According to the Wall Street Journal, Mitt Romney would be Secretary of State if it were not for Russian influence. Â
In an article published Thursday morning the Journal reported:
“Weeks after Donald Trump was elected president, Russia-backed online “trolls†flooded social media to try to block Mitt Romney from securing a top job in the incoming administration, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.â€
The Russian operatives called Romney “a two-headed snake†and “a globalist puppet†according to social media posts reviewed by the Journal.  They also organized rallies against Romney and circulated petitions trying to block his appointment to America’s top diplomatic position,.
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This new report confirms suspicions that many people have had that Rex Tillerson was hand-picked by Vladimir Putin to be Trump’s choice as Secretary of State.  The only qualification Tillerson had for the job is that he was chief executive of one of the world’s largest oil companies — Exxon Mobil — and that his company had been working with Putin and the Russian oligarchs to expand oil drilling in Russia’s arctic regions.  It was well known that Tillerson had a close relationship with Putin while he was Exxon Mobil’s CEO.
Romney, on the other hand, was not a friend of Russia, or of Putin.  In fact, during the 2012 presidential campaign, he called Russia the United States’ “top geopolitical foe.†Putin wanted to install not only a Russia-friendly president but also a Russia-friendly Secretary of State.  This has allowed Putin and Russia to expand their global strategy to increase their wealth and power.
“It’s not surprising that the Russian troll operation tried to do whatever it could to prevent Mr. Romney from being secretary of state,†Ryan Williams, a former Romney spokesman, told the Journal.
Congressional investigators and researchers have found that during the 2016 election campaign thousands of Russian-linked accounts spread divisive content on social media. Â There is clear evidence that Russian bots and trolls created social discord and influenced the U.S. elections through such platforms as Twitter and Facebook.
The Journal’s article followed an article in the March 12th issue of  ‘The New Yorker’ which had previously reported that Russia had attempted to influence Trump to appoint a pro-Russia Secretary of State.
All of this new information is providing Mueller with additional evidence he needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to the American people that Trump and his team were complicit with Putin and Russia in working to influence America’s elections.
Even though “collusion†is not a federal crime, it IS a crime to conspire with foreign countries to illegally influence the election processes of the United States. And it looks like there definitely was a conspiracy between Putin and the Trump campaign team to elect an illegitimate president.
It is becoming very clear that the Mueller investigation is leading to some new indictments which will probably be released very soon. Â We can also expect new information to be released to the public showing a criminal conspiracy between foreign countries and the Trump campaign.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
