Key Trump-Russia figure announces his resignation from Donald Trump’s White House

| 11:41 pm EST December 21, 2017
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Donald Trump’s Russia scandal has reached the point of no return this week. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to move on the senior most players in the scandal, even as Trump’s allies desperately try to sabotage Mueller and the entire FBI. Now that everything is hitting the fan, a Trump White House senior adviser with ties to the Trump-Russia scandal is suddenly announcing his resignation.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn has revealed that he’s resigning, according to a Wall Street Journal report (link). He says that he wants to move to the private sector, which is usually the official excuse for high profile departures, right up there with wanting to spend more time with the family. Dearborn was the longtime Chief of Staff for then-Senator Jeff Sessions, which instantly ties him to the Trump-Russia scandal. Major media outlets have gone back and forth about whether it was Dearborn or Sam Clovis who first introduced Russia-aligned adviser Carter Page to the Trump campaign.

We still don’t know precisely how Dearborn fit into the Trump-Russia conspiracy, beyond the fact that he had documented and apparent ties to various people who played key roles in the conspiracy. This doesn’t mean he’s guilty of anything. However, there are only four possible reasons for his resignation. The first would be that he believes he’s about to be indicted or arrested. The second would be that he’s already cut a deal. The third would be that he has criminal liability and he simply thinks Trump is a goner, so he’s bailing a sinking ship. The fourth would be that he really does just want to go make big money in the private sector, and the timing is just a coincidence.

One notable detail is that although Rick Dearborn is announcing his resignation now, he says he’s not planning to depart the White House for another couple months. This might ordinarily rule out the possibility that he’s cut some kind of Trump-Russia deal. Then again, it appears White House Counsel Don McGahn may have cut a deal months ago, and yet he’s still working in the White House. Go figure.