Anyone remember what happened to Fredo in the Godfather?  Neither Trump nor Kushner will take the fall for this one.

I might be able to accept that Don, Jr. was ignorant of the laws regarding interaction, collusion, cooperation, or whatever else you want to call it, with a foreign government (especially Russia) interfering in the U.S. Presidential election campaign because he was a neophyte in the political process. But, due to the fact that he quickly accepted the meeting with a supposed Russian activist lawyer with ties to Putin by saying he "loved it" because they would get some dirt on Clinton. And then he immediately contacted Kushner and Manafort to attend (Kushner might claim ignorance also, but Manafort . . . a seasoned political operative and campaign manager . . . no way) so they could utilize the Clinton dirt mined by the Russians. That indicates that they were cognizant of what they were doing, but thought they wouldn't be caught, or felt they were above the law. In any case, they neglected to notify the FBI about an obvious intrusion to the American election process . . . WHY? Then there's that little dance of initial denial, revision of previous statements, and then more admissions after the New York Times (fake news) advised Jr. that they had verified e-mail strings of his that highlight the fact that his actions embraced interaction with a hostile foreign power in order to influence the election. So, Jr. tried to get ahead of the story and released the e-mails . . . as his daddy says, because his son is a good guy for being so transparent.

So my conclusion is that Donny, Jr. is either naive, ignorant, and totally unaware of the law, or he is a stupid, arrogant, I'm above the law, egotistical A-hole.

Right now, my tendency is to go with the latter.

Apparently, the President himself signed off on Jr's FIRST explanation of his meeting with the Russians.
You remember, that was the lie that it was simply about adoptions.

As Air Force One jetted back from Europe on Saturday, a small cadre of Mr. Trump’s advisers huddled in a cabin helping to craft a statement for the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to give to The New York Times explaining why he met last summer with a lawyer connected to the Russian government. Participants on the plane and back in the United States debated how transparent to be in the statement, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Ultimately, the people said, the president signed off on a statement from Donald Trump Jr. for The Times that was so incomplete that it required day after day of follow-up statements, each more revealing than the last. It culminated on Tuesday with a release of emails making clear that Mr. Trump’s son believed the Russian lawyer was seeking to meet with him to provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/us/politics/russia-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Don Jr.
"I didn't meet with any Russians".
"I met with the Russians about adoptions".
"I met with the Russians to get dirt on Hilary Clinton".

Jeff Sessions, before the US Senate.
"I never met with any Russians".
"Well, I met once and forgot".
"I met three times".

Jared Kushner on his disclosure forms.
"I never met with any Russians".
"Wait, anybody got a eraser?"

And, this isn't "Fake news".
These are the authentic actions and statements of the men themselves
 

Last edited by Goose (7/12/2017 8:26 am)