#139) Smooth Move Don Jr.

July 13, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

Well, you've got me all in a tangle here sir because I had planned on writing about Net Neutrality today...but then Don Jr. goes and drops that bombshell tweet about his meeting with the Russian lawyer who promised him dirt about Hilary Clinton.  I guess that beats Net Neutrality so here I go...wading into the muck.

Firstly, nobody, and I mean nobody is buying Don's "Aw shucks silly ole' me didn't know this was a problem.  Heck, I just want to do the right thing."  Paul Manafort, your then-campaign manager and Jared Kushner, a savvy and seasoned lawyer were also present for the meeting so don't try to sell us that babe in the woods story that Don didn't know he was doing something inappropriate. 

Secondly, you really shouldn't try to convince us  that you knew nothing about this meeting.  Lucky for us nothing on the Internet ever really goes away, so we have this lovely press conference from you announcing more dirt on Hilary Clinton just four days after Don got the email from the Russian lawyer.  Coincidence?  I think not.

June 7, 2016:  "I am going to give a major speech probably Monday of next week.  And we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.  I think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting."  (insert maniacal grin here)

Of course that "major speech" was never delivered.  Now we know that that's because Don's meeting with the Russian lawyer was kind of a bait and switch and he didn't get any damaging information about Mrs. Clinton.  Personally I think Natalia Veselnitskay was just feeling the campaign out to see how open you and your staffers would be to Russian "help" (or manipulation depending on your perspective).  I think you guys probably passed the test by agreeing to take the meeting.  Congratulations.  Welcome to the world of international intrigue.

I can't wait to see what else will unfold this week.  That poor Robert Mueller certainly has his work cut out for him.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

P.S.  You're not off the hook about Net neutrality by the way.  We'll get back to that tomorrow.