On her MSNBC program, Rachel Maddow pointed out that the Russians knew about the Donald Trump Jr. meeting before The New York Times ever did, and asked the vital question, did the Russians use their information to blackmail anyone in the White House?
Video:
Maddow: Potential for Russian coercion of Kushner adds urgency to investigation. https://t.co/D7a5RSq9ZM
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) July 12, 2017
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Maddow said, “We learned about this meeting with a Russian emissary between Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner who still works at the White House. We learned about it from The New York Times, but the Russians before The New York Times ever knew about it, the Russians knew about that meeting too. Have they used that to blackmail anybody before it became public today? Is there anything else that they know about in terms of the behavior of the Trump campaign, the behavior of Jared Kushner that they are using, or they could use to blackmail to use coercion to get the United States to do stuff that is not in the United States’ interest, but is in Russia’s interest, because Russia knows what they did, and they don’t want it known?”
The question that Maddow asked goes to the core of why the Russia scandal is delegitimizing force for the Trump administration. If Trump or people in his administration are compromised, they can’t be legitimate. They can’t govern effectively and represent the interests of the United States.
Republicans continue to whistle through the graveyard and pretend like nothing is wrong, but presidency may be compromised, and the fact that these questions can be asked with legitimacy and credibility suggests that the Russia scandal is slowing swallowing Trump.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
