Nice whitewashCHARGES of collusion over an inquiry into collusion, probes and counterprobes: the swirl of hearings and allegations stemming from Russian meddling in the presidential election is becoming wearyingly hard to follow—which, for some, may be the point. This week, after a bizarre episode in which Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, met a source on the White House grounds, then rushed to brief Donald Trump about his supposedly explosive findings, senior Democrats, and even the odd Republican, called for him to recuse himself from his committee’s investigation. (He refused.) The stunts and partisan rows make it seem worryingly unlikely that what are, in effect, whispers of treason can be either substantiated or dispelled.
Be clear what the real allegation is, and what it is not. It is not that Vladimir Putin stole the election. No sane observer thinks the Kremlin persuaded 63m Americans to vote for Mr Trump. Even the milder version of that claim—that Russia’s propaganda and its hacking of Democratic e-mails tipped the result in tight swing states—cannot be either confirmed or refuted. That unverifiability may...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2ocEVqh
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