I confess. It wasn’t easy to read this Seth Abramson book. I spent a lot of it feeling down, depressed, and angry. But what we need is clarity, and Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America is absolutely crystal clear.
It explains exactly how Trump has been connected to the Russians since long before he ran for President. And it lays out those connections logically, while also explaining what’s illegal and what else is simply unethical and immoral. The specifics are too complex to try to summarize here.
Abramson is a former defense attorney, and now a professor at the University of New Hampshire. His tone here mixes those two positions. He takes the legalese, and interprets it into regular language, as a professor would do for students.
Each chapter chronicles a different time period, in the order events occurred from 1987-2018. His curated information stops just prior to the 2018 midterm elections, and the 2019 release of the Mueller Report.
Structurally, Abramson starts each chapter with a Summary, then has a Facts section, and concludes with an Annotated History. Although this leads to some duplication, that actually enhanced my ability to commit the myriad details to memory.
And Proof is heavy on details. Fully thirty percent of the book is endnotes from his various sources. It draws from other journalists, from court transcripts, online media, social media, and many others. As I scanned the endnotes, I saw recognizable sources that will likely stand the test of history.
And what a history this book tells. The decisions Trump made during the last several decades, and continues to make, will affect us all for decades to come. It’s well worth our time to understand the events and their implications.
My conclusions
If I wanted to highlight all of the important sentences in this book, I’d have highlighted the entire thing. There is no “fluff” in here. What I did highlight extensively was Abramson’s final chapter, where he summarizes his findings and talks about the potential future outcomes. Here’s one bit that reflects my thinking to a tee:
“How one stood on the question of Donald J. Trump at this moment in American history will be the defining feature of many Americans’ self-identity as citizens for years to come.” (ebook, p. 318)
As I said, this isn’t an easy book. But I suspect Abramson does a better job than most. While the content seems a bit dry and overwhelming sometimes, he give it the proper gravitas and organization.
I’d recommend reading this book, even if all you read is the first two sections of each chapter and the last chapter in its entirety. My next political book will be the Mueller Report, while this one is still fresh in my mind. It’s the perfect introduction.
Most strongly recommend you review additional material as this book you are promoting blew it, specifically after the Mueller report came out.
All references for this junk are specific Kindle locations:
Location 5400, the author forgot to point out McCabe was fired because Horowitz’s report (the IG report) was referred to the FBI’s office of professional responsibility who recommend it and THEN Sessions booted him out on the street. The author forgot to tell you this.
Location 5365, Ohr, an associate attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice, was demoted in December 2017 because of contacts he had with the controversial Fusion GPS firm that hired the former British spy who created the infamous “Trump dossier” on Russia. His wife, Nellie Ohr, has now become part of the controversy because she worked for Fusion GPS. They did this because Steel was fired by the FBI because he leaked the dossier to the MSM so they were trying to do a back channel. Also, Ohr did not notify the DOJ of his wife’s work and the connection. The author forgot to tell you this.
Section 5558, Papadopouos was not charged with any sort of crime of colluding with the Russians.
Quote from the judge sentenced Papadopoulos for two weeks in jail: “Judge Moss returns. He speaks about how sentencing is the hardest part of his job, and that he recognizes that even a short sentence is of enormous importance to a defendant. Then he weighs in on the nuances of the case, saying: “I don’t have any reason to believe and I don’t think there’s any reason in the record to conclude that Mr. Papadopoulos had any desire to aid Russia in any way, to do anything that was contrary to the national interest.”
Section 5476, historical patterns expected the other party to get the lower and or the upper house in the mid terms. The author blows it up and thinks the blue wave will be because of “Trump’s excesses and malfeasance.” But as we have all seen, the mid terms was nothing but a drip and Obama and Clinton lost a whole lot more but don’t expect the author to be honest with you.
Section 5468, author failed to point out that Paul Manafort pleaded guilty for crimes that had nothing to do with the Trump campaign but the author forgot to tell you this because much of the book spun around a fake connection with Manafort and the Trump Campaign colluding with the Russians. Mueller was trying to squeeze him (Manafort) to turn on Trump. In the last week, others have accused Mueller of the same trying to force people to lie, as they are claiming this publicly.
Section 5419, the author claims Trump is offering people jobs to kept them from talking. BS!
Section 5416, author is being a puss because Trump is using Tweeter, bypassing the MSM, the author works for.
section 5413 author is bitching because somehow, Trump has the power to shut down congressional investigations. BS. They are shutting down because there’s been no evenhanded proof of any sort of Russian collusion.
Section 5402, the author did not explain it to where people can see & understand that Rosenstein signed off on one of the fake fisa warrents using the fake Trump dossier as justification for the warrant to use Page that did work for the FBI previously that was NEVER charged although the author makes it look like both Page and Papadopouos are in the key people doing Trump’s dirty stuff with the Russians.
Section 5364, the author forgot to tell you what Lisa Page had going on with Peter Strzok as shown by their text messages attempting to make/create a plan to take out Donald Trump using fake info and a insurance policy talked about in McCabe’s office, something the author forgot to tell you.
Section 5354, the author forgot to tell you Brennan told congress he had no information that Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians but just point out that Brennan was claiming that Sally Yates was fired because she was working on a Russian Investigation. That’s totally BS as Yates was fired for not complying with the White house policy to defend travel ban.
Section 5350, the author notes John Brennan’s comments calling out Trump’s claims that he did not collude with the Russians also noted at the beginning of this junk that is was hogwash however as noted above, Brennan already told congress he had no information that Trump was colluding.
Section 5343, quote from the FIRED FBI LEAKER Comey claiming consciousness of guilt from Trump is insane and is almost funny but this is how the author is working his crap in this book.
Section 5139, author notes “a bundled North Korea summit and attacks on John McCain however the author forgot to tell you Clinton gave the north Korea a nuk reactor, south Korea leader praised Trump for getting the north and south to start talking and both countries have started the long process of normalization. The author is full of it!. As for John McCain’s dirty secrets about the POW’s, that can be found in the publication, into the Buzzsaw.
Which by the way, this whole book was based on main stream news media platforms but the book noted above (Into the Buzzsaw note that these same msm reporters admit that can’t tell you the truth and the book Into the Buzzsaw tells you that.
I hope you will read the Mueller report as that publication will reveal it’s all been a scam!