Dupe or agent

Special Counsel Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russians for their concerted program of interference in the 2016 US presidential elections leaves us with only two choices: candidate Trump was either an unwitting dupe or a witting agent of Moscow’s concerted efforts to get him elected.

It is still arguable that he knew nothing of their enterprise at the time. Mueller has not yet demonstrated a clear high-level link to the campaign, though he has suggested that at a lower level campaign workers, perhaps unwittingly, collaborated with Russian agents. The President is still denying collusion and any impact on the election:

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!

But the fact that the Russians started their efforts before he announced his candidacy means nothing: the Mueller indictment makes clear that Moscow later in the campaign preferred Trump and did everything it could to smear Hillary Clinton.

…by early to mid-2016, Defendants operations included supporting the presidential campaign of the candidate Donald J. Trump (“Trump Campaign”) and disparaging Hillary Clinton.

That makes Trump at least a dupe.

It is also clear that campaign staffers and Trump family members sought assistance from the Russians during the campaign. What we don’t know is whether the candidate authorized those initiatives. It would be sensible to assume he did, as he prides himself on his attention to detail, but we can’t yet be sure. He might still be a dupe, not an agent.

The argument for agent is nevertheless strong. The Trump real estate empire depends on Russian money, much of it likely recycled from illegal activity. Trump is fond of reiterating that he has no business in Russia. That is not the issue. The Russians do a lot of business with him in the US and elsewhere. There is no way that Trump would not know this. It is more than likely he fears they might pull their financial assets out, or just reduce their flow in. If the motive for his praise of Putin and his refusal to implement sanctions against Russia stems from concern about Russian financial flows into his real estate ventures, that would make him an agent, not a dupe.

Mueller is already following the money. We know this, despite the Special Counsel’s admirably leak-proof operation, because he has hired lawyers with expertise in money laundering and financial crimes. We also know that Trump neglected due diligence in at least some of his businesses. What are the odds that a thorough vetting of his empire will reveal “high crimes and misdemeanors” as well as financial motives for Trump’s going easy on Putin and the Russians? I would say very close to 100%.

In my opinion, America has elected a Russian-compromised agent as president. He is also a philanderer who pays hush money, a self-avowed abuser of women, a blatant liar, a would-be autocrat, and a money launderer. The only real question is when we will find the means to get rid of him.