Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein
Mueller’s garbage report was released two months ago and his investigation into ‘Trump-Russia’ began over two years ago yet we still have not seen the unredacted ‘scope memo’ Rosenstein penned in August 2017.
Shortly after Rosenstein hijacked the Justice Department from Jeff Sessions and became the de facto Attorney General, he penned his first scope memo on May 17, 2017 authorizing Robert Mueller to investigate the so-called (non-existent) Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, authorized Mueller to investigate three areas: “i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; [and] iii) any other matters within the scope of [obstruction of justice laws].”
In the Spring of 2018, it was revealed that Rosenstein penned his second scope memo on August 2nd, 2017 and from what we have seen in the unredacted portions, he authorized Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate allegations that former Trump campaign chairman 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,” as well as allegations that Paul Manafort “committed a crime or crimes arising out of payments he received from the Ukrainian government before and during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych.”
It’s important to note that Rosenstein’s scope memo giving Mueller authorization to hunt down Manafort was 2 weeks after the FBI raided Manafort’s home looking for bank records.
To this day, that second ‘scope memo’ is redacted and only a handful of lawmakers have seen it.
In fact, Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee recently told Sean Hannity that he has finally seen the August 2017 ‘scope memo’ and suggested that Mueller’s investigation was based on Hillary Clinton’s phony dossier.
Now it turns out there is a mysterious third scope memo penned by then-DAG Rod Rosenstein on October 20, 2017, according to Byron York of the Washington Examiner:
Now there is more. The Justice Department has recently allowed members of some congressional committees to view the scope memos, and out of that has come the news that there was a third scope memo to Mueller. Dated October 20, 2017, its contents remain a secret. But its very existence suggests something was going on behind the scenes in the relationship of Mueller and his supervisors at the Justice Department.
Was Mueller heading off in new directions, with Rosenstein belatedly giving him authorization to proceed? Was Mueller proposing to investigate people or events not known when he was originally appointed? Was there something else?
At the moment, the third scope memo, like most of the second scope memo, remains a secret. It is unclear whether all that secrecy is warranted. Perhaps the memos concern matters that are still ongoing that need to remain under wraps. On the other hand, Mueller announced that his investigation into conspiracy and coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign — the core area of his jurisdiction — was over and done. “The office has concluded its investigation into links and coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign,” the Mueller report said.
