Trump Cabal Providing Cover for Russian Hacking of DNC

Manafort went on ABC’s This Week on July 24 and was asked whether there were connections between the Trump campaign and the Putin regime. “No, there are not, and, you know, there’s no basis to it,” said the man who the previous month had met with an emissary from a Putin crony to receive anti-Clinton material from the Kremlin.

Trump Jr. was even more vociferous. Appearing on CNN, Trump’s oldest son was asked about the Clinton campaign’s assertion that Russia had hacked the DNC as part of a plot to benefit his father. Shaking his head, he answered, “It’s disgusting. It’s so phony…I can’t think of bigger lies.” Trump Jr. continued, “That exactly goes to show you what the DNC and what the Clinton camp will do. They will lie and do anything to win.”

Both of these men knew that Putin’s government had signaled to the Trump campaign that it wanted to furtively help Trump. Yet here they were each saying there had been no contacts—that was a lie—and dismissing the notion of any Russian involvement.

Manafort and Trump Jr. were providing cover for Putin’s operation.

  Dqvid Corn

IMHO, this is a very serious charge. We'll see if the Intel Committees or Mueller think so.

The next day, Trump followed suit with a tweet: “The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me.” A day later, he reiterated this sentiment: “In order to try and deflect the horror and stupidity of the Wikileakes disaster, the Dems said maybe it is Russia dealing with Trump. Crazy!”

There is no evidence yet that Trump was told about the June 9 meeting and the emails that preceded it—though it seems more likely than not that the meeting would have been mentioned to Trump, especially given that this gathering had been put in motion by Trump’s business partner in Russia.

He'll squeeze by if it can't be proven, but it's a given he knew. And he practically said so when he told the public that there was going to be something very interesting come out about Clinton.

Within criminal law—and it’s unclear if there are criminal implications to the Trump camp’s interactions with Russia—a person who helps a criminal conceal a crime, or who aids an escape or who even fails to report a crime, is known as an accessory after the fact. Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort helped keep Russia’s operation a secret. They did not report what they knew about its efforts to intervene in the 2016 campaign. They did not tell the public that they had evidence that the Russian government was trying to undermine the election. They blew no whistle. They were silent partners in Putin’s enterprise. They were co-conspirators.

So which one is going to be the scapegoat?  Manafort isn't family.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.