Donald Trump Jr.: What We Know So Far and What It Means.

 

Unless you’re living under a rock you’ve heard all about the latest scandal to hit the Trump administration. But just in case I’ll summarise it for you: Donald Trump Jr. released emails himself and a man named Rob Goldstone. These emails detailed the scheduling of a meeting with a lady who is in some way involved with the Russian government.

But what does it actually mean for Trump? The most important question is did Donald Trump Jr. break the law. The simple answer: no. The emails that have been released so far do not provide enough evidence or have enough information to prove anything illegal. However, if it can be proven that the Trump campaign or more specifically Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner actually got useful information from the meeting then they may have violated section 30121 of Title 52 of federal campaign law donations and contributions from foreign nationals. However, whether information itself falls under this is more of a legal grey area, as far as I am aware there is no precedent for this to be included and no strict rule in the code itself.

Democrats may also push further to see if Donald Trump Jr. knew about Russian hacking before this meeting, if he did, and if any information gathered in the meeting was sourced through this hacking .If so, Trump Jr. may have broken the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

If you listen to idiots like Tim Kaine you may think this is treason, it isn’t. Shady? Yes. Immoral? Probably. Illegal? Possibly. Treason? Not a chance. Sorry to disappoint but this doesn’t really reach treason levels. Assuming the worst (or best depending on how much you hate Jr.) the most he can be caught for, in reality, is perjury (if he lied under oath), collusion or possible campaign violations.

Trump still isn’t out of the woods however.

Whether Trump Jr. or others in the Trump administration have broken the law might be irrelevant to Democrats at this point. They can still impeach him. Trump is not untouchable and Trump fanatics need to be aware of this. Dismissing this Russia story doesn’t mean it’ll go away. Impeachment is a political issue, not legal. If the Democrats take control of the house in 2018 (which is possible) they may have a go at impeaching Trump.

The Democrats have basically forced their hands. If they have the ability to impeach Trump they have to try. They’ve harped on about it for so long that it’ll seem cowardly and like a stab to the back for many supporters. But if they do impeach trump they replace him with Pence. A smarter all round better politician with more vigorous differences to the policies of the Democrats. You’ll replace an idiot with a credible politician – bad move for 2020. The Democrats have backed themselves into a corner which, in the long run, really won’t help them. It’ll make the 2020 election much harder and will possibly mean they lose a lot of key policy battles until then.

Overall there isn’t much that will come of the Trump Jr fiasco, we basically just have to sit and wait to see what new information comes out. There is no evidence of breaking the law (yet) if some does come out then prepare for the bloodbath about to happen within the administration as Trump Sr. tries to protect his son. I have no doubt, he’ll throw as many people under the bus as possible in order to save his son. But in the meantime, you should probably prepare for this and go buy yourself a popcorn machine or something.