Did the iciness from the Cold War melt?
Connor Boulet, Staff Writer
Graphic by Matthew Stromlund
Frigidity heightens between the Republican and Democratic parties as rumors of Donald Trump officials conspiring with important Russian figures turn into likelihoods.
Although the charges against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and business associate Rick Gates convinced only a portion of people that there was even evidence of such a thing, the guilty plea from foreign policy adviser to Trump, George Papadopoulos, has given pause to many. To better understand this turn of events, one must travel back to the first quarter of 2016, when nail-biting partisans anticipated the oncoming election with a mix of excitement and terror.
After being declared a foreign policy adviser in a statement from Donald Trump on March 21, 2016, Papadopoulos met with, among others, a Russian woman he later stated to be Vladimir Putin’s niece. He emailed various campaign staff, noting they discussed what the relationship between Russia and the U.S.A would be like under Trump’s presidency.
Papadopoulos would go on to meet with a variety of Russian political figures in the month of April. Most significantly, he arranged a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
In the following months, the Trump campaign would focus on slamming Hillary Clinton for over 30,000 emails she failed to disclose, keeping them instead on a private server. This discovery, however, would be connected to Russia when hackers from Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear hacked the Democratic National Committee’s computer network. Suspicions that Russia had much to gain from a Trump victory only grew. In late July, Trump dared Russia to reveal the location of the 30,000 plus emails. Clinton accused the former Republican candidate of encouraging foreign espionage.
Although Manafort and Gates’ crimes ultimately amounted to tax fraud and money laundering committed during these extended interactions with Russia and Ukraine, Papadopoulos’ crimes are far more damning. He pled to outright lying to FBI agents.
Often used as a buzzword to summarize Papadopoulos’ crime, collusion on its own merits is not a crime, the notable exception being a provision under anti-trust law. It’s entirely possible Trump’s contacts with Russia are independent of the various complaints of a rigged election. Nonetheless, the American people continue to wonder.
