundered legal expenses to a law firm.

Fifth, if Mueller’s theory is correct, three things make the Clinton Campaign a potential target: it knew Steele was a foreign citizen; it knew, and paid, Steele to influence an election; and it knew, and facilitated, Steele neither registering as a foreign agent nor reporting his funding from the Clinton campaign to the Federal Election Commission, by disguising its funding of payments to Steele laundered through a law firm as a “legal expense.”

Don’t expect such an indictment. Mueller chose his targets because he knows they will never appear in court, never contest the charges, and cannot be arrested or extradited as Russian citizens. Mueller’s unprecedented prosecution raises three novel arguments: first, that speaking out about American politics requires a foreign citizen to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act; second, that speaking out about American politics requires a foreign citizen list their source and expenditure of funding to the Federal Election Commission; and third, that mistakes on visa applications constitute “fraud” on the State Department. All appear to borrow from the now-discredited “honest services” theories Mueller’s team previously used in corporate and bribery cases, cases the Supreme Court overturned for their unconstitutional vagueness. The indictment raises serious issues under the free speech clause of the First Amendment and due process rights under the Fifth Amendment."

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iliveonramen said:

I'm going to throw this out there, maybe some people actually care that a rival attempted to interfere with our elections

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Desert Storm said:

For the last 100 years since America has been a super-power you guys have messed with pretty much every election of every country around the world, and now you're crying like a little bitch because 13 Russians have messed with yours??!! :lamo

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iliveonramen said:

A few idiots? They are Russian nationals working under the direction of the Kremlin not a few teenage trolls. The operation included fake companies.

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This is basically indictments that include a lot of specifics about things that we already new.

Also, these aren't the first indictments. They may be the first played on Fox News since they don't directly involve Trump or his administration but this is just another result of the investigation not the end all be all.

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iliveonramen said:

By "acting like a bitch" you mean investigating and indicting people for espionage? The only bitch here is you and as Trump's bitch you've lost your touch with reality

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DamnYankee said:

Leftists main goal here is to overturn the election by any means necessary. They're spoiled children having a tantrum. And yes, they are a national embarrassment with the flippin' weird crap they come up with. So as the gov't pisses away millions of dollars on a go nowhere investigation and leftist whinge on endlessly, the economy is humming along and all the normal decent people in this country are laughing at the kooker left.

Leftists are doing a wonderful job.

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Desert Storm said:

Nah, the only whiny bitches are you Lefties who still cant get over the fact you lost the election.

Get ready for some more Liberal tears in 2020, sweetheart :lol:

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Desert Storm said:

For the last 100 years since America has been a super-power you guys have messed with pretty much every election of every country around the world, and now you're crying like a little bitch because 13 Russians have messed with yours??!! :lamo

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iliveonramen said:

That's a lot of confidence for a guy that barely won in the first place and has historically low approval rating while actually President during a good economy.....

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Rob Larrikin said:

You sound like a vacuum cleaner salesman whose been told his product is crap. “What? B..B..But it picked the sawdust right up off the floor, and you saw it lift the bowling bowl!”

They were a bunch of yahoos, and Mueller is a huge embarrassment and you know it.



Give it a break. You know Mueller would have presented his best evidence first if he had any, and he doesn’t. This garbage was the best he could dig up.

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iliveonramen said:

That's a lot of confidence for a guy that barely won in the first place

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Desert Storm said:

Its not low at all, its at 47% right now, and thats amazing considering that 90% of the media is against him:

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports®

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iliveonramen said:

Trump is his own worst enemy. It's not the media it's himself that screws him up.

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As for his approval ratings...he has been lucky enough to take over in one of the best situations in decades. I'm sure he'll actually have to deal with something other than his own Party in Congress at some point and then we'll see how his approval ratings go.

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