When it comes to the meeting, in Trump Tower, with Kushner, Donald Jr, and the other guy with the Russians there are several things to consider….
Merriam-Webster defines Collusion as: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose acting incollusion with the enemy
Let’s look at the “agreement or cooperation” aspect of this. Yes, there does not seem to have been any collusion but, that was only because the Russians did not have the material the Trump representatives wanted, information on Hillary Clinton. I see that as like if you went to buy drugs and were told “we don’t have any drugs for you but, how about some really nice caviar?”.
It is true that it was not a secret, after all it was reported by the press, only because it was reported by the press. I would go so far as to say that, when the press reported the meeting, the did the Trump group and unintentional favor.. Favor you ask? Of course.
I will explain it this way. When I was in the Air Force, mid 70s to 84, one of the little film they showed us, it was for people who had contact with classified information, was about a young Airman who worked in his bases headquarters. One night he was in a bar and met a stranger. The two shared drink and the stranger found out, he problably already knew, that the Airman worked in Headquarters, and the two started to talk about some unclassified program that were going on. The stranger was interested in one of these programs, I think it was supposed to deal with things the Air Force was trying to do in the community near the base. The two agreed to meet the next day. The Airman would bring the brochures in an envolope and the stranger would bring him some information about his company. The two met the next night.
The Airman, not thinking it was important, did not report the contact with the stranger. Sometime later the two would see each other at the bar, and the stranger would pull him over to ask about information of a classified matter. The Airman would say he could not talk about things like that. The stranger would explain that it was too late, and he would show the Airman photos that had been taken of the two of them exchanging envelopes.
For the Airman this was a problem. He had not followed regulations which stated he was supposed to report that contact, and it now looked like he had given them information for money.
Now, getting back to the Trump meeting. Had the press not reported the meeting the Trump team would have been in the same position as the young Airman. It would look like they had exchanged something for information on Clinton, even though no real exchange had taken place. Further, in this last scenario, their problem would for Kushner and Don Jr to prove what really happened in that room…. I find it hard to believe the Russians would offer such information about H. Clinton without wanting something in return. The question would be : did they get anything other than the possibiity of a later blackmail?
Things like this just point out the lack of judgement exhibited by the Trump group, which comes from a lack of descretion.
The next 3 1/2 years will most likely result in more incidents such as this.
Thanks,
That Joe Guy.
That Joe Guy 