ABC is reporting that Erik Prince has turned over his phones and computer as part of agreeing to cooperate with the Special Investigator’s probe into the Trump Russia Investigation.
Erik Prince is thick with Trump ties, from campaign donations to friendships (how else to explain sister’s service as the Education Secretary who has no experience in education?). But, he is also ex-elite military, and thus trained in tactics that near mirror those utilized by spy agencies throughout the world. The smoking gun is not likely coming from Prince’s phones.
But – you knew there was a “but” coming – phones and computers do much more than preserve emails and texts, at least they do when in the hands of those who have the training to tease out finer details, such as location, location, location, right down to a lunch meeting he might not have recalled (honestly not recalled) while cooperating. Pinning Prince down to a particular location, and I don’t mean a particular city. which hotel or restaurant, can prove his presence in places where other “odd” attendees might be found.
We all know about the Seychelles meetings. Boy is it ever inconvenient to be a Trump power player vacationing at the same time and place, literally, as the head of a Russian bank. And, not just any head of a bank, one that is a product of the KGB. Oh, and the soon-to-be Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, yes, strange coincidences abound.
But, we didn’t know that Prince perhaps lied in his testimony to the Senate intelligence about contacts with the Trump campaign.
[T]he report noted, the Blackwater founder arranged a meeting between the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and Arab officials who were interested in helping his father win the election.
Oops. That is important.
We know that Mueller purportedly believes that he does not have the lawful right to indict and prosecute the president for acts committed while president, such as the meeting in the Seychelles. Mueller believes the constitution speaks directly to the remedy for those actions, impeachment and then trial in the Senate.
But, acts occurring prior to the election, that is a different. Many experts believe that Mueller does believe he can indict a sitting president on those particular acts. Open questions remain as to whether Mueller would head straight into criminal proceedings or await the end of Trump’s tenure to prosecute such criminal charges.
It also brings into play significant questions about sister. Betsy Devos is as unqualified a cabinet secretary appointed in a long time. Pence had to cast the vote to carry her over. Why was Trump so determined to make her a cabinet member? Is it because Trump needed to keep the family “deep” inside the administration as part insurance-policy? Knowing that questions would eventually be asked as to why Prince seemed to show up with Russians and Saudis in odd places?
We can’t know yet.
One last thing. Depending upon when Prince became aware that he might be a witness to the investigation, or charged himself, a phone that was scrubbed, or computer acquired “out of the blue” on March 1st 2017, with no records transferred from an older version could become the foundation for a tampering with evidence charge, providing strong motivation for Prince to get every single detail right.
Regardless, in the global investigation of all things Trump-Russia, Prince is one big ole’ fish as they call ’em down here. He truly could have evidence that devastates Trump. We’ll see if he does, eventually, of that I am certain.
