I'm resurrecting Miner Queries online

because I never stop asking questions.

For several years, I wrote a column called Miner Queries for our local paper. When the editor who recruited me moved on, the new editor decided it was time to let my contract run out. By then, being the leading local liberal Democratic voice in a blindly Republican county was becoming a grind. So I was OK with the change. But after 18 months, I'm ready to start 2019 by raising my voice again. And I want to begin with a column I wrote in March 2017. I think it's a good place to start.  

Did we elect the Siberian Candidate?

I was having flashbacks last Monday morning. It started after my husband left for an appointment, leaving the basement TV tuned to the House Intelligence Committee hearing. As I loaded laundry, I began to hear the testimony of FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Michael Rogers.

Suddenly, I was 10 years old again, listening as my parents watched the Watergate hearings unfold. And like my parents then, once I began to listen, I couldn’t turn off the TV.

Much of what I heard was not new to me. As a political junkie, I have been tracking Trump’s ties to Russia for months. I’d read about campaign surrogates’ public relations efforts on behalf of Russian actors. A steady trickle of information has been building as reporters follow the money, digging ever deeper into Trump and associates’ business history.

But what was startling about last Monday’s hearing was the potential enormity of this web of relationships, which includes numerous Trump appointees. Additionally, it was illuminating to learn the FBI’s investigation began well in advance of November’s election.

As Howard Fineman wrote on The Huffington Post, “Not since a White House aide named Alexander Butterfield told the Watergate committee in 1973 that President Richard Nixon had bugged his own Oval Office has an investigative hearing made it so clear that a presidency was in serious legal jeopardy.”

Fineman notes many countries throughout our history have meddled in our politics; however, no country before aided a presidential candidate, especially one who became president. And he adds: “If Team Trump is found to be complicit in any way, leading figures in the campaign and in the White House would indeed become targets of law enforcement.”

And developments continue. While Republican House Intelligence Committee members tried to turn the conversation to the leaks revealing Russian ties, former Watergate principals were noting determined efforts to bury this story.

On Monday evening MSNBC’s Chris Hayes concluded All In by interviewing former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean. After showing clips of the Watergate and House Intelligence Committee hearings, Hayes asked Dean his reaction.

Dean responded that he was most surprised by the White House’s reaction to the hearing. He said, “In fact, they are in a cover-up mode. There`s just never been any question in my mind about that. I`ve been inside a cover-up. I know how they look and feel. And every signal they are sending is we`re covering this up. Experienced investigators know this. They know how people react when they`re being pursued.”

As analysis continued, related stories emerged. On Tuesday, Reuters reported, “U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers next month in order to stay home for a visit by China's president and will go to Russia later in April, U.S. officials said on Monday, disclosing an itinerary that allies may see as giving Moscow priority over them.” Of course, we know Tillerson has ties to Russia through Exxon Mobile.

Wednesday morning, an Associated Press (AP) report documented former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business ties to Russian aluminum magnate and Putin ally Oleg Deripaska. As part of this relationship, Manafort engaged in lobbying for Deripaska’s businesses. However, Manafort did not disclose these lobbying efforts to the Justice Department during that period as required by law.

By Wednesday afternoon, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes was running interference for Trump by delivering to the White House previously unreleased intelligence he claims vindicates Trump’s claims Obama wiretapped him. Nunes also held two press conferences to deliver that message, completely ignoring responsibility to his committee colleagues and the investigation he leads.

As Bill Moyers and Michael Winship wrote: “Earlier in the day, Schiff [deputy chair of the House Intelligence Committee] told reporters that Nunes “will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both.”

This is just the beginning. FBI and congressional investigations continue, as does investigative reporting. No one knows where this will lead. But I have to wonder if we elected the Siberian Candidate.