Professor Jed Shugerman wrote an op-ed featured in The New York Times discussing the findings of the Mueller report as it pertains to evidentiary standards.
But the opposite is also true: The Mueller report does establish that, in fact, members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.
How is this possible? It’s the difference between the report’s criminal prosecution standard of proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” and a lower standard — the preponderance standard of “more likely than not” — relevant for counterintelligence and general parlance about facts, and closer to the proper standard for impeachment.
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The report is also a fact-finding investigation. In its introductory statement on evidence, it explains, “when substantial, credible evidence enabled the Office to reach a conclusion with confidence, the report states that the investigation established that certain actions or events occurred.” This evidentiary standard seems similar to the “preponderance of the evidence,” the more-likely-than-not standard in civil cases and arguably for an impeachment.By the preponderance of evidence standard, the report contains ample evidence to establish conspiracy and coordination with the Russian government, sometimes through intermediaries, other times through a Russian spy.