Now or never

In his Dec. 5 op-ed, “What is Trump trying to cover up?,” Eugene Robinson stated, “We know that Trump has apparently obstructed justice to try to halt investigation into what happened.” This statement is incorrect because Robinson, as with virtually every other thoughtful political writer, used the wrong tense of the verb “obstruct.”

If President Trump’s actions obstructed justice in the beginning of his presidency, his continued public dialogue regarding the FBI investigation means that he is still obstructing justice. Even if we generously assume he did not obstruct justice early on, and that he was unaware of his campaign staff ’s dealings with Russia, do we think that 11 months later, Trump remains unaware? This would mean that a man whose preternatural temperament demands that he know what every pundit says about him would also have the ability to allow his staff to keep their campaign actions secret from him.

Only by being completely ignorant of the events surrounding the Russians and Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, could Trump not intend to obstruct justice with his recent public interactions. It seems much more likely that Trump is continuing to obstruct justice.