The Alleged Collusion of Donald Trump, Jr.

Up until now, I have held the belief that the Russians DID try to influence our election, but I did NOT believe that President Trump personally colluded with the Russians. I believed it was LIKELY that members of his staff colluded, but had seen no direct evidence of any collusion. 

I have stated that the Russian Investigation is VERY IMPORTANT because we need to understand what they did in order to prevent them from doing it again.  I have NEVER stated that the primary reason for the investigation is to invalidate President Trump’s presidency.  Regardless of whether the Russians interfered or not, Donald Trump WAS elected President and IS the President.

If it could later be provided that members of his staff DID collude with the Russians, then they should be individually prosecuted.  So long as President Trump himself was not involved or aware of such collusion, impeachment is not proper nor warranted.

BUT THIS COULD BE THE “SMOKING GUN”.  

HERE ARE THE FACTS AS I SEE THEM: 

1. Donald Trump, Jr. failed to disclose meeting with Russian operative.

2. New York Times reports that there WAS a meeting with the Russian operative.

3. Donald Trump, Jr. admits that he DID meet with the Russian, but they discussed Adoption Issues.

4. New York Times reports that the meeting was to talk about information Russia allegedly had against Hillary Clinton.

5. Donald Trump, Jr. changes his story to state that he took the meeting because of the alleged information against Hillary, found out that it was just a ruse to get him to attend a meeting where the real agenda was the adoption issue, and abruptly ended the meeting as soon as he found out that the real reason was the adoption issue and not about Hillary.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

While President Trump may or may not have known about this meeting, at least one senior official, Kushner, in the Trump Administration has known about this meeting ever since it happened, since he was there as well.

Donald Trump, Jr. has admitted that he took this meeting with the sole purpose of obtaining information about Hillary Clinton, but stated that he did not know that the meeting was going to be with a Russian operative.

IF Donald Trump, Jr. KNEW IN ADVANCE that this information was coming from Russian operatives, then that is they very definition of COLLUSION.  It does not matter whether he actually obtained any useful information or not.  It does not matter if the Russian operative just made it up to get the meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. to discuss the adoption issue.  The key point is that Donald Trump, Jr. meet with the Russian operative for the purpose of getting information against Hillary Clinton.

On the other hand, IF Donald Trump, Jr. DID NOT KNOW in advance that the meeting was going to be with a Russian Operative, and he immediately terminated the meeting when he discovered the true purpose, then is was NOT collusion.

With Donald Trump, Jr.’s admission that he took the meeting with the sole purpose of getting information against Hillary Clinton, the ONLY ISSUE here is whether he knew in ADVANCE that the meeting was with a Russian Operative or somebody else.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM:

IF Donald Trump, Jr. was innocent:

• WHY did the White House NOT disclose this meeting or even acknowledge it until the New York Times discovered it?  

• Why did Donald Trump, Jr. LIE two days ago and state that the meeting was to discuss Adoption Issues and then CHANGE his story when the New York Times subsequently discovered that the true nature of the meeting was to obtain information against Hillary Clinton?  

• Donald Trump, Jr. stated that he did NOT change his story, but simply provided more details. But this is also a LIE at worst, or an attempt to mislead at best.  In his second statement, he stated that the meeting ending as soon as the Russian brought up the adoption issue.  So WHY did his first statement simply say that the meeting was about adoption when he later admitted that adoption was NOT the purpose of the meeting?

These are NOT THE ACTIONS OF AN INNOCENT PERSON.

Even worse, the New York Times is now reporting that Donald Trump, Jr. was informed via email PRIOR to the meeting that the information was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy.  The New York Times claims that three people confirm this.

IF THAT claim is true, there can be no doubt that Donald Trump, Jr. colluded with the Russians. 

Either the New York Times is right and Donald Trump, Jr. is lying, or the New York Times is wrong on this last claim. Given the facts that the New York Times has been correct when discovering the meeting and again when divulging the true purpose of the meeting, and the Donald Trump, Jr. has either mislead or lied twice, who do you believe?

President Trump has done everything in his power to discourage the Russian Investigation. Concerning the Flynn investigation, he asked Comey to “let it go”.  ALL of the evidence concerning the Russian involvement that has been made public has initially come from the press, mostly from the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times, and NOT come from the White House. In fact, the White House has DENIED everything until it was revealed by the media, and then only acknowledged what had been revealed.  The President has waged war against media, particularly The Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times, calling them "FAKE NEWS".  The White House actively discouraged the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. 

