With the Russia inquiry, there’s plenty to see here
President Trump and his acolytes keep telling Americans to pay no heed to allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in last year’s election.
Former chief strategist Steve Bannon told 60 Minutes the investigation is a “waste of time” and a “farce.” Trump’s tweets have variously described the Russia investigation as fake news, fabricated or a “total scam.”
It’s all reminiscent of the old Naked Gun comedy, where police detective Frank Drebin stands in front of an exploding house full of fireworks and tells a gaggle of observers: “Nothing to see here, please disperse.”
Actually, the longer special prosecutor Robert Mueller, Congress and the news media look at this scandal, the more Roman candles light up the sky. Even as Russia news has been eclipsed recently by hurricanes and North Korean missile tests, explosive new evidence keeps emerging:
uAt the same time Trump was running for the Republican presidential nomination, his business organization was secretly pursuing a multimillion dollar real estate deal in Russia, an adversarial nation. “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Russian-born business associate Felix Sater gushed in an email to a Trump lawyer over the Trump Tower Moscow project he was promoting. “I will get all of (Putin’s) team to buy in on this.” The project never got off the ground, but not for a lack of trying by Team Trump.
uRussia’s attack on American democracy went beyond the hacking and leaking of Democratic campaign emails, which were discussed several times last summer by longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, who denies collusion. The meddling also included efforts to compromise the computer election-related systems of 21 states; the spreading of fake, divisive news by Kremlin-run or Kremlin-financed media outlets; and the purchase of $100,000 in ads on Facebook. All were aimed at favoring Trump, harming Hillary Clinton or generally creating divisions within the electorate.
uCountless meetings took place between Russian proxies and Trump campaign officials, who conveniently forgot or failed to mention the meetings until presented with proof they took place. Among the most curious was the get-together on June 9, 2016, among Donald Trump Jr., then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a Russian lawyer to hear about potential dirt on Clinton. “I love it,” Donald Jr. enthused in an email anticipating the meeting. He later said nothing came of it, but it sure smells like attempted collusion.
uThe saga of former national security adviser Michael Flynn grows ever more tawdry, with reports that Flynn served as a consultant on Middle East nuclear power plants involving Russian companies and that his son, Michael G. Flynn, is also a subject of Mueller’s investigation.
Mueller’s potential targets of opportunity — as he convenes a grand jury, issues subpoenas and conducts raids — are multiplying by the week. There’s the broader Russian election-interference campaign. Then there’s Flynn and his son, as well as Manafort, Donald Jr., Trump’s family finances and more. This fireworks show continues to get bigger, and smoke from it is wafting over the Trump White House.