Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called Donald Trump Jr.’s emails clear evidence of the Trump campaign’s desire to collude with Russia during an interview on ABC’s This Week.
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Schiff said:
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The question that we’ve had, among others, is, was the campaign doing privately what the president was urging publicly? And here you have now evidence in black and white that yes, the campaign was encouraging the Russians to give them dirt. And the fact that this was done through intermediaries is just how the Russians operate.
This is about as clear of evidence you could find of intent by the campaign to collude with the Russians, to get useful information from the Russians. It shows a willingness not only to accept, but to indicate to Russia what the best timing was. Of course, Don Jr. says in the emails late summer. And what do we know about late summer? That’s when the Russians start dumping this information.
The Trump Jr. emails give investigators two vital pieces of information if they are going to prove that a crime was committed. The emails provide the motive, which was to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, and by taking the meeting, the Trump campaign demonstrated that they intended to collude with Russia.
The Trump White House is fond of saying that the meeting itself was not a crime. What they leave out is the byproduct of any such meetings would be against the law.
Investigators are building a case against the Trump campaign for using the information given to them by the Russians to win the election, and that information will be the blow that topples this crumbling administration.
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
