We all know most of the big points of the Russia scandal — for instance, to call former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort getting indicted on money laundering charges a “high profile” incident would be an understatement.
There’s more to the story, however, besides what the president can fit into his intentionally distracting tweets.
That “more” was touched on during a discussion including reporter Betsy Woodruff and former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi on MSNBC recently.
As Woodruff explained it, there’s an apparent possible explanation for the widely documented, suspiciously frenzied denials of wrongdoing that members of the Trump team, led by the president, offer at essentially every available opportunity.
At essentially every important juncture in the Russia scandal, the president takes to Twitter to assert that it’s all a “witch hunt” and that there’s nothing to see here.
These denials of wrongdoing do not, however, match up with the fact that Trump has routinely declined to cooperate with the Russia investigation, to the point of having fired the person leading it, the now former FBI Director James Comey.
Woodruff and Figliuzzi have an idea about why all of this might be the case.
Speaking first, addressing the fact that it’s been revealed that Jared Kushner will be interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee as a part of the Russia investigation, Woodruff commented:
‘It goes without saying that the White House is going to be deeply concerned about the fact that Kushner is doing this interview. Back to even before even the Mueller/Special Counsel investigation got going… one of the biggest areas of concern for the White House about this investigation was… the finance piece. They’ve long been worried that investigators, as they dig into these potential Kremlin connections, will overturn other questionable financial dealings, and we also know that Jared Kushner and his family’s business have drawn the attention of investigators for other matters… the financial question may be front of mind for the Senate Judiciary Committee.’
That then, might be it — the members of the Trump team want so desperately for the Russia investigation to cease because they don’t want investigators to see what else they are hiding. That criminal behavior concurrent to Trump’s politics is, in fact, what investigators nabbed Manafort on, so they have good reason to be concerned.
Figliuzzi believes similarly to Woodruff, under the impression that Kushner can’t run from the law forever.
He commented:
‘I’ve actually said before here on MSNBC that I think Kushner is criminally exposed. I think there’s concerns about the family money. We’ve already heard reports that one of the factors in deciding to fire Jim Comey or not may have been that he was getting close to financial issues with the Kushner family.
That last part could be a perfect explanation for the reports about federal investigators’ special interest in the potential role Kushner had in Trump deciding to fire Comey, among other points of interest that investigators have taken in Kushner.
Check out video of the conversation on MSNBC below.
One thing is for certain — no matter what steps the president takes to try and put a stop to the Russia investigation, it’s going to proceed whether he likes it or not.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video