Simply because he can? As in it's his constitutional authority to do so? At least that would be good enough for me. But also neither of those crimes have to do with colluding with Russia to affect the 2016 election. It's a fishing expedition by Mueller, and yes, his expansive mandate does authorize him to prosecute unrelated crimes that he uncovers in the process, just as again the President is authorized to pardon them.
Thanks for the reply.
OK so you've granted Mueller's mandate is expansive.
What I don't understand, and I'm really trying to, is how Flynn's admission can be written off as having nothing to do with potentially colluding with Russia. In both instances his lies were about direct requests for specific actions by the Russian government - the more topical of the two regarding U.S. sanctions - that Russia shouldn't retaliate because team Trump was going to make them go away. As we know Russia went on to comply.
Yes this happened while Flynn was part of Trump's transition team and the subject appears to be only the Dec 2016 sanctions. But first of all, why would he lie at all :dunno:...and how do we know for certain how far back this kind of bartering may have gone, and how much more expansive it possibly was, particularly since the more disabling set of sanctions against Russia had been in place since 2014, and were the ones Putin really wanted to see lifted? I'm hoping for a definitive answer to that question, and will accept the results of the investigation either way; whether it exonerates Trump or not.
It does seem telling to me that when the Republican dominated congress overwhelmingly approved expanding those 2016 sanctions they hamstrung Trump's ability to alter or impact them, indicating zero trust in his objectivity or judgement related to them.
And why was Kushner involved in meetings and communication with executives from a Russian bank that was on our government's sanctioned list? I'm thinking that's the next domino to fall, unless you have an explanation that can clear the air for me on that one.