The Trumps are to be blamed no matter what they say

Russia-Trump Jr issue seems to be worse than Ukraine colluding with Clinton to help her candidacy

By Philip Bump

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Published: Wed 12 Jul 2017, 8:00 PM

Last updated: Wed 12 Jul 2017, 10:49 PM

Sean Hannity's defense of Donald Trump Jr. during his Fox News interview on Tuesday evening began with a lengthy and muddled pastiche of ways in which the Democrats - and Hillary Clinton in particular - had behaved just as badly. Or, maybe, worse.
Trump Jr. was there, you'll recall, to respond to questions about his having accepted a meeting with an individual who explicitly promised negative information about Clinton offered by the Russian government. That Hannity was his first interlocutor on the subject is hardly surprising; the Fox News host has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to gloss over negative news about the administration. And as the show began, he made that clear.
Hannity revisited one of the points from his introduction later in the show - a point that Trump Jr. himself had made on Twitter on Tuesday morning. What about a Politico report from January, Hannity asked, suggesting that Ukraine was colluding with the Clinton campaign to help her candidacy?
After loosely describing that Politico report, Hannity suggested that the media was ignoring it at their peril.
"I pose this question to everybody in the media that's forced to tune in tonight," he asked. "Which is worse?"
The Russia-Trump Jr. issue is worse. Allow us to explain.
Hannity's argument stems from a January Politico article by Ken Vogel and David Stern, titled, "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire."
It centres on a woman named Alexandra Chalupa, who worked as a consultant for the Democratic Party throughout the 2016 cycle through her firm, Chalupa & Associates. Her role with the party was outreach to ethnic communities, but, a Ukrainian American herself, Chalupa had been researching Paul Manafort's work in that country even before he was tapped to serve as Donald Trump's campaign chairman in March of last year. Chalupa, Politico said, "occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and (Hillary) Clinton's campaign" - though the timing on this sharing isn't clear.
More to the point, Chalupa allegedly also worked with the Ukrainian Embassy in researching Manafort and any links between Russia and Trump. Vogel and Stern also report that Chalupa introduced reporter Michael Isikoff, who was working on articles about Manafort, to "the Ukrainians." Chalupa's work with the party ended in July.
It's worth noting that Chalupa gained some renown after the election for promulgating an unproven conspiracy theory on Facebook. Promoted by a viral tweet from her sister Andrea, who described Chalupa as having "led Trump/Russia research at DNC," the Facebook post hinted darkly at Russian meddling directly in vote tallies." No evidence of this happening has been demonstrated in any form. The Politico story also notes another way in which the Ukrainians allegedly submarined Manafort. He left his position with the Trump campaign last summer after a secret ledger detailing nearly $13 million in under-the-table payments to Manafort from the pro-Russia Party of Regions for which he'd been working in Ukraine. The ledger was first reported by the New York Times after being discovered by a Ukrainian government agency and promoted by a journalist who was also a member of the country's parliament - which some argued meant that the country's prime minister approved of the leak in order to damage Manafort.
   The short-hand version of this story - Russia helped Trump, but Ukraine helped Clinton! - suffers badly from a collapse of scale.
While the Politico story does detail apparent willingness among embassy staffers to help Chalupa and also more broadly documents ways in which Ukrainian officials appeared to prefer Clinton's candidacy, what's missing is evidence of a concerted effort driven by Kiev.
What's more, they coordinated a widespread campaign to amplifying unflattering stories about Clinton and promote Trump. Russia also repeatedly probed American election systems, prompting an unusual warning to states from the federal government.
American intelligence agencies saw signs that people allied with Trump's campaign may have been aiding the Russians in that effort. That's why this is all being discussed right now, of course, since Trump Jr's e-mails draw the clearest line between the Russians and the campaign we've yet seen. The FBI began a counterintelligence investigation into Russia's meddling a year ago.
By contrast, Politico's report details the work of one person who was researching Manafort with help from inside the Ukrainian Embassy and who, at some undetermined point, provided info to the Clinton campaign, though she worked for the DNC as a consultant until shortly before the party conventions. That, coupled with the Manafort ledger revelation, is the full scope of the Ukrainian plot that's been revealed. A weak link to the Ukrainians and a weaker link to the Clinton campaign. -Washington Post Syndicate
Philip Bump is a correspondent for The Post based in New York City.


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