Communicating with Russians

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Again, those electors voted the way their states went. It was the citizens of those states who were unduly influenced by Putin. And even if Trump would have won without Putin's help, the fact of the mounting evidence shows how he and his people were working hand-in-glove with the Russians, which is treasonous.

As for treason, what about the DNC working hand in glove with a foreign government, with Clinton's knowledge, to win the election?

Jrjones explains very well how there was a Democratic interest in Paul Manifort, Putin's American fixer, and his operations in Ukraine. Not the same thing as what the Trump team did.

Sounds like the same thing for different reasons but with the same ultimate goal. Naturally there's going to be a "but that was different" defense.

It's fun to discuss, but it's all moot. Like with Trump's interactions with Comey there's a bunch of people running around claiming crime and even treason, but all the experts in the law are saying nope. It looks bad politically sure, but that's probably as far as it will go, like with everything else so far.

The difference is, the Democrats never lied about such inquiries, nor did they ever fire anyone in charge of an investigation into said inquiries. The Democrats have nothing to hide on this subject, but Trump and company definitely do. That implies something illegal.

What does Trump and company definitely have to hide on this subject at this point?

What does Trump and company definitely have to hide on this subject at this point?

Does this really have to be an all-or-nothing issue?

Yeah, the Russians probably influenced the American election, but there were plenty of other factors at work.

Furthermore, America has influenced Russian elections in the past. America meddled with the post-Soviet elections in order to get Yeltsin into power. That was a disaster for the Russian people ... but it was another victory for corporate America.

What goes around comes around I guess.

Must be pretty bad, considering that Trump fired his head of the FBI. Why would they be lying about such meetings with the Russians if there's nothing there?

Mr Akhmetshin has been active in Washington for a number of years, mostly on Russia-related issues Hermitage Capital Management
A Russian former military operative with links to counterintelligence also attended Donald Trump Jr’s notorious meeting with a Russian lawyer about obtaining possibly incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.

Rinat Akhmetshin, a dual Russian-American citizen and lobbyist who has been accused of acting as “an unregistered agent for Russian interests” and with ties to Russian military intelligence service, or GRU, has confirmed he attended the meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Also participating in the meeting was a US-based Russian translator, Anatoli Samochornov, who had worked previously for Ms Veselnitskaya and the US State Department at various points.

Trump contradicts his son and suggests he knew about lawyer meeting
Mr Akhmetshin said he accompanied Ms Veselnitskaya to Trump Tower on 9 June 2016. Although he had known and worked with Ms Veselnitskaya for a number of years, he said he had only learned about the meeting that day when she asked him to attend. He said he showed up in jeans and a T-shirt.

Mr Trump Jr’s account of the meeting, which has shifted several times, failed to mention the presence of Mr Akhmetshin, or the translator.

Mr Akhmetshin said Ms Veselnitskaya brought a plastic folder with her, containing printed documents that detailed what she believed could potentially be the flow of illicit funds to the Democratic National Committee. Ms Veselnitskaya presented the contents of the documents to the Trump associates and suggested that making the information public could help the Trump campaign, he said.

Mr Trump Jr asked the lawyer if she had all the evidence to back up her claims, according to Mr Akhmetshin, including whether she could demonstrate the flow of the money. But Ms Veselnitskaya allegedly claimed the Trump campaign would need to research it more.

After that exchange, Mr Trump Jr lost interest, Mr Akhmetshin said. “They couldn’t wait for the meeting to end,” he told the Associated Press.

Mr Akhmetshin said he does not know if Ms Veselnitskaya’s documents were provided by the Russian government. He said he thinks she left the materials with the Trump associates. It was unclear if she handed the documents to anyone in the room, or simply left them behind, he said.

Mr Akhmetshin has denied that he worked for the GRU, saying he served in the Soviet Army from 1986 to 1988 after he was drafted but was not trained in spy tradecraft. He said his unit operated in the Baltics and was “loosely part of counterintelligence”.