A majority of Americans — 59 percent — say in a new survey that
Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia and the 2016 campaign has not yet uncovered evidence of any crimes, even though in reality, Mueller has already obtained
five guilty pleas and 17 criminal indictments.
That’s according to a
new survey from Navigator Research that looks at Americans’ view of the probe and ought to reshape the debate over the Russia investigation’s role in both media coverage and Democratic Party messaging.
Navigator Research
To be as clear about this as possible, Mueller’s investigation has absolutely uncovered evidence of crimes:
- Michael Flynn, former national security adviser and a key Trump campaign surrogate, pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators in December.
- Rick Gates, a top aide on the Trump campaign and a longtime business partner of Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty to false statements and one count of conspiracy.
- George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser on the campaign, pleaded guilty to false statements.
- Alexander van der Zwaan, a London-based Dutch attorney, pleaded guilty to making false statements about his contacts with Gates and an unnamed Ukrainian.
- 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies have been indicted on conspiracy charges, and some on identity theft charges, related to Russian social media and hacking efforts.
- Richard Pinedo, a California resident, has pleaded guilty to an identity theft chargerelated to the Russian indictments.
- Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chair, is facing two separate indictments — one in DCabout conspiracy, money laundering, false statements, and failure to disclose foreign assets; and one in Virginia about tax, financial, and bank fraud charges.