SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Donald Trump Jr. arrives at Trump Tower in New York City. The president's son is under fire for meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer during the campaign. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
As Don Jr. Lawyers Up, Words Like 'Collusion' and 'Treason' Fly
"It looks like clear proof of collusion," says Watergate prosecutor
Jul 11, 2017
Following the latest explosive details about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer during last year's campaign, in which he hoped to receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton, legal experts are saying the encounter could be proof that "collusion"--or even "treason"--took place.
Trump Jr. confirmed the New York Times' initial reports that he attended the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya (infamous for challenging the Magnitsky Act, which blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers) at Trump Tower, along with then-campaign chairman Paul J. Manafort, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
However, Trump Jr. and Manafort have since lawyered up, with the Timesreporting Monday that Jr. "was informed in an email" that Veselnitskaya's promised dirt on Clinton "was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy."
In the wake of the Monday's report, the government ethics watchdogs at CREW said it would be "hard to overstate how huge this is."
MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, Ari Melber, laid out the legal implications on Twitter:
\u201cLegally significant because this is\n(1) written evidence\n(2) before the meeting \n(3) stating Russian gov involvement https://t.co/Ae5QbK0sh4\u201d— \u201cthe reporter\u201d (@\u201cthe reporter\u201d) 1499736503
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called the latest revelations a "legal game-changer" because it shows top members of the Trump campaign--in this case the president's own son--willing to accept information believed to be coming from a foreign government.
"Despite what Trump apologists may say, it is not normal practice for a campaign to welcome information undermining an opponent, regardless of the source," explained Robinson. "In 2000, the Al Gore campaign was anonymously sent briefing books and a video that George W. Bush had used to prepare for an upcoming debate. Gore campaign officials immediately turned the material over to the FBI--which opened a criminal investigation."
Trump Jr.'s lawyer claims the reports are "much ado about nothing," but former assistant Watergate special prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks disagrees.
"It is collusion with a foreign adversary if they were working together to get the information from the Russian government," she said Monday night on MSNBC. "And that's what this looks like, it looks like clear proof of collusion."
But even before Monday's revelations, there was talk of treason among legal experts.
"This was an effort to get opposition research on an opponent in an American political campaign from the Russians, who were known to be engaged in spying inside the United States," said Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, on Sunday. "We do not get our opposition research from spies, we do not collaborate with Russian spies, unless we want to be accused of treason."
"This is unacceptable," he added. "This borders on treason, if it is not itself treason."
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Following the latest explosive details about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer during last year's campaign, in which he hoped to receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton, legal experts are saying the encounter could be proof that "collusion"--or even "treason"--took place.
Trump Jr. confirmed the New York Times' initial reports that he attended the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya (infamous for challenging the Magnitsky Act, which blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers) at Trump Tower, along with then-campaign chairman Paul J. Manafort, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
However, Trump Jr. and Manafort have since lawyered up, with the Timesreporting Monday that Jr. "was informed in an email" that Veselnitskaya's promised dirt on Clinton "was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy."
In the wake of the Monday's report, the government ethics watchdogs at CREW said it would be "hard to overstate how huge this is."
MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, Ari Melber, laid out the legal implications on Twitter:
\u201cLegally significant because this is\n(1) written evidence\n(2) before the meeting \n(3) stating Russian gov involvement https://t.co/Ae5QbK0sh4\u201d— \u201cthe reporter\u201d (@\u201cthe reporter\u201d) 1499736503
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called the latest revelations a "legal game-changer" because it shows top members of the Trump campaign--in this case the president's own son--willing to accept information believed to be coming from a foreign government.
"Despite what Trump apologists may say, it is not normal practice for a campaign to welcome information undermining an opponent, regardless of the source," explained Robinson. "In 2000, the Al Gore campaign was anonymously sent briefing books and a video that George W. Bush had used to prepare for an upcoming debate. Gore campaign officials immediately turned the material over to the FBI--which opened a criminal investigation."
Trump Jr.'s lawyer claims the reports are "much ado about nothing," but former assistant Watergate special prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks disagrees.
"It is collusion with a foreign adversary if they were working together to get the information from the Russian government," she said Monday night on MSNBC. "And that's what this looks like, it looks like clear proof of collusion."
But even before Monday's revelations, there was talk of treason among legal experts.
"This was an effort to get opposition research on an opponent in an American political campaign from the Russians, who were known to be engaged in spying inside the United States," said Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, on Sunday. "We do not get our opposition research from spies, we do not collaborate with Russian spies, unless we want to be accused of treason."
"This is unacceptable," he added. "This borders on treason, if it is not itself treason."
Following the latest explosive details about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer during last year's campaign, in which he hoped to receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton, legal experts are saying the encounter could be proof that "collusion"--or even "treason"--took place.
Trump Jr. confirmed the New York Times' initial reports that he attended the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya (infamous for challenging the Magnitsky Act, which blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers) at Trump Tower, along with then-campaign chairman Paul J. Manafort, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
However, Trump Jr. and Manafort have since lawyered up, with the Timesreporting Monday that Jr. "was informed in an email" that Veselnitskaya's promised dirt on Clinton "was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy."
In the wake of the Monday's report, the government ethics watchdogs at CREW said it would be "hard to overstate how huge this is."
MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, Ari Melber, laid out the legal implications on Twitter:
\u201cLegally significant because this is\n(1) written evidence\n(2) before the meeting \n(3) stating Russian gov involvement https://t.co/Ae5QbK0sh4\u201d— \u201cthe reporter\u201d (@\u201cthe reporter\u201d) 1499736503
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called the latest revelations a "legal game-changer" because it shows top members of the Trump campaign--in this case the president's own son--willing to accept information believed to be coming from a foreign government.
"Despite what Trump apologists may say, it is not normal practice for a campaign to welcome information undermining an opponent, regardless of the source," explained Robinson. "In 2000, the Al Gore campaign was anonymously sent briefing books and a video that George W. Bush had used to prepare for an upcoming debate. Gore campaign officials immediately turned the material over to the FBI--which opened a criminal investigation."
Trump Jr.'s lawyer claims the reports are "much ado about nothing," but former assistant Watergate special prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks disagrees.
"It is collusion with a foreign adversary if they were working together to get the information from the Russian government," she said Monday night on MSNBC. "And that's what this looks like, it looks like clear proof of collusion."
But even before Monday's revelations, there was talk of treason among legal experts.
"This was an effort to get opposition research on an opponent in an American political campaign from the Russians, who were known to be engaged in spying inside the United States," said Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, on Sunday. "We do not get our opposition research from spies, we do not collaborate with Russian spies, unless we want to be accused of treason."
"This is unacceptable," he added. "This borders on treason, if it is not itself treason."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.