5 Thoughts for July 12, 2017 (The Don Jr. Edition)

1. Don Jr Defense: Right now, Don Jr's allies are testing out four defenses and one offense.
1. No Harm, No Foul: One theory is, if nothing consequential came out of the meeting, then there was no violation of laws. This is not exactly true. For example: "This is a robbery! Show me your wallets! Wait, there's nothing valuable here. Nevermind people, no harm no foul!"
2. Just Testing the Waters: Similar to the no harm no foul theory, it's also been suggested that Don Jr was merely testing the waters, so to speak, to see what Russia had to offer. As you might expect, that theory does not fly with law enforcement with a would-be terrorist: "But I was just testing the waters to see what they did!"
3. Everyone Does It: According to this notion, everyone else is cheating the system by using foreigners to grab opposition research. That only makes it worse; you're now implying an acknowledgment that you've broken the rules and that the only reason why you shouldn't be prosecuted is that no one else had been previously caught. The other problem is that the premise is incorrectly framed. By enjoining the Russian state in oppo research, Don Jr has committed Treason, plain and simple. If it were British citizens, you might have a case of illegal foreign donations. Treason is 100x worse than getting caught with soliciting a foreign donation; after all, Treason carries the jeopardy of punishment by death.
4. He's a Good Kid Who Loves America: It's the 'right intentions, wrong actions' defense, but as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In this case, ignorance of one's actions is not a defense. There are no validating requirements of "knowingly" or "intentionally" or "corruptly" involved with the crimes most likely to be filed against Don Jr. 
5. Attack the Messengers: In an attempt to discredit the reporting, Donald's allies are reportedly looking for dirt on reporters. This is absolutely insane. First, it signals that they've gotten under Donald's skin and are very close to his nerve center. Second, this tactic presumes journalists have no backbone to respond by continuing to dig deeper. Third, guess what happens when the press digs into the personal histories of Donald's allies. At best, it's a Pyrrhic victory; at worst, you encourage everyone else to take the gloves off and come at you even harder. Besides, it was Don Jr who willingly published the evidence that will convict him and those leaks are obviously coming from inside the White House.
2. I Love You, But Not That Much: This morning, one of Donald's lawyers, Jay Sekulow, said on the Today Show, "The president was not aware and did not attend this meeting." First off, it's hard to believe that Donald knew nothing, especially since the first correspondence indicated that the intention was to directly contact Don through his personal assistant, Rhona. This is clearly an attempt to cut off the upstream flow of sewage. We're not too far away from Michael kissing Fredo on the forehead.
3. Collusion: Yes, collusion is a crime, but collusion is a colloquial term for Conspiracy. Conspiracy is a federal catch-all crime for anyone involved in a criminal act. In this case, the criminal acts are concerning foreign contributions and treason.
4. Dumb and Dumber: This could be the official tag of the Trump family. Don Jr is so dumb, he apparently took the advice of Julian Assange -- a person who decidedly carries his own agenda -- and published his emails for everyone to read. Like father like son, right? Ignore the advice of your lawyer and find yourself in deeper trouble. Wait for it, though, because Dumb and Dumber will end up blaming their lawyers and firing them.
5. Burned Bridges and Lies: There are multiple life lessons to be learned here, simply by watching this White House. We have people who, under the false understanding of their rank in the hierarchy of everything, have burned bridges through backstabbing and frontal assaults. Slowly, you see fewer allies left and people (like Mike Pence) are saying, "Don't stand so close to me." Secondly, once you start on a lie, you will easily end up creating more lies to cover for that first lie.