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| credit: Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer BC Idonwanna sez; Red Queen want off with his head! |
Hair Further, perhaps, is running out of rope. From the days of "no collusion" to nights of "collusion is not a crime" his PR mantra has definitely disintegrated a few notches. Technically he is correct, there is no federal crime labeled "collusion" in the book. But there is a felony provided for foreign nationals--GRU agents in this case--attempting to influence a federal election. And then there are the attendant legal concepts of conspiracy or aiding and abetting. Even 'Gouli' ought to know that. A criminal conspiracy is a prosecutor's playground because it does not take much evidence to prove one--simply an agreement between two or more persons to a common plan or scheme to achieve an illegal end, and an act to further that plan. See 18 USC ℥371.
Ok you plead, suppose Mueller cannot prove even a conspiracy to illegally influence the election, and Mr. Yuge's act in furtherance of it--such as sending his son-in-law to a Trump Tower meeting with a connected Russian lawyer. What about aiding and abetting an illegal attempt to influence the US presidential election by foreign nationals? In this scenario, Mr Yuge would have to: one, have a criminal intent to illegally influence the election outcome--as in 'I want Russia to find those missing Hillary emails'--and two, commit a substantial step toward committing the crime such as sending a representative to the aforementioned meeting. Either one of these established criminal law theories should be enough to fill the constitutional rubric of "high crimes and misdemeanors". So let the Kabouki theater on the Potomac commence.