Max Boot – Reams of Evidence of Trump’s Collusion with Russia

There’s an elephant in the room

May I suggest this article in Business Insider and the June 9, Foreign Policy by Max Boot, “There are reams of evidence pointing to Trump’s collusion with Russia”?

The focus of the recent Comey hearing has been on whether Trump was obstructing justice by demanding loyalty of Comey and by asking that Comey give Michael Flynn a pass.  Comey says, “yes”, Trump says “no”.  Mainstream commentators would have you think that we are at some kind of stalemate.  “He’s the President and he says ‘no'”, as if Trump’s word has any value.  But that is an altogether too narrow view – the underlying issue is whether Trump and his staff colluded with the Russians to steal the election.  I’ve covered this ground before; I view the evidence as compelling and have said so.  Consider the above-noted article by Max Boot, one of our leading foreign policy analysts.

Here’s Boot: “That there was public collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, while the Kremlin was interfering in the U.S. election, is undisputed. Trump, after all, publicly called on July 27, 2016, for the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails (“Russia, if you’re listening …”). He then celebrated the resulting leaks from WikiLeaks (“I love WikiLeaks”), which his own CIA director has identified as ‘a nonstate hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.’

The only question is whether there was private collusion, too. A lot of evidence points that way. During his testimony, Comey disputed a New York Times article on contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians, saying that ‘in the main, it was not true.’ But he did not say what was untrue, and numerous other news articles have reported that the Trump campaign had numerous interactions with influential Russian representatives. Reuters, for example, reports that there were at least 18 contacts during the final seven months of the campaign.”

Further on in Boot’s piece:  “In truth, suspicious contacts with the Russians were not limited to ‘satellite associates,’ but involved Trump’s nearest and dearest. Comey told senators in a closed session that there was a third meeting between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Russians that was previously undisclosed on top of two previous meetings that Sessions did not disclose in his confirmation hearings.

Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior advisor to Trump, left off his Russian contacts from his security clearance form. Flynn was fired for lying about his talks with the Russian ambassador. Why would they lie if there was nothing to hide? And what possibly innocent explanation can there be for their conduct? None has been offered by the Trump team.”

And Boot on whether there was a quid pro quo:

“While the growing Kremlingate scandal made it politically impossible for Trump to reward Putin for election interference by lifting sanctions, he hasn’t punished Putin either. Now, theWashington Post reports, Trump is considering giving back to the Russians two diplomatic compounds seized by President Barack Obama in retaliation for Russia’s meddling in our election.

Trump still talks tougher about Germany than he does about Russia, and he yukked it up with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador in an Oval Office meeting where he shared code-word secrets with the Russians. Perhaps the greatest gift Trump has given the Russians is his refusal to affirm NATO’s Article 5, thus casting the future of the Atlantic alliance into question.”

His conclusion: “Trump’s defenders make much of the fact that Comey said he wasn’t under investigation for collusion. But they ignore the likelihood that Trump is now under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for obstruction of justice — and for good reason: He all but confessed to the crime. As former Watergate prosecutor Philip Allen Lacovara writes: ‘Any experienced prosecutor would see these facts as establishing a prima facie case of obstruction of justice.’

In short, the White House has no cause to breathe easy after Comey’s testimony. The only thing standing between Trump and impeachment is the new partisanship of the Republican majority on Capitol Hill. But if Democrats win the 2018 midterm elections, we are likely to see the most serious impeachment proceedings since Watergate.”

Or to put it all in another light, the elephant in the room is the growing realization that Donald Trump really did it, really committed treason in colluding with Russian operatives to undermine the election.  This is a reality the Republican leadership is unwilling to confront, quite possibly because they were in on it.  And it is a reality that the less educated, and perhaps more trusting, of us have considered beyond the pale of possible reality.  But, as John Adams noted, facts are stubborn.  The underlying reality of treason by our President is not going away.  Resist.

Evidence of Collusion

The following exchange took place between Sally Yates and Senator Lindsey Graham:

GRAHAM: “Ms. Yates, do you have any evidence — are you aware of any evidence that would suggest that in the 2016 campaign anybody in the Trump campaign colluded — colluded with the Russian government intelligence services in improper fashion?”

