It is abundantly clear that despite a years worth of denial from Donald Trump and those closest to him, his campaign was actively involved in the Russian interference in last years’ presidential elections.According to an excellent summary of the entire scandal by Mother Jones, while the multiple investigations may not reveal anything new, they do reveal what many of us have thought for a long time: that Donald Trump “is guilty.”Trump and his team are in constant denial mode about the election hacking scandal, dismissing, literally, every single bit of evidence as ‘fake news’ because, as they claim, there is no evidence. just days ago Trump proclaimed, “Believe me, there’s no collusion.” Nothing to see; move along.Mother Jones explains further:
Explicit collusion may yet be proved by the FBI investigation overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller or by other ongoing probes. But even if it is not, a harsh verdict can be pronounced: Trump actively and enthusiastically aided and abetted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plot against America. This is the scandal. It already exists—in plain sight.
As soon as the news broke a year ago that the Russians had penetrated the Democratic National Committee’s computer systems, Trump launched a campaign of denial and distraction. For months, he refused to acknowledge the Kremlin’s role. He questioned expert and government findings that pinned the blame on Moscow. He refused to condemn Putin. Far from treating these acts of information warfare seriously, he attempted to politicize and delegitimize the evidence. Meanwhile, he and his supporters encouraged more Russian hacking. All told, Trump provided cover for a foreign government’s attempt to undermine American democracy. Through a propaganda campaign of his own, he helped Russia get away with it. As James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, testified to Congress this spring, Trump “helps the Russians by obfuscating who was actually responsible.”On June 15, 2016, the day after the Washington Post reported that the DNC had been hacked and that cybersecurity experts had identified two groups linked to the Russian government as the perps, Trump’s campaign issued a statement blaming the victim: “We believe it was the DNC that did the ‘hacking’ as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader.” The intent was obvious: to impede somber consideration of the Russian intervention, to have voters and reporters see it as just another silly political hullabaloo.At the final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton accurately summed up Trump’s position on the hacking: “It’s pretty clear you won’t admit that the Russians have engaged in cyberattacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people.” Trump replied, “Our country has no idea” who pulled off the hacks, which is patently false. We know beyond a shadow of doubt that Russia was behind it.Trump’s continual denials and attempts to distract and cover-up are certainly not the behavior of an innocent person. Anyone with any doubt that Trump himself was involved with the collusion is probably named Trump or wants to fight you about Clinton’s email.He’s guilty.