At this moment, the investigation around the most corrupt and most incompetent US presidential administration in history is reaching a crescendo. Our National Mistake is finding its reckoning. And we are at the edge of a precipice unlike any other in American history.
Down the cliff is not just a constitutional crisis because Trump is trying to get away with it. Down the cliff is an erosion of democracy and the rule of law.
Behind us, however, is the triumph of the rule of law. The truth will out, and Trump gets booted out, maybe even indicted — since he did oversee the largest criminal enterprise ever in our politics.
There’s so much “there” there (I think the legal terminology is “a preponderance of circumstantial evidence) that even our most intrepid journalists are honing in on a tree or two, and maybe missing the forest.
For example, take Trump consiglieri Michael Cohen and the payments to Stormy Daniels. OK — that’s once facet of a huge racket that envelopes Russian involvement in his campaign. Jim Comey says Trump reminds him of a Mafia Don, and he’s right — there’s criminal stuff all over the place. That can get confusing. And the way our law works there isn’t one moment where everything gets sorted it.
I’ve been cutting through the confusion with questions about pieces of the overall case and the players in it. Here they are at the moment:
1. Donald Trump is about to pardon Scooter Libby (going back 15 years in our history) for perjury. He’s clearly pissed off Valerie Plame, who is all over TV today. The question is — why? Is this a weird personal attack on Comey who was the head of the FBI when Libby was indicted and convicted? Is he sending a bizarre signal to those not yet flipped (Manafort, Cohen) that it’s OK to lie, he’ll pardon them? Or is it possible that John Bolton wants to hire him for his team?
2. We have not heard a peep out of Michael Flynn, Carter Page, George Popodopolous or even Rick Gates — particularly in terms of reporting and leaks. Since leaks don’t come from Mueller’s team, they come from the witnesses/targets, their lawyers or those around them. Popodopolous’ wife has been on TV lately, and Page was all over TV months ago. But the silence surrounding these four flipped witnesses is telling. What do they have and what have they told Mueller? Is this all about delivering Manafort or can they draw connections to Sessions, Trump Jr., or even the Donald himself?
3. Jared and Don Jr. may look like a side show, because Don Jr. only comes in publically in terms of the now vaunted Trump Tower meeting with Russians, and because Jared looks to maybe have gone rogue to save his family business. But there are those Russian back channel attempts. Are there lines between Jared, Don Jr. and Eric Prince? Did Jared oversee a connection between Russian operatives, Cambridge Analytica data and the Trump digital campaign gurus during the campaign?
4. Michael Cohen clearly has drawn a connection between the more salacious parts for the Trump personal story and the campaign. Assuming he arranged payments during the election campaign directly or through the National Enquirer to squelch these stories, where did that money come from? Who physically threatened Stormy Daniels, and did Cohen do it? If the money Cohen used for any of this was Russian money, can it be traced to one of the oligarchs that have been linked around the edges of the Trump campaign and business “empire?”
5. Speaking of oligarchs, at least one was doing his infiltration through the NRA. Was the NRA aware of and helping to use Russian money to fund GOP campaign contributions? How did Don Jr. connect to this?
I’m sure there are other questions that I’m missing.
Here’s the bottom line: The Trump business, and now his campaign and administration are incredibly corrupt. I really don’t see how he survives the investigation that is this multi-faceted and deep — especially with his lack of competent legal support.
The question is — can Mueller finish enough of this investigation so we don’t have to put up with more damage from Trump and Co, while we await the Dems taking back the Congress in January 2019.
In the meantime, we all wait at the top of the cliff...