It does seem like this investigation is defining a pool of suspects (the Trump campaign staff) and then looking for any and all crimes that they may have (ever?) committed rather than having evidence of specific crimes (election rigging) and then looking for suspects.
Nonsense. The investigation began with things like:
Russia hacked the DNC and meddled in the 2016 election.
However, team trump was acting suspicious, and turned around and gave investigators cause to investigate them in these ways:
- team trump helped in some way with the DNC email hack/dissemination
- team trump was hot and heavy about lifting Russian sanctions and fluffing Putin, and lying about that coordination for reasons unknown
- culminating in Trump firing Comey to interfere with the investigation
All three of which revolve around crimes they are no doubt looking into. All of those have evidence. None of those are smoking guns.
Has right wing media been telling you that the only justification for criminal investigation is finding a smoking gun? Good grief.
How can you not know this? Where are you getting information?
Conspiracy (helping to disseminating the hacked emails, even if it was simply with timing)
Conspiracy (some form of quid pro quo with Russia scratching mutual backs)
Obstruction (firing Comey to interfere with the investigation)
Furthermore, it's standard practice in such white collar investigations, where the smoking gun may be an off-the record face to face or phone conversation that is not available, to circle up all players from the bottom up, and find if any have been committing crimes that allow prosecutors to use plea deals to encourage their cooperation. You need witness cooperation because that is often the primary source of information as you go towards the top of such crime rings. Why do you think Trump avoids emails and still uses a personal phone?
