Liberals are going nuts over a report the New York Times dropped this afternoon about a meeting between Trump people and a Kremlin-connected lawyer before the election.
From the New York Times:
Two weeks after Donald J. Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination last year, his eldest son arranged a meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan with a Russian lawyer who has connections to the Kremlin, according to confidential government records described to The New York Times.
The previously undisclosed meeting was also attended by Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, Paul J. Manafort, as well as the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to interviews and the documents, which were outlined by people familiar with them.
While President Trump has been dogged by revelations of undisclosed meetings between his associates and Russians, this episode at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, is the first confirmed private meeting between a Russian national and members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle during the campaign. It is also the first time that his son Donald J. Trump Jr. is known to have been involved in such a meeting.
Trump Jr. and Kushner confirmed it happened, but the former said it was about an adoption program.
Comey’s buddy Ben Wittes is going nuts on twitter over it:
Some thoughts on and annotations to this new story, as I read through it more carefully. First off, it looks like this is not a leak. /1/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
The story is sourced not to government sources but to "government records" and confirmed on the record by private defense lawyers. /2/ pic.twitter.com/2ZBz4ruYoU
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
The "interviews" in this second graf are with people "familiar" with the docs, which could be the private lawyers who generated them /3/ pic.twitter.com/LI6wAF7yFE
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
and disclosed them to the government. I'm not confident of this, but you shouldn't assume this is some nefarious government leak. /4/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
This is the 1st reason this story is a big deal: Trump campaign officials & family members met with Russian actors during the campaign. /5/ pic.twitter.com/SvZAh8I2TB
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
As this section reminds us, this is something they've been denying ever since—and, at critical moments, not disclosing. /6/ pic.twitter.com/xBVcNBARmP
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
This is the 2d reason this story is a big deal: Jr.'s lawyers don't deny campaign matters were discussed. If they could they would have. /7/ pic.twitter.com/q9pzgE7IAw
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
I actually believe that the meeting was "primarily" about an adoption program. The question is what it was secondarily about. /8/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
The key question here is why the Trump folks had this meeting with a Russian lawyer known to be Putinista. What were they trying to get? /9/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
And critically, why does campaign chairman Paul Manafort participate? Not, I suspect, so Trump would have a good position on adoption! /10/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
This is an interesting tidbit. It strongly suggests that the campaign's interlocutor was a counter-intelligence subject at some point. /11/ pic.twitter.com/EuzybiYrrs
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
It is also interesting that Manafort, unlike Trump Jr. and Jared, doesn't comment. I'm not sure what to make of that—but pls note it. /12/ pic.twitter.com/kWFWBAMnGn
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
This further suggests that this isn't an investigative leak but by defense lawyers. The press's visibility begins with the disclosure. /13/ pic.twitter.com/pdLOHRtHxF
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
Further evidence that this is not a Mueller leak comes in the last sentence; reporters frankly acknowledge that Mueller is a black box. /14/ pic.twitter.com/OJZapzl14v
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
That's all I got, folks. Its worth what you paid for it. /15/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 8, 2017
So there you go. I’m honestly not sure what to make of it yet… but it does seem like Trump Jr. can easily dismiss the meeting. Even if something illegal happened, it doesn’t matter what you think you know. It matters what you can prove….