When news broke Thursday that the Trump campaign had been in contact with Russia, it landed with a light tap instead of the earthquake it should have caused.
It didn't, largely because the first article seemed to indicate that they had also been in contact with the Clinton campaign as a matter of course.
And then the Washington Post expanded on the story, and it turns out that this is really a big, huge BFD.
“Obviously, we know most of the people from his entourage,” Ryabkov said.
[...]
Speaking to Bloomberg News, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said staffers at the Russian Embassy in Washington met with members of Trump’s campaign — meetings she described as “normal practice.” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign refused similar requests for meetings, Zakharova told the agency.
Asked later for clarification, a Foreign Ministry official declined to elaborate on Ryabkov’s remarks but said standard diplomacy called for “contact with the leaders in the campaign” on matters such as clarifying statements by the candidate or conveying interview requests from Russian journalists. The ministry official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
A Clinton campaign official who was asked to comment on Zakharova’s statement answered with a one-word email: “false.”
In the Rachel Maddow report video at the top, she imagines that John McCain's emails were hacked and used against him in 2008, and that Russia admits after the election that they were in contact with the campaign.
Imagine the uproar that would ensue.
Where is the uproar now? Where is the uproar about Russian hackers stealing emails and using them to harm Hillary Clinton's campaign, and then the day after the election, Russia admitting they've been in regular contact with the Trump campaign? Where is that uproar?
This is a BIG FCKING DEAL. It's huge. It should spark instant Congressional investigations. This is a national security threat. We need to know if the President-elect is a Russian patsy.
Will this be something discussed over and over again, like the damned emails were?
I won't hold my breath, but it sure ought to be.