One must ask:   If President Trump really believed that there was no collusion, why is he NOT supporting a full investigation instead of trying to derail it?  At best, it’s just his pride and ego interfering with his judgement, and, at worse, it’s because he knew about Donald Trump, Jr.’s collusion.  And THAT IS an impeachable offense.

President Trump and the Leaker Jim Comey

I am surprised that President Trump chose to make an issue out the fact that Comey “leaked” his own memo.  This should have been the last thing that President Trump would want attention to be paid.

Consider this:

Forty years ago, the Deputy Director of the FBI, Mark Felt, became aware of President Nixon’s attempts to stifle an investigation.  Felt was not in a position to prevent this cover up, since it was ordered by the President.  Instead, he chose to risk his career by exposing the corruption to two Washington Post reporters that he trusted.  Felt did not do this for personal gain, since he insisted that his identity not be revealed.  Felt took this action because he felt that it was the only way to stop the corruption and get the truth out.

What started out as a small story may have remained a small story, and may died had it not been for Felt’s disclosures.  For many months after that, as the Washington Post dug deeper and deeper, the White House continuously denied that there was any corruption.  Nixon chose to go on the offensive by declaring the Press an enemy, and attacking it whenever possible.

But, in the end, the truth came out.  In the end, it was the Press that was vindicated.  In the end, it was the Nixon Administration that was exposed as corrupt.  In the end, Nixon resigned in order to avoid certain impeachment.

Now we have President Trump and the Russians.  There may or may not be any actual collusion between the Trump Administration and the Russians.  At this time, WE DO NOT KNOW.   However, the parallels between the current Administration and the Nixon Administration are readily apparent:

Here is what we DO know, and this is NOT DISPUTED:

(1) The FBI was investigating the Russians, and was also investigating Michael Flynn’s actions as well.

(2) Director Jim Comey was the head of the FBI, and in charge of those investigations.

(3) President Trump invited Director Comey to the White House.

(4) President Trump sent the V.P. and the Attorney General, who was Director Comey’s boss, out of the room so that he could talk to Director Comey alone.

(5) Regardless of what President Trump actually said during this meeting, Director Comey FELT that President Trump’s comments were intended to either order him or persuade him to stop the investigation into Flynn.

(6) Director Comey immediately made notes of the meeting and shared those notes with the top staff at the FBI. These notes did not contain classified information.

(7) UNLIKE Mark Felt, Director Comey did NOT go to the Press since, as head of the FBI, Director Comey was in a position to ensure that the investigation would continue without interference.

(8) Accordingly, Director Comey refused to stop the investigation into the Flynn Affair.

(9) THEN President Trump fired Director Comey.

(10) Director Comey made NO PUBLIC statements, other than a simple Good Bye to the FBI, about the firing.

(11) Both Congress (Democrats AND some Republicans) and the public became concerned about the reasons for Director Comey’s firing.

(12) Both President Trump and his administration gave conflicting reasons for Comey’s dismissal.  (Trump’s letter to Comey firing him listed one reason, and Trump gave a different reason to Lester Holt in an interview a couple of days later.)

(13) Both the Public and many members of Congress started calling for a Special Prosecutor to get to the truth.

(14) The Trump Administration DENIED that there was any conspiracy, just as Nixon did forty years earlier.

(15) The Trump Administration active OPPOSED the appointment of a Special Prosecutor.

(16) AT THAT TIME Director Comey authorized a friend to read the memos to a Washington Post Reporter.

(17) Director Comey took this action at that time because, like Mark Felt forty years earlier, Director Comey was no longer in a position to prevent a cover up or interference into the FBI investigation.

(18) Had Director Comey simply called the Washington Post and went public himself, the first reaction of many people would be that Comey was just a disgruntled employee making it up.  But having a third party to confirm the existence of the memos and release the information, the information was taken more seriously by the papers and the public.

(19) The next day, a Special Prosecutor WAS appointed.

While we DO NOT KNOW if there was any collusion or not, we now can rest easier knowing that there is an INDEPENDENT Special Prosecutor who will take whatever time is needed to GET TO THE TRUTH.