He knew. He 100% knew.

[kpete]

.........................

But none of these are the key thing. That is this: For the second half of 2016 Donald Trump himself and his campaign knew that Russia was engaged in a wide ranging effort to subvert the 2016 campaign and to work to get him elected. Yet despite this knowledge he and his campaign continued to approve numerous contacts with Russian government officials, clandestine meetings, receive offers of assistance. He also continued to push a decidedly Russia friendly policy agenda, even to the point of threatening to short-circuit or abandon the NATO alliance – probably Russia’s principal foreign policy goal not only today but decades back into the Cold War. They continued to authorize all of this, continued to feel out the possible dimensions of the relationship and, critically, made no effort to contact the FBI or other relevant federal agencies about a plot they knew these agencies were tracking and trying to combat.

And then here’s the kicker:

He knew. He 100% knew. And yet they continued on with the contacts and clandestine discussions and public policy promises right up to election day and intensified them during the transition. Not once, as far as we know, did anyone associated with the Trump campaign or Trump himself speak to anyone from law enforcement or the intelligence community and say, “Hey, you told us about that interference campaign. This one guy contacted us and we had a few conversations with him. Just wanted you to know.”
Not once.

Of course, Trump or Jared Kushner or Paul Manafort or Don Jr might have said, “Hey, now that you mention it, we actually took this meeting in Trump Tower in June. And someone said it was the Russian government itself trying to give us dirt. We just wanted you to know.”

Not once. None of that happened. To me this shows a clear consciousness of guilt and more specifically a desire to participate – ‘collaborate’ is probably the better word – in the Russian operation out of the view of the US government which was trying to prevent it.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-the-trump-russia-skeptics-are-wrong

via:

[poboy2]

1. Treason. -eom

[Mme. Defarge]

2. That Occam and his pesky

razor!

[CousinIT]

3. "Conspire" is the word. Conspiracy is the word, not "collude"

Orange Menace keeps saying "no collusion!"

And he's right. But there WAS a conspiracy and he was part of it. Consciously and carelessly so.

[czarjak]

8. Puppets are incapable of collusion...

[Farmer-Rick]

4. That was the whole purpose of the back door contact plans that Jared and others

Tried to set up through the Russian Embassy and other countries. To stay out of the public and FBI sight. To secretly communicate with Russia and their intelligence agencies.

[OhNo-Really]

5. Ryan just admitted he knew

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210266800

[BigmanPigman]

6. Immoral moron abound in this group.

Greedy morons! Lock them all up, seize their assets and have a re-do of the last election from the fake prez down to the local level (people voted down ballot). Erase all of the legislation and Exec Orders since the election too!

[LisaM]

7. I question whether he even, deep down, understands that it's wrong.

There is a real problem with businessmen treating politics as if they were doing a backdoor deal or running a company.

Of course, fault voters who think voting for non-politicians is ever a good idea. I don't care if part of someone's political experience was being elected street sweeper. People should have some background in elective office somewhere.

I don't know if Trump was born without a moral compass, or just lost it in the real-estate world in which he grew up.

[Exotica]

9. my current country of residence has an instrument for the Treason Don's comeuppance