# A Thread for the Mueller Investigation Results and Outcomes (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 28, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093 "2017-10-28T20:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 447
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8923 "2019-01-13T20:03:44Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > …What about that translator, what happens if he “tells all”?.. More to the point: can the translator be subpoenaed and made to tell all? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8924 "2019-01-13T20:07:43Z")
Does anyone know who it was? Seems an obvious thing, but have never noticed anyone having an actual name. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8925 "2019-01-13T20:20:04Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > More to the point: can the translator be subpoenaed and made to tell all? I don’t know the name, but it is a woman, I believe. Subpoenaing a translator sets an ugly precedent and I don’t believe it’s been done before. However, since the Tangerine Twit went on one of his syncophant’s propaganda shows this morning and said that “anyone” could know what happened at the meeting and it was “up for grabs,” these statements may open the door to make an argument favorable to issuing a subpoena to a translator in this case. Thank fuck he is so damn dumb. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8926 "2019-01-13T20:21:53Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’m sure that Putin would be happy to help Trump find Alaska on the map of newly acquired neo-soviet territory. It was only rented and Trump has to give it back, like Britain giving up Hong Kong. The same thing. Sad, but true. Very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8927 "2019-01-13T20:31:14Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Does anyone know who it was? Seems an obvious thing, but have never noticed anyone having an actual name. Marina Gross, State Department translator: > [@](#): > > Growing numbers of lawmakers are calling for Marina Gross, the State Department interpreter who shepherded Trump through his one-on-one meeting with Putin, to appear before Congress. Gross was the only other member of the US delegation in the room during the leaders’ meeting, which lasted over 90 minutes. > > Little is known about Gross, a State Department employee with years of experience translating at the highest levels. She has been photographed alongside former first lady Laura Bush. Gross also sat alongside former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his April 2017 visit to Moscow. [https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/trump-russian-translator-spotlight/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/trump-russian-translator-spotlight/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8928 "2019-01-13T20:35:19Z")
Wildly musing here, but once Trump runs away from the US, Putin would have no further use for him, right? So Trump applies for asylum in Russia and promptly gets knocked back, can’t go back to the US thus forcing him to roam the world endlessly looking for a safe space. Well, a girl can dream can’t she? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8929 "2019-01-13T20:38:34Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > … > I think that after Trump defects to Russia, his age catches up with him surprisingly quickly, and he dies with absolutely no suspicion, allowing his followers to follow him in spirit, but not in tweet. > > He will be far more useful to Putin as a martyr than as a president in exile, and I think that Putin would be happy to arrange that. I don’t think he can defect to anywhere. Isn’t he guarded 24/7/365 by the Secret Service? He can’t just sneak off now. He’s pretty much under surveillance all the time. I bet they know when he’s on the potty. That kinda gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8930 "2019-01-13T20:43:26Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > I don’t think he can defect to anywhere. Isn’t he guarded 24/7/365 by the Secret Service? He can’t just sneak off now. > He’s pretty much under surveillance all the time. \*\*I bet they know when he’s on the potty. > \*\* > > That kinda gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. There’s an agent monitoring Twitter 24/7. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8931 "2019-01-13T20:47:55Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > There’s an agent monitoring Twitter 24/7. Sadly, I don’t know if that is a joke or not. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8932 "2019-01-13T21:03:43Z")
If you were an interpreter and were in the room when they were discussing conspiring together, wouldn’t you inform someone? I assume there is some sort of interpreter code or something. But still, wouldn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8933 "2019-01-13T21:23:17Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > The only question is, and I don’t know the answer to this at all, is whether he cares enough about his family to take them down with him as well. It is slightly possible that he will see the damage he will do to even the ones who are not involved, and decide to back off and step down. Then there is the possibility that he doesn’t give a fuck about anyone, even his family, and he will ruin them as he desperately tries to claw his way out of the hole he is still digging. > > Serious question, do you think he gives a shit about them? I think he does. There a few things I am aware of that makes me relatively certain that he tries to keep Ivanka mostly free of their criminal work. Not successfully, but more-so. But we also already know that, whatever desire to protect his family that he might have, his ego will override it. I’m sure that several of them knew and made him aware that the instant they were looking like real contenders for the Presidency that their businesses were going to start being investigated by just everyone, and that all sorts of criminal stuff would come out. And yet…he kept going. Manafort was revealed as a person strongly likely to be compromised by Russia. Trump, friends with the guy for 30 years, would know well enough that it’s possible that he was. If he cut ties with the guy, maybe people wouldn’t keep investigating him, and he would stay out of jail. But nope, they keep chatting for another year or two, making everyone keep looking at Manafort. (Granted, he was probably boned no matter what.) And, of course, if Manafort was the Alpha and the Omega of collusion, and it never went any further than him, then Trump kept that all attached to himself by continuing to associate with the guy - which he stupidly chose to do. When Trump first met James Comey, he had an FBI officer looking him straight in the eye as he had described to him a series of accusations by a credible source about possible, criminal, traitorous activity that he and his people might have undertaken. Any non-idiot would know that the FBI was going to be investigating that shit, and whether that part was true or not, that they would be going through his financials and everything else he had ever done. And when you’re someone who spent his life working with the mafia and setting up shell companies to practice self-dealing, and setting up charities to rip off well-meaning people, that should make you go into deal-making mode immediately, if you want to protect your family. After Trump fired James Comey and he found out that his own party and his own employees had instituted a hardcore, public investigation of