YATES: “And Senator, my answer to that question would require me to reveal classified information. And so, I — I can’t answer that.”

Simple logic tells us that, if Yates did not have evidence of collusion, her answer to that question would have been “no”.   So the unavoidable conclusion must be that Yates, formerly acting United States Attorney General, has classified evidence of collusion.

So, what I want to know is, what is that evidence, why is it classified, and why is that classification more important than letting the public know that their government may be compromised by treason at the highest levels?  And, further, how is it that, in the light of that testimony, Republicans continue to focus on anything other than possible collusion, and what assurance do we have that our government will follow the evidence to its reasonable conclusions?  How can we assure that government policies are not tainted by foreign influence?  How can we assure that any who are culpable are brought to justice?

Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of classified information: “Classified information can be designated Top Secret, Secret or Confidential. These classifications are only used on matters of national interest. Top Secret: This applies when compromise might reasonably cause exceptionally grave injury to the national interest.”

So, to follow this thought, evidence of Trump campaign collusion exists, but it can not be revealed to the public because it “might reasonably cause exceptionally grave injury to the national interest.”  My question is, what possible injury could be caused to the national interest by letting the public know that their government has been compromised by a foreign power, and what assurance do we have that the evidence will not be kept classified to protect guilty parties?  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

The Root of all Evil

Cohn and McCarthy

Those of you following my blog know that I trace Trump and the core of his evil back to Joe McCarthy’s Red-Baiting assistant and consiglere to mob families, New York lawyer Roy Cohn.  Simplified, Cohn who was ultimately disbarred before dying of AIDS, taught Trump everything he knows about manipulating the press and the judiciary and using misinformation, smear, and innuendo to win in the game of life.  As Cohn taught, a willingness to ruthlessly jettison all principles gave one an important edge.  See my earlier pieces at Donald Trump and Organized Crime and Blumenthal’s Short History of the Trump Family.  More recently, I have noted that Trump’s original core of loyalists,  Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, were also members of the Roy Cohn sphere.  See Leave No Stone Unturned.   And in yesterday’s blog, I link to an article by Andras Gollner, showing how Trump’s collusion with Putin and the Russians appears to have been routed through the “back door” of Budapest where both Trump operative Arthur J. Finkelstein and the Eastern European offices of the modern Russian KGB – Putin’s FSB – are located.  See Andras Gollner exposes Trump.  Gollner links Finkelstein to the early Trump-Cohn  days.

So I thought it only reasonable to also provide you with the link to this April 14 New Yorker article by Marcus Baram, “EAVESDROPPING ON ROY COHN AND DONALD TRUMP.”  Baram interestingly also links Fox TV oligarch Rupert Murdoch to the Trump-Roy Cohn days.  Here’s an excerpt for the sort of stuff you will miss if you don’t check out Baram: 

“[Former Cohn employee Christine] Seymour also describes some of Cohn’s political dirty tricks, including that he had researched Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, with the assistance of Trump’s adviser Roger Stone. (‘Roger Stone—worked with Roy very heavily before and after elections. Was the one with Roy to find out the dirt on the Ferraros.]) Stone, who first met Trump through Cohn, initially did not think much of the brash young real-estate developer, Seymour’s notes indicate. ‘Roger did not like Donald Trump or his new house, told me they were losers, but if Roy used them, he would, too,’ she writes. When I recently asked Stone about this, he said the “notes make no sense,” adding, ‘I was very impressed with Donald Trump when I met him.'”

Read on and you will find that Christine Seymour, who was profiled in a column titled “Savvy Chris Spills the Beans on Roy Cohn”  and who, five months later, was on the verge of publishing a Roy Cohn tell-all, died suddenly on October 20, 1994,when her car crashed head-on with a tractor-trailer.  

Check it out if you were entertaining doubts about the nature of the swamp from which Trump arose.  Or for the entertainment if you are so inclined.

