Russia investigation origins counter-narrative

rdf:langString Russia investigation origins counter-narrative

rdf:langString February 2022

rdf:langString This is about the Russian bounty program, not the election interference.

rdf:langString U.S. government investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, and the links between Russian intelligence and Trump associates, started with the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation (July 31, 2016, to May 17, 2017), and continued with the "Mueller investigation" (or Special Counsel investigation, 2017–2019) which was established after President Trump fired the director of the FBI James Comey, (raising suspicions of obstruction of justice). The Mueller investigation concluded that Russian interference was "sweeping and systematic" and "violated U.S. criminal law", and indicted Russian citizens and Russian organizations. The investigation "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign". The investigation resulted in charges against 34 individuals and 3 companies, 8 guilty pleas, and a conviction at trial. However it concluded that though the Trump campaign welcomed the Russian activities and expected to benefit from them, there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy or coordination charges against Trump or his associates, and that they were prevented from reaching a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed justice by a Justice Department guideline prohibiting the federal indictment of a sitting president. The Russia investigation origins counter-narrative, or Russia counter-narrative, is a narrative, or a conspiracy theory embraced by Donald Trump, Republican Party leaders, and right-wing conservatives attacking the legitimacy and conclusions of the investigations. The narrative includes conspiracy theories such as Spygate, accusations of a secretive, all-powerful elite "deep state" network, and other false and debunked claims. Trump in particular has attacked not only the origins but the conclusions of the investigation, and ordered a review of the Mueller report, which was conducted by attorney general William Barr – alleging there was a "deep state plot" to undermine him. He has claimed the investigations were an "illegal hoax", (they have been dubbed the Russia Collusion Hoax), and that the "real collusion" was between the Democrats and Russia – and later, Ukraine. However, a further investigation by the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed the intelligence community's claim that Putin's "interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election" in favor of Trump was unprecedented in its "manner and aggressiveness", and an investigation of the investigations by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found the origin of the FBI investigation was properly predicated on a legal and factual basis, and found no support for several conspiracy theories about the origin promoted by conservatives.