What happened in the Trump Tower meeting? Logic points to this:

What we know for sure:

June 3, 2016: Don Jr. accepts meeting with Russians to discuss getting dirt on Hillary Clinton.

June 7, 2016: In a speech Trump promises a major speech on Hillary Clinton the following week.

June 9, 2016: The meeting occurred. Besides Donald Trump, Jr. Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner were in attendance to listen to Natalia Veselnitskaya and others from the Russian government.

July 27, 2016: In a Florida speech Trump says: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 (Clinton) emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." That evening Russian hackers deliberately and aggressively go after email accounts and domains belonging Clinton's office, representing a ratcheting-up of their attacks from phishing to data collection.



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It seems very likely that, at the June 9, 2016 meeting, the Russians offered their help in discovering and leaking material damaging to Hillary obtained by illegally hacking into American sites. They offered their help but also wanted to know that there would be no national repercussions if they were discovered.

So Trump's speech over a month later on July 27, 2016 publicly gave the Russians the go-ahead and promised them "rewards" instead of punishment. So they began Hillary's campaign in an all-out campaign that evening.


This conclusion is suggested by the evidence because it ties everything together and explains the contours of Trump's speech. It also implies the conspiracy was very deliberate, something it took Trump over a month to consider. Any ideas why? (It clearly shows he knows it's wrong, so it it fear? Or conscience?)