Mueller made key errors that are letting Trump get away with Russia collusion: law professor

Robert Mueller made significant errors that are allowing President Donald Trump to get away with Russia collusion, according to a law professor.

Jed Shugerman, a Fordham University law professor and Mueller critic, argued in a column for The Daily Beast that the special counsel showed evidence but failed to state a conclusion that the Trump campaign criminally coordinated with Russia ahead of the 2016 election.

"Based on the facts he found, he should have identified Trump campaign felonies," Shugerman wrote. "Mueller’s errors meant that, first, he failed to conclude that the Trump campaign criminally coordinated with Russia; second, he failed to indict campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates for felony campaign coordination."

Shugerman argued that the third error Mueller made was failing to place 10 acts of Trump felony obstruction of justice in a compelling context with the other crimes, which caused those criminal actions by the president to fall flat with the public.

"On top of these errors, the former special counsel said he deliberately wrote the report to be unclear because it would be unfair to make clear criminal accusations against a president," Shugerman wrote.

Shugerman lays out a concise timeline of Manafort and Gates committing campaign crimes that he argues they should have been indicted for, including the sharing of polling data with Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik -- which the law professor argues forms the basis of charges for illegal coordination and either bribery conspiracy or defrauding the U.S.

"Even if one takes the most charitable interpretation of Manafort’s denial of coordination," Shugerman wrote, "Manafort is essentially confessing to conspiracy/quid pro quo. This is the Mueller Report in a microcosm: he has evidence that Manafort committed two different kinds of crimes, yet he bends over backward to a known liar to conclude that instead of both crimes, it was neither."

Shugerman lays the blame for the Mueller report's failure squarely on the former special counsel who submitted the investigative findings.

"The bottom line is that the Mueller Report is a failure not because of Congress or because of public apathy," Shugerman wrote, "but because it failed to get the law, the facts, or even the basics of writing right. When Mueller testifies before Congress on July 17, he should be pressed on all of this."