Hacking Voting Machines – Reforms – Trump the Usurper

Former CIA Director James Woolsey warns that 25% of American voting machines can be hacked and leave no paper trail to allow a recount.  See this link.  See also this article by Ben Wofford in Politico, “How to Hack an Election in 7 Minutes.”  Here’s a quote from Wofford’s article: “’This isn’t a crazy hypothetical anymore,’ says Dan Wallach, … a computer science professor at Rice. ‘Once you bring nation states’ cyber activity into the game?’ He snorts with pity. ‘These machines, they barely work in a friendly environment.'”

No electronic information is totally secure.  See my blog “Compute This“.  American intelligence services tell us there was a major Russian effort involving hacking and disinformation to flip the American election – an effort that, given the narrow 70,000 vote margin of the Trump victory, determined Trump’s win.  There is also voluminous evidence that Trump and his operatives colluded with that Russian effort and that agents allied to Trump engaged in massive disinformation campaigns.  See yesterday’s blog “Hi Ho, Hi Ho”.

In short, our electoral process was compromised and Trump’s election was illegitimate, stolen, undeserved.  Let’s call him Trump the Usurper.  He should be investigated, impeached, and sent to jail.   Furthermore, a federal election law is necessary to require that election machines are secure from hacking and provide a verifiable paper trail.

More broadly, the election was a wake-up call for electoral reform.  The following reforms are necessary:

1.  Secure voting machines with verifiable paper trails must be acquired for all voting centers.

2.  Campaign finance reform must be enacted to remove money from politics.  See my blog  “Getting Money Out of Politics”.

3.  Independent bi-partisan commissions must be established to end gerrymandering.  Computer models using established computer algorithms should ensure that electoral district boundaries are not drawn for partisan advantage.

4.  The Electoral College must be abolished and all national elections determined by popular vote.

5.  Strong national voting laws must prohibit voter suppression.

The facts are out there.  Our country is no longer a democracy.  Our most recent election was stolen.  We will have to act forcefully if we want our country back.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Jail They Go

Perhaps, like me, you spent too much time yesterday wondering if the “firing” of Steve Bannon from the National Security Council was meaningful news.  Was Bannon really in disfavor, or did Bannon orchestrate his removal to address the criticism, or orchestrate it as a diversion?  Or perhaps, his leaving really signaled that major foreign policy decisions, including those affecting security, were taking place in the White House.  Why should Bannon waste time at the Council meetings?  Pay him now or pay him later.  I’ll tell you what – it doesn’t mean squat.  It’s not where the action is, one way or the other.

The Susan Rice “story” is a diversion too.  I’m amazed that Trump can float the crap impugning Rice in the media and they run with it.  Did Rice unmask?  Did Obama bug?  Crap.  There’s nothing there and I’m not buying anyway.

The real action is on the Trump-Russia collusion story.  They’d squelch it if they could, they are panicked like it’s a five alarm fire.  But the story is not going to stop because, as I’ve been saying all along, Trump really did it.  In fact, during the campaign, Trump was proud of how smart he was to collude with the Russians; he was daring us to call him on it when he called on Russia to release Clinton’s hacked emails.

But in this case, Trump miscalculated – this story is the sorcerer’s apprentice.    The story won’t die, it can’t be fogged.  Unlike Trump, Trump’s assistants were not  schooled by Roy Cohn in the black arts.   They don’t know how to lie like a sociopath.  His cronies like Flynn and Sessions resign and recuse – they get caught in their lies and perjury.   We know from their smoke that there’s fire.  And Trump has been so deep in organized crime, with Manafort and Stone, and years of money-laundering and deals with Russian oligarch thugs that, once the investigative journalists get the scent, the truth can no longer be hidden.

