While Donald Trump’s latest legal defense is to claim that collusion – which looks increasingly likely – is not illegal, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons gave them a lesson on the actual laws they did break while potentially colluding with the Russians.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber, Coons said the process by which the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia consists of several potential crimes.
After explaining the violations, Melber quipped: “To paraphrase, it sounds like they were right to say collusion is not a crime, because collusion is like four crimes.”
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Ari Melber to Sen. Coons: “Collusion is not *a* crime, because collusion is like four crimes.” #ctl #p2 #Maddow #Trump #Russia #Collusion pic.twitter.com/NlJYtQlV5y
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 2, 2018
Sen. Coons dropped a legal reality check on Trump:
What we are commonly referring to as collusion is a complex series of violations of federal election law, of truthfulness to investigators and the commonly known crime of conspiracy, which is I think 18 USC 371 and that’s just working with more than one other person to break federal law. That’s simple conspiracy.
Team Trump is playing word games to cover for their crimes
While special counsel Robert Mueller is viewing his investigation through a stone-cold legal perspective, the president’s defense team is hoping lies and word games will help them survive.
Unfortunately for the White House, this strategy may play well in front of a crowd of MAGA-hat-wearing Fox viewers, but it will mean nothing to the ongoing special counsel investigation – which is clearly spooking the president and his team.
At the end of the day, crimes are crimes. That’s not going to change, no matter how many cable news meltdowns Rudy Giuliani has in the coming weeks.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