him, headed by King Arthur’s vengeful ghost, he should have gone begging to Mike Pence and asked him if he would only save his family if Trump promised to resign, move to Somalia, and live in a hut in the middle of nowhere and practice chastity and penance for the rest of his life. But he didn’t do any of that. Or, at least, not that I know of. Conceivably, he asked Ryan, McConnell, Burr, and Pence if they’d let him go free and they all just told him that he’d have to stay and watch his life get torn apart piece by piece, and that they would help him to execute the policy that the people of the United States voted for, but otherwise handicapping him and overriding him on anything that they didn’t trust came from his own head. But I’m pretty damn sure that didn’t happen. Trump isn’t just a corrupt criminal. While he is a natural genius at self-promotion, and at least somewhat good at small-to-medium sized white collar crime and corrupt dealings, he is otherwise a complete moron who simply can’t sit still long enough to learn anything, can’t control his urges, loves to get into risky situations, can’t view the world through any lens other than appearances, and consequently is shackled to his ego. Whatever strengths he has, they’ve have all historically been insufficient to prevent him from repeatedly shooting himself in the foot. The only thing which has saved him has been that his dad was actually successful, and Trump didn’t have an extra decade to fully deplete his personal share of it. We can only hope that there are no such similar circumstance that will allow him to save himself from his legal predicaments. But so far the man does seem to have been blessed with an equal amount of luck as he was born with an ability to destroy himself. Really my only remaining hope that the powers of good will triumph is King Arthur’s vengeful ghost. All of the politicians have been disappointingly stupid and/or corrupt and self-absorbed in themselves or in their party. > [@](#): > > I think that after Trump defects to Russia, his age catches up with him surprisingly quickly, and he dies with absolutely no suspicion, allowing his followers to follow him in spirit, but not in tweet. > > He will be far more useful to Putin as a martyr than as a president in exile, and I think that Putin would be happy to arrange that. Technically, I think he’ll go to Turkey, not Russia. Russia won’t want him because they will want to retain plausible deniability in order for them to not completely get shitcanned by the rest of the world. It’s like after 9/11, whatever the laws of the planet may be, no one would have said word one if the US decided to obliterate any particular country that they thought might be involved. If Trump goes to Russia, the US will command all the good will of every country outside of North Korea and Iran, to try and make Russia’s life suck and continue to suck until Trump is handed back or proved to have been melted in a vat of acid in the middle of the Red Square, on live stream. And Trump wouldn’t want to go to Russia, because he knows that they care about the sanctions a lot more than they care about their ability to continue to troll the US. They boot Putin and trade Trump back in a heartbeat once the wall of misery and despair is built around their borders. Turkey has gotten a lot out of Trump, they’re relatively neutral to both Russia and the US, and he has property there. It’s about as good an option as he has. Or, at least, maybe he can dump his family there and try to go into hiding somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8934 "2019-01-13T21:32:44Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > I don’t think he can defect to anywhere. Isn’t he guarded 24/7/365 by the Secret Service? He can’t just sneak off now. > He’s pretty much under surveillance all the time. I bet they know when he’s on the potty. > > That kinda gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. My expectation would be that the Secret Service agents who are appointed to protect the President are the types who will watch the President drunkenly molest a group of tween girls, while smoking crack, and yet refuse to answer anything at a Congressional hearing or will even be willing help to come up with a cover story and false documentary alibis to protect him. I mean, maybe I’m wrong or maybe they’ve decided to be a little less lenient in the case of Trump, but I’m not strongly optimistic about the Secret Service. Even if they’re all under the direct orders of Robert Mueller, and ready to tackle Trump if he does even the slightest thing to worry them, it’s just a matter of reality that humans are fallible and Trump, now with two years of knowledge on how they operate and what routines they follow, would know how to sneak through the cracks. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8935 "2019-01-13T21:36:25Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > …thus forcing him to roam the world endlessly looking for a safe space. This would be the perfect fit. [Trash Fight: The long voyage of New York’s unwanted garbage barge](https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/trash-fight-long-voyage-new-york-unwanted-garbage-barge-article-1.812895) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8936 "2019-01-13T21:58:32Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > …Subpoenaing a translator sets an ugly precedent… Well, this is the administration of ugly precedents. Not to mention the Ugly President. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8937 "2019-01-13T21:58:39Z")
I hear the Ecuadorian embassy is homey. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8938 "2019-01-13T22:40:14Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Well, this is the administration of ugly precedents. Not to mention the Ugly President. A fair point, for sure. But I hate to think about how any future Republican congress – which there should never again be – would abuse the precedent in a partisan way. That’s the concern, that their role would be politicized. Gosh. Which side views _everything_ through a partisan lens? > [@susan](#): > > I hear the Ecuadorian embassy is homey. And you can keep cats. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8939 "2019-01-13T23:00:42Z")
It would be only polite that Il Douche thank Julian Assange in person for his role in giving him the Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8940 "2019-01-13T23:04:50Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > … Technically, I think he’ll go to Turkey, not Russia. > … I think your entire post is well-reasoned and your conclusions plausible. Note, however, that while the US does have an extradition treaty with Turkey, it has none with Saudi Arabia. So my prediction would be that Trump will move to a lavish palace, courtesy of Mohammad bin Salman. Dude owes him. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8941 "2019-01-13T23:20:19Z")
Turkey might be less inclined to take him, now that he’s threatened them with economic sanctions. > [@](#): > > Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions. Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone… > ---
**Author:** ![Dacien](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dacien/32/5663_2.png) [@Dacien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dacien)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/8942 "2019-01-13T23:24:32Z")
I can’t tell if people are joking about Trump defecting to another country or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=446) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=448)