Analysis: Trump is trying to argue collusion isn't illegal. But he has admitted it is

The meeting inside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, in New York has caused fresh problems for the US President. Photo / AP

Last week, US President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, argued that collusion isn't a crime.

But today, Trump suggested that Hillary Clinton should be investigated for this supposed non-crime.

"Collusion is very real with Russia," Trump quoted conservative commentator Dan Bongino as saying on Trump's favourite Fox News morning show, "but only with Hillary and the Democrats, and we should demand a full investigation."

Trump tweeted: "Collusion with Russia was very real. Hillary Clinton and her team 100% colluded with the Russians, and so did Adam Schiff who is on tape trying to collude with what he thought was Russians to obtain compromising material on DJT. We also know that Hillary Clinton paid through . . . a law firm, eventually Kremlin connected sources, to gather info on Donald Trump. Collusion is very real with Russia, but only with Hillary and the Democrats, and we should demand a full investigation." Dan Bongino on @foxandfriendsLooking forward to the new IG Report!

Investigations, it bears emphasising, are generally launched to find illegal activity. Trump's call to investigate Clinton's alleged collusion with Russia - a complex and strained theory having to do with the Steele dossier - would seem to belie his true opinion about whether collusion is, in fact, a crime.

But it's hardly the first time the President admitted the obvious: that while the word "collusion" doesn't appear in the criminal code, it is synonymous with and related to very real crimes.

Over and over, mostly through his allegations of Democratic collusion, he's acknowledged the criminal nature of collusion in ways that would seem to make it much more difficult for his own lawyers to press that case that collusion by Donald Trump jnr or anybody else wasn't criminal.

Here are five examples.

1. Another call for investigating Democrats

Back on June 8, Trump suggested that Democrats should be probed for both collusion and obstruction of justice.

"Now, the Democrats have had massive collusion, massive obstruction, and they should be investigated," Trump said.

2. Special Counsel Robert Mueller should look into "all of the criminal activity & real Russian Collusion on the Democrats side"

In the same vein as above, Trump tweeted on July 29:

"Also, why is Mueller only appointing Angry Dems, some of whom have worked for Crooked Hillary, others, including himself, have worked for Obama....And why isn't Mueller looking at all of the criminal activity & real Russian Collusion on the Democrats side-Podesta, Dossier?"

"Trump on the economy: smoke, mirrors and half-truths" https://t.co/4yIiitwjM8 pic.twitter.com/hzHBILXpc4

— The Hill (@thehill) August 6, 2018

3. Collusion is part of what makes Clinton "CROOKED"

Here, Trump includes "collusion" while talking about Clinton being "CROOKED." Corruption is generally understood as illegal activity.

On October 18, 2016, Trump tweeted: "Pay-to-play. Collusion. Cover-ups. And now bribery? So CROOKED. I will #DrainTheSwamp."

4. Clinton colluded with the DOJ and State Department

Late in the 2016 campaign, Trump accused Clinton of "collusion" with the Justice Department and State Department, which he labelled "possibly illegal."

"And through WikiLeaks today, it's just been shown that this is, as I've been saying, a rigged system with more collusion -- possibly illegal -- between the Justice Department, the Clinton campaign and the State Department," Trump said. "Right?"

At another point, Trump said this collusion amounted to corruption, which again connotes illegality.

Trump tweeted on October 17, 2016: "Crooked Hillary colluded w/FBI and DOJ and media is covering up to protect her. It's a #RiggedSystem! Our country deserves better!"

"This shows corruption at the highest level, and we can't let it happen as American citizens," Trump said.

5. Ted Cruz and John Kasich engaged in "illegal collusion"

Trump called Cruz and Kasich working together to prevent him from winning primaries "illegal collusion," and noted that collusion is illegal in business.

"It shows total weakness, it shows illegal collusion," he said. "You know, in business you get put in jail [for that]."

MSNBC put together video of Trump, Spicer, & Sekulow claiming during summer of 2017 that the Trump Tower meeting was really about "adoptions."

Trump admitted yesterday that those statements were lies. pic.twitter.com/FhXY4NR1Gg

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 6, 2018

AP EXPLAINS: WHY THE 2016 TRUMP TOWER MEETING MATTERS

By Laurie Kellman, Associated Press

Adoptions of Russian children? Opposition research on Hillary Clinton?

