US Politics in Trump era
The other shoe has fallen, and the Trump presidency may fall with it
Donald Trump Jr. was in serious legal trouble even before the New York Times obtained his emails. As my colleague Zack Beauchamp has explained, his very decision to meet with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya to see what dirt she had on Clinton may well have violated campaign finance law. That’s because you don’t have to actually get anything of value from a foreigner; simply sitting down with a Russian national to see whether she had information that could help Trump and damage his rival could be enough to constitute a federal crime.
Trump has sidelined Rex Tillerson just when the US most needs a strong secretary of state
President Trump isn’t allowing Tillerson to shape policy, choose staff, or speak to the press. On Thursday, a pair of devastating articles in Politico and the Washington Post described how the former Exxon Mobil CEO has been cut out of the loop on major foreign policy shifts, slapped down by the White House on personnel choices, and given virtually no opportunities to make public appearances with President Trump.