I shared the following post, courtesy of Michael Mut, on Facebook yesterday:

“I don’t know – it’s hard for me to see any #TrumpRussia ties…
except for the Flynn thing
and the Manafort thing
and the Tillerson thing
and the Sessions thing
and the Kushner thing
and the Carter Page thing
and the Roger Stone thing
and the Felix Sater thing
and the Boris Ephsteyn thing
and the Rosneft thing
and the Gazprom thing
and the Sergey Gorkov banker thing
and the Azerbajain thing
and the “I love Putin” thing
and the Donald Trump, Jr. thing
and the Sergey Kislyak thing
and the Russian Affiliated Interests thing
and the Russian Business Interests thing
and the Emoluments Clause thing
and the Alex Schnaider thing
and the hack of the DNC thing
and the Guccifer 2.0 thing
and the Mike Pence “I don’t know anything” thing
and the Russians mysteriously dying thing
and Trump’s public request to Russia to hack Hillary’s email thing
and the Trump house sale for $100 million at the bottom of the housing bust to the Russian fertilizer king thing
and the Russian fertilizer king’s plane showing up in Concord, NC during Trump rally campaign thing
and the Nunes sudden flight to the White House in the night thing
and the Nunes personal investments in the Russian winery thing
and the Cyprus bank thing
and Trump not releasing his tax returns thing
and the Republican Party’s rejection of an amendment to require Trump to show his taxes thing
and the election hacking thing
and the GOP platform change to the Ukraine thing
and the Steele Dossier thing
and the Leninist Bannon thing
and the Sally Yates can’t testify thing
and the intelligence community’s investigative reports thing
and Trump’s reassurance that the Russian connection is all “fake news” thing
and Spicer’s Russian Dressing “nothing’s wrong” thing
so there’s probably nothing there
since the swamp has been drained, these people would never lie
probably why Nunes cancels the investigation meetings
all of this must be normal
just a bunch of separate dots with no connection.”

I don’t know if the post originated with Michael Mut, or with some unknown wit.  And the post leaves out the Erik Prince thing and other threads.  I don’t care.  It makes the point.  We  know the truth about the Trump conspiracy.  Trump and the gang are in it up to their necks, guilty of treason.  In an earlier age, they would swing.  They should spend their remaining lives in jail.  If House and Senate Republicans refuse to act, we need to hold them accountable too.  They are enabling traitors.

Birds of a Feather

“Birds of a feather flock together.”  So what birds does our president flock with?

Long time friend and confidant Roger Stone –  the Trump operative who knew about the Russian hacking of John Podesta’s emails before they were leaked.   See yesterday’s blog “Leave No Stone Unturned” and Maggie Haberman’s New York Times article  “Roger Stone, the ‘Trickster’ on Trump’s Side, Is Under F.B.I. Scrutiny“.  Trump met Roger Stone through the red-baiting lawyer for Joseph McCarthy and for New York crime families, Roy Cohn.

Former Campaign chief Paul Manafort – most recently in the news for alleged money laundering and work for Putin oligarch Oleg Deripaska.  Described in the Associated Press article by Jeff Horwitz and Chad Day, “AP findings on Trump associate’s work for Russian oligarch“.

Chief Strategist Steve Bannon – former head of extreme right fake news site Breitbart and apostle of right-wing hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.  See my blog Who are Bannon and Trump and Jane Mayer’s New Yorker article  “THE RECLUSIVE HEDGE-FUND TYCOON BEHIND THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY“.   Extreme right-wing ideologues, Bannon and Mercer would like to destroy the existing governmental infrastructure.  See also this article from McClatchy by Peter Stone and Greg Gordon,  “FBI’s Russian-influence probe includes a look at Breitbart, InfoWars news sites” which suggests that Russian operatives may have used Breitbart and other right-wing media outlets to disseminate their misinformation.

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who resigned in disgrace after lying about his contacts with the Russian Ambassador.  Flynn is well described by Nicholas Schmidle’s New Yorker article, “Michael Flynn, General Chaos.”  Read the Schmidle article for its insights on Trump’s attraction to a right-wing nutcase and Islamaphobe.

Former advisor to the Trump campaign on foreign policy, Carter Page.  What you need to know about Page is in the Washington Post article by Julie Pace, “Ex-Trump adviser Carter Page at center of Russia storm“.   Like Manafort, Page left the Trump campaign when his Russian connections became too visible.

And Trump himself?  How Trump does business, and with whom, is set out in an article in The New Yorker by Adam Davidson, “Donald Trump’s Worst Deal“,  which presents substantial evidence that Trump, himself, violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in partnering with the Mammadov family in investments in a Trump Hotel project in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Looks like a flock to me.

