the line between seeking opposition research and conspiracy with a foreign government to use international espionage to do opposition research is the point at which it involves... a conspiracy with a foreign government to use international espionage.

and the Dems and the talking heads must say this wthen speaking about Trump's lame excuse that everyone does opposition research.

Unfortunately - most people will fall for Trump's excuse and not bother to pursue it any further.

Trump and his people are involved in a conspiracy with a foreign government to use international espionage to do opposition research - a conspiracy with a foreign government to use international espionage. That is serious. That is treason in my book.

Which is what happened when Gore was offered Ws debate tapes and I assume with the Watergate break-in.

the usual focus is just on the break-in itself and the wiretapping.

information through an entity that went to those with Russian ties. I don't know enough about Fusion GPS, Steele dossier, etc., because I don't really care about what Clinton did. But, trump will use that as a defense and to muddy the truth. Just want him removed from office or neutered where he serves out his term in relative quietness.

by the conservative website The Washington Free Beacon and Steele was not involved at the time. The private investigating company was Fusion GPS. It was supposed to be opposition research against tRump but it was dropped when he won the nomination.

The DNC and HRC's campaign hired Fusion GPS to investigate tRump when he was the presumptive nominee in late spring 2016. Fusion GPS subcontracted to Christopher Steele for him to find out why tRump chose to do business with the corrupt dictatorship of Russia.

Once tRump was elected, the contract between HRC's campaign and Fusion GPS was terminated. Fusion GPS gave the dossier to British and American intelligence (the FBI made some payment until the election).

When the DNC and the HRC campaign were under contract with Fusion GPS, they were not aware of Christopher Steele and he was not aware of who was paying the contract.

None of the Democrats were involved with foreign governments. tRump and his minions held meetings with Russian representatives and tried to establish back channels for communication with Russia, he reopened the Long Island retreat (aka spy center) that Obama had closed, and hosted the two biggest Russian spies with their cameraman in the Oval Office with nobody else there. Those are some damning differences.

on Hillary Clinton? Why would they lie about it and say it is about adopting babies? Why would Trump lie and say he knew nothing about it? People lie when they are caught doing something they know they shouldn't do. They have no defense.

In addition to the fact that no campaign can receive anything of value from foreign nationals or governments.

The deal Russia offered was to release dirt on Clinton in exchange for getting the GOP to change their platform on Russia sanctions

And, that is the actual crime here. The information given to the Trump campaign by the Russians was stolen from the DNC servers and from private e-mail accounts, such as John Podesta's. Trump happily took that information from them, probably in return for Putin keeping his money-laundering and other illegal activities quiet. Which, I believe, is a quid pro quo, and I don't think that is legal, either, especially when it involves an adversarial foreign government.

Opposition research, in and of itself, is not illegal. The methods used to research may or may not be illegal. In Trump's case, they were highly illegal. There is no evidence that the Steele dossier was collected using illegal methods.

There are other lines as well.