Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. From Mueller's start, I said thered be no proof of collusion by Trump. My case: He's too stupid to orchestrate something so complex, too trained in corruption to speak in anything but code, & too surrounded by cons to be misheard.

It doesn't matter. Trump sold out America...

2...the key is and always has been Trump Tower Moscow and how it allowed Putin to compromise Trump. Again, from the beginning, I have said that was what Trump's obstruction was trying to hide. And make no mistake - no matter how many times they say "no obstruction"....

3...Mueller - and our own eyes - established that there was.

This requires a step-by-step analysis.

It starts in 2008, when Trump Organization trademarked the Trump name in Russia. (BTW, before you criticize me for not writing this earlier, I reported all this pre-election)...

4. That year, Trump launched negotiations with a the Mos City Group. But no deal was reached because Trump was trying to grab cash with both hands. He wanted 25% of the projects total cost as a payment for him letting Mos slap his name on the building. But from those talks....

5...Trump maintained close relations with Pavel Fuks, head of the Mos City Group and one of the most politically prominent oligarchs in Russia, with significant interests in real estate and the country’s financial industry, including the Pushkino bank and Sovcombank.....

6...fast forward in time. 2013, Trump is back in Moscow for his beauty pageant, meeting with oligarchs while there to discuss financial dealings. Then...when he announced his bid for president in 2015, the Trump Org was back in talks about Trump Tower Moscow. Those talks....

7...directly involved business allies of Putin and government toadies. No one could be stupid enough, even Trump, to believe the Kremlin did not know what was going on.

On August 3, 2016, Trump receives his first intelligence briefing. He is told, flat out, that Russia is...

8...engaged in a cyberwar against America to influence the outcome of the election. Look what happened immediately after that briefing - Trump went absolutely nuts. So much so that he began to scare the Kremlin.

Here is what I reported pre-election on that:

9...btw, I was attacked mercilessly for my reporting on Wikileaks being a front for Russia in delivering material. Told ya so.

Now, big problem for Trump: He lied and lied about Trump Tower Moscow. He knew he was in talks, he knew Putin knew, he knew Putin knew he knew....

10...in other words, Trump - preelection - was absolutely compromised by Putin. There were just a handful of people who knew Trump was lying about Trump Tower Moscow - Michael Cohen, his kids, a select few at Trump Org, Trump, Putin, and Putin's allies. Trump began attacking....

11...our intel agencies in September - weeks after he learned of the Kremlin's cyberattacks. He stood on stages and blamed the Chinese, some fat guy in a basement, some teenager - ANYBODY but who the intel agencies told him was responsible. Now, think about this for a second....

12...This is have said from the get-go. THAT was the collusion. It took place in plain sight. All of our allies knew about the intel, because we share info with them and they had developed their own, plus THEY were under Russian attack. They knew we knew, they knew Trump knew...

13...and they knew Trump was standing on a stage making ridiculous statements about anybody other than Russia was responsible. This freaked out our allies, as I described in great detail in this article it came out just before election.) newsweek.com/donald-trump-v… ....

14...this piece also got me roundly attacked. Almost all of it is now known to be true, the remaining part not yet publicly confirmed is true.

Here some key parts about our allies reacting to Trump's statements on our intel, starting with quotes that horrified allies....

15...now, the part I was missing, and the part that probably folks in the intel agencies knew: When Trump was saying he had no financial interests in Russia, when he said there was no Trump Tower Moscow deal, HE WAS LYING. Attacking Russia left him exposed to losing millions....

16...and once he started lying, there was no stopping.

On to Michael Cohen. Now, Trump Tower Moscow was the key evidence that Trump was compromised - not necessarily through some clever Russian operation, but from his decision to lie and attack our intel agencies based....

17...on his financial interests. He came in defense of Putin because Putin knew the truth. And he just made it worse and worse. (This, I am sure, is why Helsinki was such a treasonous disaster.)

Cohen had been to Moscow on these negotiations. He knew first hand Trump lied.....

18...and when he was called before Congress, he lied about it. Under oath.

Now, Cohen says Trump knew he was going to lie and that Sekulow was in on it. I have no idea. But what I DO know from knowing Trump for decades is this...there's ZERO chance he did not know what Cohen...

19...testified to. There is ZERO chance that his lawyers were paying no attention. There is ZERO chance that they failed to tell him.

Trump, as president, had an absolute obligation to disclose that his lawyer had committed perjury. He did not. He stood by and allowed him to...

20...deceive Congress. He allowed him to lie to Congress by repeating the lies HE had told. Now all of you have seen Trump in action - what is the chance that he would admit to a lie? Never ever ever ever happens.

So now, Putin knew Trump lied, Cohen perjured, and Trump did....

21..nothing to cure the perjury. Our president was completely compromised by Russia. Eventually, Cohen has testified that Trump knew about the perjury ahead of time. Trump's actions - or failure to act - in the aftermath of the perjury is strong circumstantial evidence that....

22...Cohen is telling the truth. But it doesn't matter. Trump knew afterwards, and did nothing to fix it. This is a continued part of the coverup.

Direct collusion would be terrible, but it was never probable. But all of this has taken place in front of our eyes. We know it...

23...is all true. So when people say "can't be obstruction without a crime" - BS. There WAS a crime, committed by Cohen. There was a series of repeated lies, by Trump. And there is the almost irrefutable evidence that the President of the United States is compromised by Russia...

24...and trying to keep any of that secret from prosecutors is obstruction. THIS is why he is blocking everyone from testifying. If anyone testifies, everyone can. He needs it to stop. So Congress must dig into Trump Tower Moscow. We cant have a president compromised by an enemy.

People are misreading what I am saying. By "proof of collusion" I mean evidence of direct contact between Trump and Russian officials involved in the effort, or direct contact by someone else on Trump's order.