2016 ELECTION/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “For months, the hope in President Donald Trump’s world—sometimes realistic, sometimes strained—was that the story of Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election would quickly shrivel up and blow away.
That dream died on Tuesday [7-11-17].
Whatever else the stunning email chain released by Donald Trump Jr. did or didn’t show, it undermined the argument that the idea of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign is so ludicrous that it shouldn’t be taken seriously. Instead, in black and white, were messages showing that someone offered help from the top of the Russian government to distribute damaging information about Hillary Clinton —and that the president’s son, in his own words, was eager to get it. Indeed, he scheduled a meeting to receive it.
As a result, government investigations and media inquiries of 2016 election maneuvering just got a load of new fuel. The stakes now seem higher, and previous responses more suspect. The prospect that all of this will go away soon has grown dim, if not extinguished entirely.”
-Gerald F. Seib, “Trump Jr. Emails Create Short-Term Uproar, Long-Term Problem,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 11, 2017 07:19pm