Count I - The Trump Campaign Lied About Contacts With Russia

Charge A. The Trump Campaign benefited, through WikiLeaks, from the Russian hacking of the Democratic emails, and sought further information about the leaks, while simultaneously denying that Russia was responsible for the hacks.

This allegation does not support a finding of obstruction of justice It doesn't matter whether the Trump Campaign may or may not have benefited indirectly, and it doesn't matter if Trump expressed skepticism about the hacks. What matters is whether there was a conspiracy. This is a rehash of the Part I of the Mueller report which found that there was no conspiracy.

Furthermore, there was an "innocent" explanation for the interest in Russia. Trump wanted to change US policy towards Russia, such as dropping sanctions. And Trump wanted to have the investigation dropped because of concerns that it would de-legitimize his election.

And there was a "not-so innocent" explanation. It is natural to seek dirt on one's opponents, and it isn't necessarily a crime to do so. There is a further charge related to this, about the June 9, 2016 meeting.

However, this does not mean that there weren't any improper contacts with Russia. The criminal case against Roger Stone continues, but he is presumed innocent. Paul Manafort is already in prison, although for other things (fraud and tax evasion). The Michael Cohen situation is the most disturbing, and this is reviewed in detail in Charge L.

There is a related accusation that Trump was personally benefiting through continued business ties to Russia while denying this. The only possible business tie was about discussions about the Trump Tower and whether they continued. "The President-Elect continued to deny any connections to Russia", whereas Michael Cohen said that efforts to build the tower continued until June 2016.

Trump is parsing words here. He had no investments in Russia, but he did have possible business interests. He should have said, "Yea we were talking about building a tower in Moscow but decided not to, that is my only connection." There is nothing wrong with a businessman talking about building a tower, but he could have been clearer. This doesn't mean that he lied about political contacts with Russia, which he didn't.