DISINFO: No evidence of Russian meddling in 2016 US presidential election
SUMMARY
When Mueller’s final report came out, in the spring of 2019, it found zero evidence of “collusion” but insisted there had been Russian “meddling” in the election. The only trouble was that he had no proof of meddling, basing it entirely on US intelligence community “assessments” and his own indictments.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denying Moscow's interference in the 2016 US presidential election and, by extension, other well-documented instances of such meddling in Western democracies (see the section on Elections). The Mueller report is not based on the January 2017 ICA (intelligence community assessment). It arrives at similar conclusions, but is based on its own body of investigative and counterintelligence evidence-gathering. During its two-year investigation, "the [Special Counsel's] Office issued more than 2,800 subpoeanas; [...] executed nearly 500 search-and-seizure warrants; [...] obtained more than 230 orders for communications records; [...] and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses, including almost 80 before a hgrand jury" (Mueller report, p. 13). Moreover, the report did not conclude that the probe had found "zero evidence of 'collusion,'" simply because that is not what Mueller's team was looking for. The report states that collusion is "not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in [US] federal criminal law," (p. 2) and therefore gathering evidence of it fell outside the scope of the Special Counsel investigation. The aim of the probe was not merely to ascertain contacts between the Trump Campaign and Russia-linked individuals during the election period, but to establish whether these interactions were deliberate enough on the part of Trump Campaign officials to sustain charges of conspiracy (ibid). Mueller's report explicitly identifies "numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign" (p. 9). Furthermore, the Mueller report decisively concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 election was “sweeping and systemic.” For a factsheet of key conclusions, see here.