Trump-Russia play has been a tough act for U.S.

The Trump-Russia story is a drama that has unfolded in four acts.

Act I: Denial

George Stephanopoulos: “Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?”

Paul Manafort: “No, there are not. That’s absurd.” — July 24, 2016

Donald Trump: “I have nothing to do with Russia. I don’t have any jobs in Russia. I’m all over the world, but we’re not involved in Russia.” — July 26, 2016

Hope Hicks: “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.” — Nov. 11, 2016

Chris Wallace asks if there were any contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Mike Pence: “Of course not. Why would there be?” — Jan. 15, 2017

Act II: Contacts Discovered

“There were contacts,” according to a Russian official. — New York Times, Nov. 10, 2016

“Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians.” — Reuters, May 18, 2017

“Members of the Trump campaign interacted with Russians at least 32 times.” — The Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2017

Act III: Russia’s Role

“Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.” — U.S. Intelligence Community assessment, Jan. 6, 2017

Russian agents purchased advertising on Facebook and distributed inflammatory posts that reached at least 126 million Facebook users. The Russians published more than 131,000 messages on Twitter and uploaded more than 1,000 videos on YouTube. — Statements by the companies prepared for congressional hearings, October 2017.

Act IV: Confession

Trump acknowledges that even as his presidential campaign was underway in 2016, his business was in discussions with Russia about building a Trump property in Moscow. — New York Times interview, Jan. 31, 2019

Paul Manafort tells prosecutors on undisclosed date or dates that he had repeated talks with a Russian, Konstantin Kilimnik, who is believed to have ties to Russian military intelligence. Kilimnik flew to New York for one crucial dinner meeting Aug. 2, 2016, while Manafort was Trump’s campaign chairman, and they discussed a peace proposal for Ukraine that would resolve the dispute over Putin’s intervention there. This issue was high on Putin’s agenda.

Manafort may also have handed over confidential polling data to Kilimnik; it’s not clear if this could have been used for Russian interference in the U.S. election.

A federal prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann, says Feb. 4, 2019, “This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating.”

Manafort and Kilimnik left the Aug. 2 meeting separately by different exits.

To the Audience

A recent Washington Post/Schar poll found that 43 percent of Americans still are skeptical Russia interfered with the 2016 election. That should no longer be in doubt.

What isn’t clear is the role the Trump campaign played, if any, in that interference.

Unlike a play, the stakes here are enormous: This drama is about the integrity of America’s political system.