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President Donald Trump’s mantra about the Russia investigation has been “NO COLLUSION,” a phrase he has tweeted 57 times in the past 18 months.
But so many people in Trump’s orbit had so many contacts with so many Russians, and told so many lies to hide those contacts, it's increasingly difficult to ignore the connecting thread. Many of the contacts were about making Trump richer, making Trump president, or both.
On Tuesday, asked by Reuters about associates' dealings with Russians, Trump called them "peanut stuff." Yet the evidence — some of it known for months and some newly emerged, some in court documents and some in news accounts — looks more like the elephant in the room:
►Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and a top Trump Organization executive, was busy negotiating a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow until mid-June of 2016, a month after Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination. Cohen told prosecutors that he briefed Trump more than three times that year. On Wednesday, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress about the project and for other crimes.
►A Trump business associate and Russian immigrant, Felix Sater, bragged to Cohen in November 2015 about his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that building the Moscow tower would solidify Trump’s image as a dealmaker. “Our boy can become president of the USA," he emailed Cohen. “I will get all of Putins (sic) team to buy in on this.”
►Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., almost giddily took a meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower in Manhattan with a Russian attorney promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and then-campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, now facing years in prison, were at the meeting, too. Apparently, no one thought to call the FBI to report that a hostile foreign power was trying to interfere in the U.S. election to help Trump. If this meeting wasn't collusion, it sure was attempted collusion.
►In one of the most stunning moments of the campaign, Trump boldly appealed to Russia to hack Clinton’s emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said on July 27, 2016. That same day, Russian operatives attempted for the first time to hack into servers used by Clinton’s personal office. A dozen Russian operatives have since been indicted for hacking.
►Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page met briefly with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Republican National Convention. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, one of Trump's close advisers, also met with Kislyak at least twice. Sessions, who went on to become Trump's attorney general, had to recuse himself from the investigation of Russian interference in the election after telling the Senate under oath that "I did not have communications with the Russians.”
►Prosecutors are investigating whether a key Trump associate, Roger Stone, was provided advance knowledge of plans by WikiLeaks to publish Russian-hacked emails embarrassing to Clinton.
►Aides and relatives didn’t let a little thing like Trump's election to the presidency get in the way of their continuing contacts with Russians. Kushner met with Ambassador Kislyak in December 2016 and talked about back-channel communications between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team.
►Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, also talked with Kislyak during the transition about moderating Russia’s response — which the Russians in fact did — to tough U.S. sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama. Flynn ended up pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about those talks and has since cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
OTHER VIEWS:Where’s the collusion with Russia?
All told, at least 14 Trump associates, including his son-in-law and eldest son, interacted with Russians during the campaign and transition. In practically every case, revelations or questions about the contacts brought denials by Trump associates. That is, until several lied to the wrong people — the FBI or Congress — and wound up pleading guilty to a federal crime.
Trump's response during the campaign and during his nearly two years in office? Variously, that he had “nothing to do with Russia,” and that he had “no deals” and no “business” with Russia.
Last month, after documents were filed in Cohen’s case, Trump switched to: “Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia.” As if he couldn't quite recall the name Moscow.
Whether all this adds up to a criminal conspiracy will be for Mueller's team to conclude. In the meantime, you have to wonder why, if everything was so innocuous, so many people committed crimes to hide their dealings with Russian emissaries. So many contacts, and so little truth, smacks more of cover-up than "no collusion."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russia and collusion: 'Peanut stuff' or elephant in the room?
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