US President Donald Trump has for the first time acknowledged that a June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower was the latter. But he and his team have offered shifting explanations on the confab. That's key to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

A look at the details, the Trump team's shifting explanations of the meeting, and why it matters:

THE MEETING

The President's son, Donald Trump jnr, had high hopes going into the meeting, according to a Senate interview and his own emails. Ahead of it, music promoter Rob Goldstone sent an email to Trump jnr saying, "The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary (Clinton) and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father." In agreeing to the meeting, the younger Trump told Goldstone, "(I)f it's what you say I love it."

Trump jnr and other campaign figures, including Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, attended the meeting with high expectations. At the centre of the session: Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others with Russia connections.

The Trump team maintains that the meeting failed to yield compromising information on Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent.

For many Americans, sports were often viewed as an escape from politics. But in the age of Trump, the sports realm has become deeply entangled in a web of fiery political debates — ones that are often directly sparked by the president https://t.co/iNSzLNtdJz pic.twitter.com/28Js8xTOH6

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 6, 2018

WHY IT MATTERS

It is illegal for a campaign to accept help from a foreign person or government. The US intelligence community, members of Congress in both parties and even Trump have acknowledged that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller is probing whether anyone connected with the President's campaign conspired with Russia to tip the election in Trump's favour. He's also looking at whether Trump's tweets, statements and other actions amount to an attempt to obstruct the investigation.

WAS IT ILLEGAL?

At minimum, the meeting raises counterintelligence concerns for investigators trying to determine foreign efforts to penetrate an American political campaign or sway public policy. But there are potential criminal concerns as well. Federal campaign finance law makes it illegal for a political campaign to accept a "thing of value" from foreign nationals, and it's possible that opposition research — though not in and of itself illegal — could be considered in that category for these purposes.

"It depends on motives and knowledge at the time of the meeting. Willfully soliciting a foreign contribution is a crime," Rick Hasen, a campaign finance expert and law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement. "You have to know you are doing something illegal and the courts would have to consider the opposition research from Russian agents a 'thing of value' for campaign finance purposes."

EXPLANATION 1: IT WAS ABOUT ADOPTION

Donald Trump jnr said in a July 8, 2017, statement to the New York Times that the meeting participant "primarily discussed a programme about the adoption of Russian children." The statement does not mention that he was promised damaging information about Clinton.

West Hollywood's City Council will vote on a resolution to permanently remove President Trump’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The resolution cites family separations, Trump's climate change denial and "his disturbing treatment of women" as reasons for removal. pic.twitter.com/EJsBVI23Vt

— AJ+ (@ajplus) August 6, 2018

EXPLANATION 2: IT WAS ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON

A day later, the paper reported that Trump jnr was promised damaging information about Clinton at the meeting. Trump jnr, issued a second statement that read in part: (T)he woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs Clinton." He added that "No details or supporting information was provided or even offered." A few days later, Trump jnr, tweeted an image from an email chain he said disclosed his interest in getting incriminating information on Clinton from the "Russian government lawyer."

EXPLANATION 2a: IT DOESN'T MATTER

The Trump camp maintains that it doesn't matter anyway, because information on Clinton was never delivered by the Russians, or received by the campaign, in the meeting.

WHO WROTE THOSE EXPLANATIONS?

The New York Times reported that the President "signed off" on his son's statement, but Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, repeatedly denied that through the rest of that month. On July 31, 2017, the Washington Post reported that the President "personally dictated a statement in which Trump jnr said that he and the Russian lawyer had primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children" at the Trump Tower meeting.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the President "certainly didn't dictate" the statement.

DID TRUMP DICTATE HIS SON'S STATEMENT?

Yes.

In January this year, Trump lawyers John Dowd and Sekulow wrote to Mueller, in part, that "the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump jnr." Dowd subsequently resigned from the Trump team. Sekulow said this past weekend that he had been acting on "bad information" at the time.

New: Paul Manafort associate Rick Gates will be the next person to testify in the former Trump campaign chair's trial https://t.co/x2Hcf07CHm

— The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC 📺 (@TheBeatWithAri) August 6, 2018

EXPLANATION 3: SEE EXPLANATION 2

The President appeared to change his story in a tweet yesterday in which for the first time he confirmed that the Trump Tower meeting was supposed to produce dirt on Clinton.

"This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere," said Trump. He went on to distance himself from Trump Jr. and the meeting: "I did not know about it!"

QUESTIONS ABOUT A CALL

Trump jnr spoke by phone several days before the meeting with a caller who had a blocked number, but said he didn't recall who the person was and didn't know if his father used a blocked number. He told the committee that he didn't alert his father to the meeting beforehand.

WHAT HASN'T CHANGED

Whatever his explanation, Trump has consistently said he didn't know about the Trump Tower meeting.

- AP