On Friday NBC News reported—and the Associated Press confirmed firsthand—that Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was also attended by a Russian lobbyist formerly employed by Soviet counter-intelligence who some U.S. officials reportedly say has “ongoing ties to Russian intelligence.”

As has been previously reported, President Obama and others in the administration were deeply wary of creating the impression that responses to Russia’s actions were motivated by a desire to aid Hillary Clinton’s election. The administration assumed that a highly likely Clinton victory in November would give the new administration ample time to pursue  aggressive counteraction. Trump’s election, of course, upended things: