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Stop the madness

7/14/2017, 10:38 a.m.

We are tired of President Trump and his lies.

And we are particularly aggravated by his hubris and deceit when it comes to his connections with Russia and his collusion with the Kremlin to win the November 2016 presidential election.

The latest revelations involving his son, Donald Trump Jr., only serve to further confirm what we already knew — that businessman Trump views the American presidency as a way to line his own pockets and that he is willing to go to great lengths, i.e. lie, cheat and throw his own family and country under the bus, to satisfy his greed.

New published reports indicate that President Trump had a deal in November 2013 with a Russian real estate developer to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. His children were involved in the deal. Trump Jr. was assigned to oversee the project, while daughter Ivanka was sent to Moscow to meet with the oligarch’s son to identify potential sites. The developer has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the project was abandoned after the Russian economy floundered, in part, because of U.S. sanctions imposed under President Obama and those by the European Union after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While President Trump continues to deny having any business deals in Russia, he immediately after taking office in January pursued the possibility of lifting the sanctions against Russia. He was blocked by strong opposition from within the State Department and from members of Congress, including Republicans.

The New York Times disclosed this week that a British intermediary who has ties to the Russian developer’s son, and who was present during the discussions about the Moscow Trump Tower deal, sent emails to Trump Jr. in June 2016 stating that a Russian government lawyer had documents and information for the Trump presidential campaign that could tank Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

“This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” the email stated, adding that the effort was being helped by the Russian developer and his son.

On June 9, 2016, Trump Jr. met at Trump Tower in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who has connections to the Kremlin.

But Trump Jr. didn’t come alone. Instead of contacting the FBI or other federal authorities about foreign nationals trying to influence the election — a practice prohibited under U.S. law — Trump Jr. brought with him to the meeting key members of the Trump campaign — Paul Manafort, then the campaign chairman, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law who is now a senior White House adviser.

When the New York Times story broke about the emails and the meeting, Trump Jr.’s initial response was just like his dad’s — to lie. He claimed the meeting was about U.S. adoptions of Russian children.

He then released the chain of emails when he learned the newspaper had copies and was ready to publish them. He said nothing came out of the meeting, a claim also expressed by the Russian lawyer.

But the lies continue. Trump Jr. said that he had told Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kushner “nothing of the substance” about the meeting in advance. But he had forwarded the emails to both men before the meeting, with the subject line “Russia – Clinton – private and confidential.” And he says his father, the president, knew nothing of the meeting.

Wow! Trump Jr. must really believe the American people are stupid. How can anyone possibly believe that he would go to such a meeting, with the president’s campaign manager and key adviser in tow, no less, but say nothing about it to his dad? We also are amazed that Trump Jr. thinks the American people believe they talked about adoption policy.

We believe President Trump knew about the emails, ordered his son and key campaign people to attend and is now leading the cover-up strategy. It fits with the pattern of lies and deception he has tried to put over on the American people from early on.

At least three U.S. intelligence agencies, including the FBI, have concluded that the Russians interfered with the 2016 presidential election to help President Trump win. But the president continues to deny it. And at the G20 summit in Germany earlier this month, President Putin reportedly denied hacking the U.S. election and President Trump accepted it.

This “wheelbarrow full of new evidence” raises the specter of “treason,” said U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

“We’re now beyond obstruction of justice in terms of what’s being investigated,” said Sen. Kaine, who was Mrs. Clinton’s vice presidential running mate in November. “This is moving into perjury, false statements and even into, potentially, treason,” he told a reporter.

We strongly agree.

It’s time for President Trump to go.

We renew our calls for President Trump’s impeachment. His continued collusion with a foreign government to undermine American democracy and to deceive the American people cannot be tolerated, endorsed or sanctioned. He continues to make a mockery of the U.S. Constitution and our protection from enemies by seeking to collect data on U.S. registered voters, including our voting history and Social Security numbers, and then suggesting a cyber security unit collaboration with Russia.

U.S. lawmakers were dumbfounded by his suggestion.

Thank goodness Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has said ‘no’ to turning over voter data from the Commonwealth.

We’ve had enough of President Trump’s treachery and lunacy. Republicans and Democrats with any sense of right and purpose and love for this nation should stand up and declare, “Enough.”

We urge Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI, the Senate and House intelligence committees and all others involved in probes of the president, his campaign, his family and the Russians to wrap things up before a greater American tragedy occurs.

President Trump has done enough damage. Remove him from office before he can do more.