Democrats begin airing Donald Trump’s dirtiest Russian money laundering secrets
This week Donald Trump’s allies in Congress began trying to sabotage the reputations of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI agents who are investigating Trump’s various crimes. In response, the Democrats in Congress are firing back by preemptively exposing some of Trump’s most serious crimes for all to see, thus changing the narrative entirely, and leaving Trump cornered.
It all began when – as pointed out by Rachel Maddow – House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff stated that he feared Trump would put someone new in charge at the Department of Justice who would tell Mueller that he’s not allowed to investigate Trump for laundering Russian money, or for having loans guaranteed by Russia. Schiff was being oddly specific on purpose, as a way of telegraphing Trump’s specific financial connections to Russia. It was a warning shot to Trump: don’t even think about trying to take out Mueller’s knees, or I’ll just go public with everything. But Schiff was just the warm up act.
Ron Wyden of the Senate Intelligence Committee spoke on the Senate floor tonight and vowed to block one of Trump’s key nominees until the Treasury Department finally cooperates by turning over Trump’s financial records in relation to Russian money laundering and other financial antics. It’s not that Trump necessarily cares about his nominees being blocked. Instead, Wyden is guaranteeing headlines about Trump and Russian money laundering by making the threat. So how does this corner Trump when it comes to Mueller?
Let’s say Donald Trump makes moves which either take Robert Mueller’s job away, or limit Mueller’s ability to do his job. The Democrats are making clear to him that if he goes through with it, they’ll go ahead and preempt the investigation by simply outing him publicly for his financial crimes. It’s a warning shot, and Trump – or at least his attorneys – are surely listening. Trump greatly fears the idea of the public learning about his financial ties to Russia, so this may end up being very effective.