Leave No Stone Unturned – Cohn, Trump, Stone, Manafort

Read this article by Maggie Haberman in the March 21 New York Times,  “Roger Stone, the ‘Trickster’ on Trump’s Side, Is Under F.B.I. Scrutiny“.

In July 2016, Trump said the following at a Florida news conference: “I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”   See “Trump urges Russia to hack Clinton’s email” by Michael Crowley and Tyler Pager in Politico.  As I have previously noted, that comment by Trump was more than a tease; it showed an awareness of the ongoing Russian hacking campaign.

As Haberman notes, Trump long-time friend and associate Roger Stone did the same thing, showing advanced awareness of the hacking of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.  Writes Haberman, “Mr. Stone, 64, is the best known of the Trump associates under scrutiny as part of an F.B.I. investigation into Russian interference in the election.  John D. Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman whose hacked emails were released by WikiLeaks, accused him in October of having advance warning of the hacks, which the intelligence community has concluded were orchestrated by Russia.   ‘Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta’s time in the barrel,’ Mr. Stone had mused on Twitter before Mr. Podesta’s emails were released.”

The following from Haberman is all that is needed to understand what is going on:   “Mr. Stone…  met Mr. Trump through their mutual mentor, the McCarthy-era fixer and lawyer Roy M. Cohn.  Mr. Stone learned from Mr. Cohn that all press is good press, and to hit back, hard and often, and he is doing just that.”   I’ve focused on the Trump – Cohn connection in several blogs, most recently in Donald Trump and Organized Crime.   For someone mentored by Cohn,  nothing is unthinkable – even Treason with Russians.  But there is more,  a further Haberman kicker showing a genesis of the Russian links:

“[Stone] got his real start in national politics with the Reagan campaign in 1979, and was once partner in a white-shoe lobbying firm in Washington, alongside his old friend, Paul Manafort, who was Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman and has also been under scrutiny for his ties to Russia.”  Manafort is also under investigation for his actions in the Ukraine.  See this article on Manafort in Politico, by Kenneth P. Vogel, Josh Meyer, and David Stern:  “Manafort sought for questioning – in D.C. and Kiev.”   An excerpt (but be sure to read the link for all the allegations against Manafort!):

“Another revelation about Manafort’s work in Ukraine surfaced Monday night, when The New York Times reported on documents that it said appeared to show that the Party of Regions tried to hide a $750,000 payment to Manafort by funneling it through an offshore account and disguising it as a payment for 501 computers.

A Ukrainian parliamentarian named Serhiy Leshchenko, who has alleged that Manafort was paid millions of dollars illegally by the Party of Regions, released the documents to the Times, and announced a Tuesday news conference in Kiev ostensibly to highlight them. Before the Times story posted, Leshchenko wrote on Twitter that the documents would reveal ‘how Manafort legalized money paid by ousted President Yanukovych.'”

The pressure in the pressure cooker is building.  Stay tuned.

The Emperor has no clothes

You all know the Hans Christian Andersen tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.  Here’s Wikipedia’s synopsis:  “A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two weavers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is either unfit for his position or “hopelessly stupid”. The Emperor’s ministers cannot see the clothes themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions, and the Emperor does the same. Finally, the weavers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him, and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense, not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then, a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all, and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor suspects the assertion is true but continues the procession.”

As many of us know today, Mr. Trump is wearing nothing at all.  He is a total fraud.  He was elected with less votes than Clinton and he declares it a landslide.  He says three million people illegally voted for his opponent when, as best we can tell there was little or no voter fraud.  He says his crowds are bigger than Obama’s, defying the accuracy of modern photography and videos.  He says his ban on Muslims is not a ban on Muslims and claims it makes us safer when in fact his ban is a ban on Muslims and provides recruiting fodder for ISIS.  He accuses mainstream media, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and CBS and CNN, respected centers of journalism with self-imposed standards for truth and accuracy, to be “fake news”.  He accuses his respected predecessor, without evidence or minimal investigation, of bugging his phone. He denies the science of global warming and takes actions to increase carbon emission.  He surrounds himself with staff that are either intellectually bankrupt like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and EPA head Scott Pruitt or dredged up from the right-wing alt fringe, like Stephen Bannon.  All the while, the sycophants and toadies on his staff and in the Republican party applaud him like he is a wonderful breath of fresh air.

