The Special Counsel investigation into Russia collusion also looks to be tapping water from a stone.
The sprawling investigation is also centered on proving, at least in the abstract, something that's poorly defined: What do collusion or coordination look like?
It came after Peter Cory, a judge of international standing appointed to look into collusion, discovered in a matter of months secret records on Finucane that had eluded Stevens.
But despite many protracted investigations into sectors such as banking and supermarkets that attract consumers' ire, the OFT has struggled to find the kind of smoking-gun evidence of collusion it needed to look as terrifying as it and the government wished.
"Theres regulatory concern as to when these exchanges begin to look like collusion," says AMR Research analyst Bob Parker.
"If you take all of the information that appears to be out there together it does look like collusion with police officers and other agencies to prevent what is a straightforward criminal case," he added.
A Senate committee looking into Russian collusion came up empty, meaning Vladimir Putin looks right when he says that he and his cohorts did not orchestrate a coup against Hillary Clinton to elect Trump president.
Adapted from the article "When Negotiation Looks Like Collusion" in the October 2013 issue of the Negotiation newsletter.
"Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone looking for trouble," Trump asserted.
Boris Johnson has accused David Cameron of "what looks like collusion" with big business leaders to win their support for the remain campaign in exchange for favourable consideration in the awarding of government contracts.
