The Russians are very skilled at luring people in step by step, offering a favor here, an exchange of favors there, creating obligations both legal and illegal, creating the illusion of friendship but the reality of dependency, until the mark is caught in a snare. Then the mark can be played along until the spymaster (Kislyak; Putin) is ready to reel them in, and the mark cannot refuse. They must pay the piper when the tune ends.
Of course it's money laundering. Rachel Maddow has reported on this consistently month after month. Money laundering can land you in prison, bigly, and while the feds are at it they can make you forfeit all your assets, right down to your gold cufflinks. in Trump's case, this is a family business -- his kids, at least Ivana's 3 spawn plus Jared -- are in it up to their eyeballs, and they are very much at risk.
Motive #1 to keep playing along with Putin.
What does Putin want in return? Oh, not much -- just a little light treason. It probably didn't seem like much to men like Trump and Manafort (and Tillerson) who deal transnationally -- money, money, golden thrones -- and what is America and its problems to them? Absolutely nothing, from their Olympian heights. Just an address and a name on a US passport. Life is all transactional, and Putin (to them) is just another player transacting deals.
Putin, however, knows very well how much his asked-for payment is worth, and it means everything to him: the cheapening of America's name in the world community, the weakening of America's diplomatic power, driving divisions inside America deeper and deeper, making us doubt our institutions, our government, ourselves, and bankrupting our economy. You name it, Putin has struck pure gold this time.
Motive #2 to keep playing along with Putin, and to deny deny deny: It has finally occured to those around Trump, if not the Orange One himself, that they are in vastly more trouble than they ever bargained for. They are caught, and desperately hoping to bargain their way out of their demise. Putin is probably laughing, but Mueller is not.
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