Robert Mueller’s inability to prove a criminal conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia is one of the most significantly misinterpreted facts in recent history. The lack of a conspiracy charge demonstrates that there is a dearth of laws designed to stop collusion between presidential campaigns and hostile foreign powers. (As Mueller testified, “We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term.”) It further showed the difficulty of prosecuting a boss who is careful not to allow notes or incriminating evidence in his presence, especially when the lieutenants involved in the plot (Paul Manafort, Roger Stone) refuse to flip on him because he dangles pardons. If Mafia bosses had the pardon power, they wouldn’t be prosecuted very often either.
What the episode did not demonstrate, despite Trump’s insistent claims, was that the Russia scandal was a giant hoax. It was a huge scandal, evidence for which continues to accumulate.
The latest comes from Bob Woodward’s new book, which contains reporting on the very close and secretive relationship between Trump and Vladimir Putin. In 2020, when the United States and the world had a dire shortage of COVID tests, Trump sent some to his friend for his private supply. Now, it’s possible to rationalize this favor on foreign-policy grounds — perhaps Putin needed tests to be able to function, and his functioning is helpful to avoid a dangerous miscalculation. What’s more suspicious is that Putin advised Trump to keep the shipment a secret: “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me.”
That is to say, Putin’s concern was maintaining Trump’s domestic viability. He felt a continued investment in Trump’s success, realized Trump would be undercut by the (correct) awareness of their friendship, and urged him to keep it secret, which he did.
Woodward also reports the two men have continued speaking, up to seven times. Trump reportedly shooed his aides away for the calls, continuing a pattern of his insistence on secrecy when speaking with Putin.
Earlier this week, the New York Times unearthed new details about a 2017 meeting between Trump and Putin. In it, Trump asked Putin whether he should give weapons to Ukraine. Putin, naturally, advised him not to. Aides had given Trump talking points to deliver to Putin warning against his ongoing slow-motion invasion of Ukraine, but Trump, according to the Times, “never pushed back.”
The precise nature of the Trump-Putin relationship has never been fully explained. It is overwhelmingly clear the two men have a political alliance, a bond of personal trust, and a joint understanding that they must conceal their alliance from the American public. The fact that details about this alliance continue to trickle out years later is a rebuke to the fatuous notion that Mueller’s investigation cleared Trump.
his post originally appeared in Jonathan Chait’s &c. newsletter, which you can sign up for here
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