It’s time for the American people to call out Trump and the sycophants.  Let’s say it together.  Mr. Trump, you’re a fraud, you’re a cad, you’re a cartoon character out of Dr. Seuss.  Time to go.  If those of you in Congress can’t figure out how to make it happen, I can suggest at least five grounds of impeachment, beginning with his treason for collusion with Putin in the election itself, his violation of the emoluments clause, his violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, his violation of the First Amendment,  and his abuse of office in making unsupported accusations against his predecessor.  Or just use the 25th Amendment, remove him from office for unfitness, and go directly to go.  Your choice.

Speaking of intellectual bankruptcy, did you catch the details on the Republican replacement for Obamacare?  They can’t pay for it but they give tax breaks to billionaires.  With a straight face.  Mr. Ryan, you’re a fraud too.

And while I’m at it, did you catch the proposal to fund construction of the Mexican wall by stripping funding from the Coast Guard?  See this article by Nicholas Fandos in the March 9 New York Times, “Trump Weighs Cuts to Coast Guard, T.S.A. and FEMA to Bolster Border Plan“.  Fandos writes, in part,

 “The Trump administration is considering deep cuts in the budgets of the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it looks for money to ratchet up security along the southern border, according to a person familiar with the administration’s draft budget request.

The goal is to shift about $5 billion toward hiring scores of additional agents for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as toward infrastructure to support a crackdown on illegal immigration at the border. A significant portion of the money would go toward erecting a wall along the border with Mexico, one of President Trump’s signature campaign promises.”

For the record, the US Coast Guard has an ongoing domestic mission safe-guarding lives and protecting the navigability of our water ways.  If you recall the disaster in New Orleans with hurricane Katrina, it was the Coast Guard that was first on the scene with effective disaster relief.  The Coast Guard covers more than 12,000 miles of coastline – which will, of course, become the preferred mode for illegal entry to the US should the land borderline be closed.  This is one more proposal that simply makes no sense.  In the intellectually bankrupt Trump administration, making sense is irrelevant if not disqualifying.

One more note.  Last night, I read Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny, just released at the end of February.  Snyder is a Yale historian of European history and his book is a warning on the history of democracies sliding into fascism.  It’s a short, compelling read, a clear response to the election of Donald Trump, and a prescription for us to resist, now.  This should be your next read.  Then join me and resist.  This cannot be allowed to stand.

Probable Cause

Donald Trump’s aides engaged in ongoing discussions with Russian operatives during the election campaign, even as Russians were hacking the Democratic National Committee to assist in electing Mr. Trump.   Thereafter, in late December, now disgraced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn called the Russian Ambassador just as President Obama was levying sanctions against Russia.  The reasonable inference  is that Trump colluded with the Russians in assisting in his election and in undermining the sanctions levied by Obama.  Given our National Security concerns and the threats presented to American security by  Vladimir Putin’s regime, Mr. Trump’s actions, if verified, constitute a textbook example of Treason against our country.

Impeached President Andrew Johnson

Now, unlike Mr. Trump, who revels in dictatorial decrees and rants about judicial overreaching when the courts grant his victims judicial review, I believe in due process, even for Mr. Trump.  Mr. Trump is entitled to knowledge of the charges against him, the assistance of counsel, and the right to answer the accusations in a trial before his peers.  And as is only appropriate, our Constitution affords him that right.  Article 2 Section 4 of the Constitution provides:

“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Under Article 1, section 2, the power to bring charges lies with the House of Representatives.  Under Article 1, section 3, the power to hear the evidence and to render a verdict lies with the Senate.

