Slate - "The Four Big Scandals of the Trump Administration"

[NRaleighLiberal]

Collusion with Russia is just one of them.

By Phillip Carter

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/the_four_big_scandals_of_the_trump_administration.html

The latest bombshells in the New York Times, showing that President Donald Trump’s inner circle knowingly met with Russian government representatives to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, indicate both a staggering level of corruption inside this administration and a cavalier willingness to obscure the truth until caught.

Although it may be tempting to see the White House as one enormous undifferentiated scandal soufflé, there is still utility in considering each layer separately and pursuing investigations or remedies for each. For ethical or legal failures like those reported by the Times, law enforcement inquiries followed by prosecution make the most sense. For governance failures, like those involving the travel ban, health care, or diplomacy, there are mostly political remedies. Lumping all these issues together may actually be counterproductive, for overreaching could enable Trump and his team to skirt both legal and political accountability.

Nearly six months into the Trump presidency, there appear to be at least four separate scandals percolating at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The first relates to Russian meddling in the 2016 election, broader Russian espionage activity in the United States, and the degree to which the Trump campaign and/or administration may have colluded with the Russians to affect the outcome of the election.

Thanks to incredible reporting by the Times, we now have documentary evidence that at the height of the campaign Trump’s inner circle knowingly met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, an attorney purportedly representing the Russian government. The purpose of this meeting was to obtain negative information about Clinton and the Democrats. President Trump was conspicuously absent from the meeting (although he was apparently in New York City that day), but three of his top lieutenants—son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, and campaign manager Paul Manafort—did attend.

snip - read on - read all about it - at the above link

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. So far. I'm sure there will be more.