"What is going on with Trump and Russia?" by AJC's Jay Bookman

Several days ago, before we knew as much as we know now about the extent of Trump's involvement in Gen. Flynn's "deal" with Russia concerning sanctions, Atlanta Journal-Constitution's star staff columnist Jay Bookman wrote an excellent piece about Trump and Russia.    Those basic questions haven't been answered.  Bookman summarized the Flynn deal, and then wrote:

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". . . . Think about that: Russia helps Trump get elected, a conclusion that is backed by professionals at all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. When Russia then gets punished for its attack on our system, a top Trump associate reaches out to undermine that punishment. Together, Russian leaders and Trump associates secretly coordinate a response, which President-elect Trump then publicly celebrates.

"But wait, it gets worse. When news broke back in December that Flynn had had as many as five conversations with the Russian ambassador in a single day, Flynn lied, point-blank, to the American people about the nature and content of those conversations. He claimed that the topic of sanctions had never been mentioned and that the sole purpose of the calls had been to set up post-inaugural contacts. . . .  

"And of course, this hasn’t happened in isolation. It is a continuation of a damning pattern of behavior in which the Russians help Trump and Trump helps the Russians. In an interview just last week, when Bill O’Reilly of Fox News pointed out to Trump that his buddy Putin is a cold killer whose political opponents are poisoned, shot, beaten to death or vanish into thin air, Trump brushed it all aside.

“'Lot of killers,' Trump said. 'We’ve got a lot of killers. Boy, you think our country’s so innocent? You think our country’s so innocent?'

"Trump was then asked about Russia’s continued military assault on neighboring Ukraine, and once again he sounded more like a Kremlin mouthpiece than a president of the United States. He echoed Moscow’s denial that Russia had any control over the forces that are attacking Ukraine. . . .

"It is bizarre to propose a moral equivalence between the far-from-perfect actions of the United States and the murderous, thuggish predations of Putin and his KGB kleptocracy.

"It is bizarre to watch Trump pick fights with the leaders of Australia, Mexico, Germany and France, among others, yet find it impossible to say a critical word about the likes of Putin.

"It is bizarre that Russia could have meddled in our election and pay almost no price for it.

"And it is certainly bizarre to watch Republican leaders in Washington avert their eyes and pretend not to see."

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That was published by Bookman in the AJC five days ago.   Things have become more blatant, more alarming, and still puzzling since then.   Are Republican leaders any closer to stepping up to do something about it?    Already, impeachable offenses could be charged.   What is their threshold?

Ralph