Rep. Eric Swalwell posts website on Trump-Russia connection

The swamp is stunned.

That story line was building long before Trump embraced it.

No one enters the presidency knowing everything about the job. Justice Department lawyers have to ask that secret court for a warrant.

“I think when (press secretary) Sean Spicer isn’t even willing to talk about it, you know there’s a real problem”, said Rep. Adam Schiff, who was in a meeting with FBI Director James Comey Thursday night. In some respects it is against type for me to be this critical, but we can not normalize Trump’s behavior.

There have also been incessant leaks from U.S. intelligence officials about alleged ties between Russian Federation and members of Mr Trump’s campaign staff. That’s not the same as spying on one’s political opposition.

Instead, the focus should be on whether Trump’s use of his office to defame Obama constitutes an abuse of power subjecting Trump to possible impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. The denials from Obama’s spokesmen, and the other current and former government officials, do not cover this scenario. “The most that we’ve had are private conversations, the chair and I, with intelligence officials”.

At the heart of the case against Trump is what appears to be a Big Lie.

Russian Federation has become more prominent and has not attempted to hide any of it’s latest activities such as helping prolong the war in Syria which would have been a great concern in previous USA governments however with a soundless one it may be seen to be supportive of these activities.

As it happens, a few congressional committees are already looking into allegations that members of Trump’s campaign and later transition team had multiple contacts with Russian intelligence agents. The Times reported that these officials ordered intelligence reports and made sure they were at a low enough classification level that many more government officials could read them.

Have you checked the Times’s January 20 story lately? Before this rule change, such intercepts were scrubbed to black out the names of innocent people who were monitored incidentally. They blame career bureaucrats, many of whom they see as loyal to former President Barack Obama, for leaking damaging information to the news media.

But further escalation seems likely.

From that point forward, Obama and Clinton not only failed to improve relations with our long-time adversary, they further eroded trust and cooperation between the countries.

The two Democratic leaders have been pleading for a special investigation into President Trump’s ties with Russian Federation.

Or White House spin against everything and everyone not named Donald Trump will create a great whirlpool sucking the entire government into the Potomac, down the Chesapeake, and out to sea.

Without his maintaining such public faith and credibility, it will be most hard for Trump to govern effectively. And that starts at the top with the president himself. Better get more stuff out about Trump’s campaign and Russian Federation, and let’s see smiley-faced Jeff Sessions try to explain it away. His refusal to do so is yet another suggestion that Trump really does have something to hide when it comes to his longtime association and business dealings with Russian Federation.

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, the House Intelligence Committee have asked the Justice Department to surrender any applications, court orders, search warrants or other evidence by Monday proving Mr. Trump or his associates were subject to surveillance during the 2016 USA presidential race.

I have only heard positive things when I have listened to him speak about his plans and visions for the American people.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied on Meet the Press Sunday there was collusion between Russian Federation and Trump. Mr Trump is the president, 47% of Americans trust him more than they trust the media (according to a Quinnipiac poll), and his charge against Mr Obama was grave.

The answer is, we know nothing.

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist.