Educating Republicans: If the Mueller report has been submitted and there is nothing about Trump, why are the investigations continuing?

On Quora, Trump supporter David Smith asks:

If the Mueller report has been submitted and there is nothing about Trump, why are the investigations continuing?

I reply: 

Oh, sweet summer child. Such an assumption clearly indicates that you’ve not read any of the Mueller Report, which even in its redacted version shows a disturbing picture of not just Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential election with a specific goal in mind, i.e., to help Donald Trump win said election, but also of links between members of the Trump Campaign and representatives of organizations and oligarchs with ties to the Russian government. Here’s an excerpt of some of its conclusions:

That fall, two federal agencies jointly announced that the Russian government "directed recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including US political organizations," and, [t]hese thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process." After the election, in late December 2016, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for having interfered in the election. By early 2017, several congressional committees were examining Russia's interference in the election.

Within the Executive Branch, these investigatory efforts ultimately led to the May 2017 appointment of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III. The order appointing the Special Counsel authorized him to investigate "the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election," including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign. As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Counsel's investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

You see, the Mueller Investigation was never aimed at removing Donald Trump from the Presidency, nor was it the McCarthy-like “witch hunt” that right-wing Trump supporters do so love to depict it as. The investigation’s focus was always on Russian interference in our elections in 2016 to help get Trump elected.

Note that Mueller’s team points out that there’s no clear evidence that Trump or members of his campaign actively conspired with Russia in this endeavor. However, the Report does point out that the campaign had rather extensive connections with Russia through individuals such as Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Mike Flynn; that Trump staff knew Russia could steal information that would hurt the opposition, and that the campaign would benefit from said stolen information.

The lack of physical evidence - the absence of a Watergate-like “smoking gun” email or taped conversation - does not, ipso facto, mean that there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Conspiracies by their very nature are incredibly difficult to prove, especially since the participants would be keenly aware of the consequences should they be discovered. Thus, it appears that everyone, from Trump’s son Donald, Jr. to the Russian hackers involved, was extremely good at covering his or her tracks.

That’s why the investigations continue. And that’s why President Trump does not want us to see the unredacted Mueller Report.