Hillary Clinton received a similar briefing, which was given in the form of a high-level counter-intelligence briefing by senior FBI officials. They emphasized that this is a standard part of helping to educate presidential candidates and their top aides. Officials said that the candidates were urged to report any suspicious overtures to the FBI.
Trump's first such briefing was on August 17, 2016. He was specifically warned at that session about "potential espionage threats from Russia," according to two former officials familiar with the sessions.
A source close to the White House said they are maintaining that at the time Trump was unaware of the contacts between his campaign and the Russians; and it's unclear whether the warning to Trump was passed on to other campaign officials.
Of course, we know now that by this time there had been multiple contacts, including the infamous meeting in Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer and her entourage, peddling dirt on Clinton. Sessions had had meetings with the Russian ambassador, and campaign manager Paul Manafort was a two-way train to both Ukraine and Russia. If Trump hired him as campaign manager and didn't vet him enough to know that, then that alone disqualifies him from being president.
Of course we now know -- and our counterintelligence officials knew at the time of the August briefing -- that there had already been at least seven contacts which our surveillance teams were beginning to monitor. The fact that Trump did not mention any of these during the briefing must have raised questions in the minds of the briefers, who knew about the meetings that Trump wasn't telling them.
I'm just now remembering, when that first briefing was reported contemporaneously in the media, that Trump was accompanied by Chris Christie and Mike Flynn. It was reported that Flynn became very testy and demanding in the meeting and that Christie had tried to calm him down. I remember concluding that Flynn should not be made National Security Adviser. It all makes sense now. Flynn already knew he was guilty of colluding and was being defensive. There is no public evidence that Trump reported any of this to the FBI. Whether he knew, at that time, is an open question. But Flynn certainly knew what he had done.
This may not be a smoking gun -- but it is one more piece of a big puzzle that adds to the column of behavior by the Trump campaign consistent with guilty knowledge that they were at least playing with fire -- and perhaps it was far more than that.
At the very least, it shows a lack of curiosity and a lack of concern. But it could also be explained by the fact that it was not news to them and that they, in fact, welcomed the Russians as "helpers," rather than as adversaries.
Every little bit of additional culpability that comes out now about Trump and his team may convince one more person not to believe the false narratives being proliferated by Fox News and Breitbart and talk radio -- their false claims about the "deep state" establishment, that Mueller is dangerously biased against Trump, and that the whole investigation is the most corrupt witch hunt every propagated against a sitting president. That's the defensive story they're trying to sell -- so they must know there's a lot of truth they have to try to smother.
I'm willing to let Trump have his blessed superlatives -- let him say that it's the greatest witch hunt ever -- if only we can get rid of him from the office of president and commander-in-chief.
Ralph
Trump's first such briefing was on August 17, 2016. He was specifically warned at that session about "potential espionage threats from Russia," according to two former officials familiar with the sessions.
A source close to the White House said they are maintaining that at the time Trump was unaware of the contacts between his campaign and the Russians; and it's unclear whether the warning to Trump was passed on to other campaign officials.
Of course, we know now that by this time there had been multiple contacts, including the infamous meeting in Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer and her entourage, peddling dirt on Clinton. Sessions had had meetings with the Russian ambassador, and campaign manager Paul Manafort was a two-way train to both Ukraine and Russia. If Trump hired him as campaign manager and didn't vet him enough to know that, then that alone disqualifies him from being president.
Of course we now know -- and our counterintelligence officials knew at the time of the August briefing -- that there had already been at least seven contacts which our surveillance teams were beginning to monitor. The fact that Trump did not mention any of these during the briefing must have raised questions in the minds of the briefers, who knew about the meetings that Trump wasn't telling them.
I'm just now remembering, when that first briefing was reported contemporaneously in the media, that Trump was accompanied by Chris Christie and Mike Flynn. It was reported that Flynn became very testy and demanding in the meeting and that Christie had tried to calm him down. I remember concluding that Flynn should not be made National Security Adviser. It all makes sense now. Flynn already knew he was guilty of colluding and was being defensive. There is no public evidence that Trump reported any of this to the FBI. Whether he knew, at that time, is an open question. But Flynn certainly knew what he had done.
This may not be a smoking gun -- but it is one more piece of a big puzzle that adds to the column of behavior by the Trump campaign consistent with guilty knowledge that they were at least playing with fire -- and perhaps it was far more than that.
At the very least, it shows a lack of curiosity and a lack of concern. But it could also be explained by the fact that it was not news to them and that they, in fact, welcomed the Russians as "helpers," rather than as adversaries.
Every little bit of additional culpability that comes out now about Trump and his team may convince one more person not to believe the false narratives being proliferated by Fox News and Breitbart and talk radio -- their false claims about the "deep state" establishment, that Mueller is dangerously biased against Trump, and that the whole investigation is the most corrupt witch hunt every propagated against a sitting president. That's the defensive story they're trying to sell -- so they must know there's a lot of truth they have to try to smother.
I'm willing to let Trump have his blessed superlatives -- let him say that it's the greatest witch hunt ever -- if only we can get rid of him from the office of president and commander-in-chief.
Ralph
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