Colloquially collusion

The Senate Intelligence Committee has released its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The president says the report is a hoax though his aides also say it confirms what they’ve said all along: that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the election outcome. As a reminder, “collusion” has no particular legal meaning, but Ken and Josh talk about one key allegation in the report, which is the timing for the release of the hacked DNC emails from Wikileaks. When people around Trump got word the now-famous Access Hollywood tape would be release, Roger Stone directed Jerome Corsi to instruct Julian Assange to have Wikileaks release the emails the Russians hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. This calls into question written answers President Trump provided during the Mueller investigation in which he said he didn’t remember discussing any of this with Roger Stone. Did the president make false statements there, and if so, could he be charged? The Senate committee also made criminal referrals of Trump associates Sam Clovis, Steve Bannon and Erik Prince for making false statements, and while it called into question testimony from Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, the committee didn’t accuse them of false statements crimes. Might a Justice Department in a Biden presidency pursue charges?

Ken and Josh also talk about Carter Page and the guilty plea from Kevin Clinesmith arising from John Durham’s investigation, Roger Stone drops his appeal after his sentence was commuted, an update on the emoluments cases and the potential for the Supreme Court to weigh in, how Robert Trump’s death may affect his lawsuit against Mary Trump over her memoir about the Trump family, and Neil Young’s latest legal attempt to prevent the Trump campaign from playing his music at events.