How much trouble Donald Trump Jr. is in because he took a meeting with a Russian government-connected lawyer depends on who you talk to. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, is pretty sure that Trump Jr. has committed treason. Allahpundit at Hot Air thinks this is crazy overreach, but that Trump Jr. may be in legal jeopardy nonetheless. William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection thinks that the Trump son showed amateurishness but did not commit any crimes as such.
What happened during the meeting?
Because of the released Donald Trump Jr.
emails and media reporting, we know that a friend arranged a meeting between Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-connected lawyer named Natalia Veselnitskaya with the promise that she had damaging information on Hillary Clinton. He knew that Veselnitskaya had Russian government connections, but took the meeting anyway, taking along his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. As it turns out, Veselnitskaya had no information on Hillary but rather wanted to discuss a program that allowed Americans to adopt Russian babies. The meeting lasted no more than 30 minutes.
Some dare call it treason
Kaine and other Democrats are helping Trump Jr. out by implying that he is a traitor for meeting with the Russian lawyer.
That accusation is a massive overreach since the United States is not at war with Russia and maintains diplomatic relations with that country. Allahpundit suggests that Trump Jr. could be guilty of a lesser crime related to collusion, but William Jacobson doubts that that is the case. Jacobson notes that Team Hillary would have taken the meeting too, but would have sent a lower level surrogate to give the candidate and her inner circle plausible deniability.
Trump Jr. is guilty of not knowing how these things are done in American politics.
The political fallout
Clearly, the Democrats have something more to talk about. The meeting adds to their narrative that President Donald Trump is Vladimir Putin’s Manchurian Candidate. The Russians somehow robbed Hillary of the presidency that is hers by right.
However, by bringing out charges of treason, the Democrats are severely overreaching. Treason is the only crime specifically defined in the United States Constitution. It is a federal felony for which one can get the death penalty. The charges are a gift that Trump enemies are giving to the White House. That gives Team Trump a talking point of their own that the Democrats are so rabid that they will say anything to strike at the president. Trump Jr., as of this writing, is due to be on Hannity to explain how that is so to a friendly audience.
