First, the allegation that Trump and his campaign team colluded with the Russians.
What do we know?
We know that Trump Jr. was invited to a meeting with Russian representatives for what he initially said was discussing the Magnitsky Act and adoption of Russian children. Within 24 hours of this false statement, he revealed that the purpose of the meeting included receiving damaging information regarding Hillary Clinton from representatives of the Russian state. He and the sycophants in the press called it "opposition research".
Not if it came from a foreign state that is one of America's perennial enemies.
Holy shit, Batman!
E-mails that were later released make it crystal clear that Trump Jr. was told that he was about to hit the political equivalent of the jackpot. Here is what he was promised, "...official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton] and her dealings with Russia."
To continue, I think it is inconceivable that there were no discussions with Russian representatives in the time between Trump Jr. being invited to the meeting and the meeting itself. The discussions would have been about the possible quid pro quo that Trump would be willing to give the Russians in return for the evidence against Clinton after he became president.
Trump is the author of The Art Of The Deal. To quote The Donald..."Leverage: don’t make deals without it."
What would Trump have been willing to offer for what may have seemed to him as a guaranteed trip to the White House?
What else do we know.
If these men went to a meeting to discuss these issues, and they were actually discussed, why leave after so short a time?! The reason seems obvious - because that is not why they went to that meeting. It is very likely that once they saw that the Russians did not have the goods, they decided to stop wasting their time.
Stop right there! If this information proved to be real, it would have been massive! If it would have incriminated Hillary Clinton, it would have handed the presidential election to Donald Trump on a silver platter.
Trump Jr.'s response..."...if it’s what you say I love it..." Of course he did, and no, he wasn't talking about the adoption of Russian children.
But why lie about the meeting?
As noted in this space, this meeting and what transpired between Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner is the primary focus of Mueller's investigation.
As well, I have noted that we do not know what actually happened at this meeting, or as it turns out, before the meeting which I will try to show below is actually more crucial.
What we learned a few days ago, courtesy of a congressional release of documents, is that Trump himself crafted what is now seen as the cover story for this meeting - that it was about Russian adoptions and the Magnitsky Act. He was helped in this by Hope Hicks, his Communications Director, who was in contact with Cohen, his lawyer and general fixer.
Given what was on offer - the presidential election on a silver platter - it is obvious that this meeting involved the possibility of making a deal. The deal would have been for the provision of incriminating e-mails in return for something that the Russians really, really wanted. That is why the future president's son, son-in-law and campaign chairman were all at the meeting.
If this had been about adoptions and anti-Russian legislation, the only person who would have shown up may have been a lower level functionary in the Trump Campaign. Instead, the attendees included the most powerful people in that campaign short of Trump himself.
What do I think was the deal, and when do I think it was made?
Now that we know that Trump crafted the cover story, it is far more likely that he had personal knowledge of precisely what was being discussed at that meeting. Why? Because in order to cover something up, you probably have to know precisely that that thing is.
The revelation that he likely had prior knowledge of the meeting is huge!
This is obvious. The Russians would have wanted the relaxation of the sanctions that were imposed after they annexed Crimea. This is precisely what Flynn was talking to the Russian ambassador about after Trump won the election, and about which he lied to the FBI.
Again, everything ends up focused on the meeting.
Before the admission that Trump helped craft the cover story, the most that we could say is that the three men in question went to the meeting hoping to explore that the Russians may be able to do for them. Everything was tentative and uncertain.
Now that it is plausible that a tentative deal was worked out before the meeting, it is likely that these three most powerful people in Trump's campaign went there, not to explore the possibility of a deal, but to confirm that the Russians actually had the goods.
We know that Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who they met, does work for the Russian government. She is Putin's stooge.
And we do know that she gave these men a package of information, and they looked at and rejected saying that they already knew this (specifically, that Obama took $1 Billion from the Russians to support his campaigns.) She actually admitted that she handed these men information for their consideration in an interview on RT - Russia Today.
And we know that Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr., left the meeting after something like eight minutes. Manafort's notes indicate that Russian adoptions and the Magnitsky Act wee discussed at the meeting.
To conclude - the story that I think is emerging then is that the Russians promised information tat would have handed Trump the election. I think Trump made a tentative deal in return for the information, and he sent his most trusted subordinates to the meeting with a representative of the Russian state to ensure that what they were offering was the real deal.
They did not have the goods, and when they realized this, Trump's most trusted personal representatives left the meeting as fast as they could. When the press got wind of this meting, Trump, Hicks and Cohen worked to create a story to cover their tracks.
"Their" tracks?
Yes, you see it is inconceivable that Cohen and/or Hicks would not have know of a deal with the Russians. This is likely why Trump flipped when Cohen's office was raided. This is why Hicks is so crucial to all of this.
Trump is getting desperate.
Manafort is about to have his bail yanked for trying to influence witnesses against him while free on bail. This will place him even closer to making a deal with Mueller. If Hicks rolls, the jig is up. One would think that the USA may soon be in a constitutional crisis as the sitting president attempts to pardon himself, effectively putting himself beyond the reach of the law.
Now...the Clintons.
WTF is Bill Clinton doing? He is on talk shows now, obviously trying to resuscitate his reputation in the face of the Me Too Movement.
What chutzpa!
Forget what he is saying. The fact that he is seeking public absolution should send shock waves throughout the political class in the USA.
Why?
Because the only reason he would do this is as a precursor to his wife trying yet again to become the President of the United States.
Is this madness?!!
Clinton got more votes in the last election than Trump, and was in the lead in the polls until the very end.
She leads the Resistance!
With her having come so close, why would she not run again?
Her obvious running mate? Wait for it....
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