Quote (bogie160 @ Dec 3 2018 08:18am)
Some fair points in the article, but a couple things:
1. I doubt it's abnormal for federal prosecutors to not include some exculpatory evidence in their charging documents. I mean, that's not really their job.
2. This article sort of assumes the James Bond version of conspiracy, vs the Austin Powers version that David French nicely laid out in this article:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/jerome-corsi-roger-stone-and-the-austin-powers-theory-of-russian-collusion/3. Cohen kept Trump and his family informed of this potential deal during the campaign, after he basically secured the nomination, all the while Trump was praising Putin and simultaneously denying having any sort of relationship(business or otherwise) with Russia. I guess the best defense here is "Trump lies about everything".
4. There's always an assumption of bad faith on Mueller's part, which I think inevitably screws up any analysis of what he's doing. There's no good reason to believe Mueller laid out this information just to embarrass the president... I think he's telling us this story for a reason that we will better understand later.