Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
8:35 AM - Aug 5, 2018
This meeting was with a Russian agent. The first bolded statement above is an admission to conspiring with a representative of a hostile foreign power to rig the outcome of a U.S. election. The second bolded statement however attempts to turn the admission into an accusation against his "wonderful son." Trump is saying the first bolded statement is what he has learned since the June 2016 meeting, that he "did not know about it" at the time.
Okay...but then what about this? Thirteen months after the June 2016 meeting, in July 2017, when the bird hit the air pump, Trump wrote a response for Junior, aboard Air Force One. This was Trump's statement:
"It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul [That would be Paul MANAFORT] to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up. I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand."
"We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children" (July 2017)-"This was a meeting to get information on an opponent" (August 2018):
Both statements were made long after the June 2016 meeting. Trump writes now that he "did not know about" the meeting. But he did as far back in July 2017: knew "about" the meeting, that it had taken place, and knew "about" the purpose of the meeting. Each statement describes the purpose of the meeting--in contradiction of the other.
Trump initially denied writing the July 2017 response, then said he had a hand in drafting it, then admitted to writing it. The August 2018 statement is acknowledged by all to be true. Therefore, Trump's July 2017 statement, made while he was White House Occupant, aboard the official presidential airplane, was a lie. It was a lie intended by him--at the least--as cover up of Junior's and Kushner's and Manafort's conspiring with a representative of a hostile foreign power to rig the outcome of a U.S. election. His son, his son-in-law, and his campaign manager. In the building that bears his name and where he lives. Yet, "I did not know about it!"
Circumstantial evidence is connecting the dots. The prosecution's wide view picture of what those dots paint must be consistent with guilt and inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Trump confesses to everything but knowledge, what in criminal law is called "scienter." But scienter itself is only susceptible to proof by circumstantial evidence. We cannot look inside a person's head and see "premeditation" for example but people are convicted by juries without hesitation of premeditated murder.
Trump's scienter must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Mueller's got it; in my professional opinion this and the other evidence ("I hope Russia releases all of the emails!"; not immediately reporting the meeting to the FBI) prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump himself knew about the meeting with the Russian agent proximate to it happening and knew about the purpose of the meeting proximate to it happening, that is, that Donald Trump knowingly conspired with an agent of a hostile foreign power to rig the outcome of the U.S. election that made him White House Occupant.
@realDonaldTrump
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
8:35 AM - Aug 5, 2018
This meeting was with a Russian agent. The first bolded statement above is an admission to conspiring with a representative of a hostile foreign power to rig the outcome of a U.S. election. The second bolded statement however attempts to turn the admission into an accusation against his "wonderful son." Trump is saying the first bolded statement is what he has learned since the June 2016 meeting, that he "did not know about it" at the time.
Okay...but then what about this? Thirteen months after the June 2016 meeting, in July 2017, when the bird hit the air pump, Trump wrote a response for Junior, aboard Air Force One. This was Trump's statement:
"It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul [That would be Paul MANAFORT] to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up. I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand."
"We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children" (July 2017)-"This was a meeting to get information on an opponent" (August 2018):
Both statements were made long after the June 2016 meeting. Trump writes now that he "did not know about" the meeting. But he did as far back in July 2017: knew "about" the meeting, that it had taken place, and knew "about" the purpose of the meeting. Each statement describes the purpose of the meeting--in contradiction of the other.
Trump initially denied writing the July 2017 response, then said he had a hand in drafting it, then admitted to writing it. The August 2018 statement is acknowledged by all to be true. Therefore, Trump's July 2017 statement, made while he was White House Occupant, aboard the official presidential airplane, was a lie. It was a lie intended by him--at the least--as cover up of Junior's and Kushner's and Manafort's conspiring with a representative of a hostile foreign power to rig the outcome of a U.S. election. His son, his son-in-law, and his campaign manager. In the building that bears his name and where he lives. Yet, "I did not know about it!"
Circumstantial evidence is connecting the dots. The prosecution's wide view picture of what those dots paint must be consistent with guilt and inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Trump confesses to everything but knowledge, what in criminal law is called "scienter." But scienter itself is only susceptible to proof by circumstantial evidence. We cannot look inside a person's head and see "premeditation" for example but people are convicted by juries without hesitation of premeditated murder.
Trump's scienter must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Mueller's got it; in my professional opinion this and the other evidence ("I hope Russia releases all of the emails!"; not immediately reporting the meeting to the FBI) prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump himself knew about the meeting with the Russian agent proximate to it happening and knew about the purpose of the meeting proximate to it happening, that is, that Donald Trump knowingly conspired with an agent of a hostile foreign power to rig the outcome of the U.S. election that made him White House Occupant.
