JULY 11, 2017
Photo: Getty
Junior really stepped in it this time.
On Monday night, The New York Times broke a story that could be potentially game-changing in the investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. The newspaper reports that, in an e-mail sent to Donald Trump, Jr. from one of his father’s business partners, Don Jr. was told last summer that a senior Russian governmental official was willing to meet with him and disclose incriminating evidence against Hillary Clinton against whom his father was running at the time. Don Jr.’s reaction? “If it’s what you say, I love it…”
Don Jr. not only accepted the meeting with a Russian government lawyer who was promising to spill the beans on Hillary, but he brought along campaign chairman (at the time) Paul Manafort and his father’s ever-present son-in-law Jared Kushner. Reportedly, the lawyer didn’t have much to offer, but the fact remains that Don Jr. accepted a meeting with a top Russian official whose intent was wanting to help the Trump campaign defeat Hillary Clinton, whom the Putin regime reportedly did not want to be sitting across the negotiating table from them.
After months of hearing Don Jr. (as well as Manafort and Kushner) deny vehemently that any Trump campaign operative had any interaction at all with the Russians, to see their lies exposed is kind of delicious. But it’s also kind of disturbing as to what is really going on behind the scenes of an administration that promised transparency but has been nothing but opaque.
Though Kushner attended the Hillary-dirt meeting, the administration appears to be circling the wagons to protect him because he currently is, for whatever reason, The Golden Child. Which leaves hapless Don Jr. hanging out to dry.
And it couldn’t have happened to a bigger douche.
With his slicked back hair, flashy suits and shiny ties, Don Jr. seems to fancy himself as a bit of a mobster. But his inept actions, e-mails and tweets over the past few days reveal that he’s more Fredo Corleone than he is Sonny.
On Tuesday, just minutes ahead of The New York Times publishing it, Fredo released on his own the entire string of e-mails from his Russian contact, and they clearly reveal that he was anxious to get any kind of dirt on Clinton, even if it meant colluding (and that’s the correct term and it’s a crime) with a country that was about to tamper with our electoral process.
What does this mean politically for the Trump Administration? Nothing good. Montages of Trump Administration officials (as well as the boss himself) lying over and over again have been playing all over cable news all day, and those images only give fuel to the idea that this President and his Administration can’t be trusted to tell the truth — not a great impression to leave when the Senate takes up the Trumpcare bill later this week.
And what does Dad say about all this? “My son is a high-quality person, and I applaud his transparency,” the President said in a written statement. That’s all? Trump was far more passionate in defending his daughter Ivanka when Nordstrom dropped her accessories line, so Junior now knows for sure where he stands in the pecking order.
Hey, Fredo! See that Trump bus over there? Prepare yourself. You’re about to be thrown under it.
