Former US Attorney Barbara McQuade discussed how Rudy Giuliani got prosecutors closer to be able to charge the Trumps with the crime of conspiracy.
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McQuade said on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, “Prosecutors are fond of saying there’s no such thing as coincidences. Any time you have something like that coincide, prosecutors would dig deeper. A common tactic of prosecutors in putting together a case is to build a timeline to see where events intersect or what comes before or after. The fact this comes on the very same day does suggest that perhaps there is some connection between the statement between President Trump and this meeting.
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I think as Joyce (Vance) said if there’s a pre-meeting that takes on additional significance. Then we’re not talking about collusion. We’re talking about conspiracy and agreement about what they wanted to get out of this meeting. It’s a plan to commit a crime and someone is — it could be a conspiracy to accept anything of value in connection to a campaign which would be a violation of campaign finance laws. It could be a conspiracy to defraud the United States and the fair administration of its elections. So either of those is a crime, and I think a pre-meeting in addition to this meeting takes us one step closer to being able to prove a crime of conspiracy.”
Giuliani’s claim that “collusion is not a crime” goes against the entire Trump defense of the meeting as a total bust that nothing came out of. As McQuade said, the events surrounding the meeting aren’t a coincidence. It not only appears that Trump knew about the Russia meeting in advance, but also that he had a plan for how was going to use the information that he was expecting to get against Hillary Clinton.
Collusion is what Trump and his allies want to call the meeting. It was a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Conspiracies are hard to prove, but luckily for prosecutors, the Trump campaign featured some of the biggest idiots ever to be involved in a run for the White House. There appears to be evidence everywhere. They were sloppy with their communications and employed a lawyer who saved everything.
The fact that Trump’s lawyer would rather confess to collusion is a red flag that suggests that the real crimes are much, much worse.
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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
