Seth Moulton on Donald Trump Jr.’s emails: ‘We found the bonfire’
Massachusetts Democrats reacted with a mix of concern and validation that their suspicions had been confirmed, after Donald Trump Jr. released emails Tuesday showing his plans to hear a Russian offer to help his father’s 2016 presidential campaign.
As The New York Times near-simultaneously reported, Trump Jr. was promised damaging “high-level” information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian lawyer through an intermediary last June:
The documents “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” read the email, written by a trusted intermediary, who added, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
If the future president’s eldest son was surprised or disturbed by the provenance of the promised material — or the notion that it was part of a continuing effort by the Russian government to aid his father’s campaign — he gave no indication.
He replied within minutes: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”
In a tweet, Rep. Seth Moulton suggested the emails amount to treason.
If this isn’t treasonous, I’m not sure what is. https://t.co/QrBaaf4psM
— Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) July 11, 2017
Legal experts told Vox.com on Tuesday that Trump Jr’s action may constitute a federal crime. However, it is highly unlikely they would be considered treason, as it is defined by U.S. legal code.
Rep. Joe Kennedy III had a different definition: Collusion. The Newton Democrat then suggested members of both political parties should be willing to “defend the integrity of our democracy.”
.@MerriamWebster definition of #collusion: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose. https://t.co/uqn9xetzht
— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) July 11, 2017
Willingness to defend the integrity of our democracy is not a D or R principle – it’s an American one and it’s being tested today.
— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) July 11, 2017
Sen. Ed Markey echoed Kennedy’s characterization of the emails as collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
“Just saying,” Markey added, retweeting an old Trump tweet from May, in which the president said “the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election.”
In a Facebook post, Rep. Michael Capuano said the information in Trump Jr.’s email reinforced what was already known about Russian’s efforts to influence the election, but added that “the lies and shifting explanations keep piling up.”
“Special Counsel Mueller’s plate just keeps getting fuller,” Capuano added, referring to the independent investigator appointed to lead the federal investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
In May, Moulton called Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey “a smoke signal,” suggesting that the Russian story went deeper than it appeared.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Moulton tweeted at the time. “And this is a bonfire.”
On Tuesday, after the emails were published, he expanded on that statement.
https://twitter.com/sethmoulton/status/884820006218997760
