June 8, 2017
AND THE PRIVATE CONVERGES WITH THE PUBLIC:
James Comey Is Not Alone : The press, anonymous sources, and public testimony have all converged to corroborate the former FBI director's story about Donald Trump. (William Saletan, 6/08/17, Slate)
[A]s we learn more about Trump and Russia, a curious thing is happening. The three tarnished institutions--media, government, and law enforcement--are converging. Comey, the press, and people in the Trump administration are telling compatible and often highly similar stories about what's going on behind the scenes. A common, underlying force--reality--is pulling them together and isolating Trump.Three events in less than 24 hours illustrate this convergence. The first was Tuesday night's Washington Post report on conversations between Trump and senior officials about the Russia investigation. The second was a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, at which some of those officials testified. The third was the committee's release of Comey's written testimony, scheduled for delivery Thursday, about his meetings with Trump.The Post reported that in late March, Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told "associates" about Trump's efforts to enlist him in protecting Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. At a March 22 meeting, Trump asked Coats whether he could get Comey to "back off" from investigating Flynn. The Post, citing anonymous officials, reported that Trump asked both Coats and Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, to issue statements "denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government." Both men reportedly refused.
Most of the corruption--the High Crime--has always been public : Donald promised Vlad that he'd lift sanctions and assist Russia; Donald asked the Russians to hack Hillary; Vlad hacked Hillary; Donald staffed the administration with guys tied to Russia; administration officials told Donald he was already too tainted to lift sanctions.
What Comey and others have added is just the fact that Donald tried getting them to stop looking into the business ties to Russia, the potentially criminal stuff. Of course, whether or not there was any, trying to stop the investigation and firing the investigator who refused to quash it is obstruction of justice on its face.
Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2017 5:44 AM