While our standards of criminal law do not precisely apply to impeachments, the gist of the right to due process is the requirement that no prosecution take place unless the prosecutor has probable cause to believe a crime has been committed by the defendant.  In this case, we know, from our intelligence sources, beyond doubt, that Russian entities took deliberate action to undermine the 2016 Presidential election.  We have further evidence that the party who benefited from those actions, Mr. Trump, was, through his top aides and confidants, in secret ongoing communication with the Russians.  Moreover, Mr. Trump’s public denial of those contacts prior to release of their existence by the intelligence agencies, and his subsequently firing one of his closest aides when that particular aide’s contact was disclosed, show that Trump was keenly attuned to the compromising nature of the contacts and the inference of guilt.  Mr. Trump’s actions are both consistent with collusion and inconsistent with any reasonable innocent explanation.  Moreover, Mr. Trump has continued to support closer ties to Russia even as knowledge of the Russian meddling has been made public.  In my judgment, the standard of probable cause has been substantially exceeded by known events.

Impeachment should therefore follow.    Mr. Trump should be afforded the opportunity to present evidence and explain his actions.  And given that no reasonable explanation is available, we should expect his due removal from office.

The responsibility to initiate impeachment lies in the House of Representatives and, because of his leadership role, more specifically with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.  Mr. Ryan is sworn to defend our Constitution.  Evidence of the crime of Treason against our Country by Donald Trump has been brought to the public eye by United States intelligence sources. The evidence of wrongdoing exceeds any reasonable standard of probable cause.  It follows that any failure by Ryan to act at this time to institute proceedings is itself a violation of his oath of office.  I will expect him to act accordingly.

Consciousness of Guilt

We now know that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement intercepted phone calls of Trump aides and associates in discussions with Russian officials during the 2016 election campaign.  Articles in the Huffington Post by Amanda Terkel, “Trump Administration Caught In Lie About Campaign Contacts With Russians” and in the New York Times, by Michael S. Schmidt, Mark Mazzetti, and Matt Apuzzo, “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence”, provide the details currently available.

 On numerous occasions prior to the recent disclosures, Vice-President Pence, Trump aides, and Trump himself denied any such contacts or discussions.  The discussions took place both during the election campaign, and after.  More specifically, they took place just as Russian operatives were hacking emails of the Democratic National Committee and leaking those emails to the public to assist Mr. Trump in his election campaign.  And in fact, as we know, Mr. Trump proceeded to win a razor thin victory – one, in fact, already tainted by his failure to obtain a majority of the votes.  After the calls made by Trump confidant General Michael Flynn, the National Security Adviser, were revealed, Flynn resigned at the request of Mr. Trump, notwithstanding Trump’s later declaration that Mr. Flynn had been “shabbily treated” by the press.

Numerous politicians, media spokemen, and other talking heads have followed this event with doe-eyed wonderings.  What can it mean?

So let me break this gently to everyone.  When one does something on the QT, behind everyone’s back, that would reasonably raise suspicion of wrong-doing if discovered, the likelihood is that one is engaged in wrong-doing.  If they were not engaged in wrong-doing, they would do it in the open precisely so that people would be reassured that they were on the up and up.  In this case, the contacts between Trump aides and Russian officials were kept quiet and indeed denied.  Moreover, they occurred exactly when we know the Russians were engaged in illegal hacking to benefit Mr. Trump, or, in the case of the latest Flynn contact, at just the time the Obama administration was enacting sanctions against Russia.  And, finally, the Trump denial and later forcing of the Flynn resignation suggest that Trump knew the purpose of the various contacts and that discovery of the contacts would be prejudicial to him.  Were Flynn’s actions innocent, Trump could well have defended him and asked for full disclosure.  Instead, by firing Flynn, Trump demonstrated that he knew that Flynn was guilty.   That is not surprising given that early in the presidential campaign Trump had himself publicly called on the Russians to leak hacked Clinton emails.  For that matter, who beside Mr. Trump could have authorized such dangerously prejudicial actions?

You may want a smoking gun to be assured that Trump knew what his top aides and confidants were up to.  My guess is that Flynn or one of the other operatives will come clean and that concrete evidence of Trump’s collusion with the Russians will come out.  Truth is a sneaky little devil.  The Bernsteins and Woodwards of today will be working twenty-four seven to get the story even if our Congress keeps its head in the sand.  But, in the meantime, don’t kid yourself that we don’t know what went on.  It’s really already out there.

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