Mueller Corners Trump:
"Trump and his family relied on massive bailouts of his failing business enterprises from Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin. When he became a presidential candidate, the Russians treated him as an asset—a useful idiot, as Stalinists used to put it. And when the campaign finalists turned out to be Trump versus the hard-line Clinton, the Russians sought to destroy her and elect Trump. Trump, meanwhile, became the most pro-Russia president in U.S. history, refusing to breathe a word of criticism of Putin, behaving like the head of a client state. This much of the story is hidden in plain view. The details—Russian financing of Trump’s businesses, more campaign contacts—will be spelled out in further indictments. They will almost surely include members of Trump’s family. Mueller’s final report will look very much like a bill of impeachment. What’s astonishing is that this detailed report on Russian manipulation of a U.S. presidential election had to come from a special counsel. Under a normal administration, evidence of a foreign power meddling in a U.S. election would have prompted a presidential order for a full investigation, and retaliation. Instead, Trump mocked the whole idea and used his influence to block such inquiries by House and Senate panels, as well as resisting retaliation. Rather than looking deeply into Russian interference, the president redefined election integrity. He created a commission headed by Vice President Mike Pence and Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state best known for voter suppression, to investigate alleged voter fraud by immigrants and others not qualified to vote had helped Clinton win the national popular vote. This red herring was so preposterous that the commission collapsed of its own weight."
