At the beginning of this month DoJ released a copy of Rod Rosenstein's "scope memo" for Team Mueller, the one dated August 2, 2017 (Rod Rosenstein's Second "Scope Memo" For Team Mueller). The released copy was largely unredacted--in fact, as regards the well known "four Americans" (Flynn, Page, Manafort, Papadopoulos) who were the original subjects of Crossfire Hurricane, the scope memo was totally unredacted. But there was a fifth subject, and that person was totally redacted. Speculation as to the identity of this 'Fifth Man' centered on familiar persons such as Michael Flynn, Jr.
This evening the NYT is reporting:
F.B.I. Once Investigated Trump Campaign Adviser’s Ties to Egypt
Investigators scrutinized ties between Walid Phares and the Egyptian government. He was never charged with a crime.
Wow! "Ties" to Egypt--that sounds pretty serious, and yet he was never charged with a crime. Isn't there some statute in the criminal code that criminalizes "ties"? Am I missing something? Was Walid Phares that mysterious 'Fifth Man'?
While the NYT doesn't offer an absolutely categorical answer to that last question, they certainly hint very strongly that that is the case.
The F.B.I. and the special counsel’s office investigated whether a former Trump campaign adviser secretly worked for the Egyptian government to influence the incoming administration in the months before President Trump took office, according to several people familiar with the inquiry.
The former adviser, Walid Phares, was one of five Trump campaign aides investigated over their ties to foreign countries. Robert S. Mueller III took over the investigations after he was appointed special counsel in May 2017.
The decision to investigate Mr. Phares was based on highly classified information, the people said. Investigators examined the matter for months but ultimately brought no charges.
Though Mr. Mueller’s primary mandate was to examine Russia’s covert operation to sabotage the election and whether any Trump associates conspired, several Trump campaign advisers and transition team members elicited concerns at the F.B.I. because of their overseas contacts and the possibility that a variety of foreign governments might have been trying to secretly use the advisers to advance their agendas.
If you're wondering whether, once Phares signed on to the Trump campaign, the FBI started scrambling to find out: Who is this guy? Who is Walid Phares? The answer to that question is, Probably not.
