More evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

As you probably read yesterday the Wall Street Journal has now unearthed the first evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian hackers.

That story had to do with a GOP operative names Peter W. Smith and his attempts to get his hands on some Hillary e-mails that he was convinced had to have been hacked by the Russians, or at least somebody.

So late last night one of the folks who served as a source for that story has now written an account of how he found himself being recruited to help collude with the Russians.

His name is Matt Tait and he is the CEO and founder of Capital Alpha Security, a UK based security consultancy.

His story appears on the very well known law blog,  LawFare.

I urge you to read the piece yourself as it is quite interesting, but the part that really jumped out at me was toward the bottom: 

Then, a few weeks into my interactions with Smith, he sent me a document, ostensibly a cover page for a dossier of opposition research to be compiled by Smith’s group, and which purported to clear up who was involved. The document was entitled “A Demonstrative Pedagogical Summary to be Developed and Released Prior to November 8, 2016,” and dated September 7. It detailed a company Smith and his colleagues had set up as a vehicle to conduct the research: “KLS Research”, set up as a Delaware LLC “to avoid campaign reporting,” and listing four groups who were involved in one way or another. 

The first group, entitled “Trump Campaign (in coordination to the extent permitted as an independent expenditure)” listed a number of senior campaign officials: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, Lt. Gen. Flynn and Lisa Nelson.

My perception then was that the inclusion of Trump campaign officials on this document was not merely a name-dropping exercise. This document was about establishing a company to conduct opposition research on behalf of the campaign, but operating at a distance so as to avoid campaign reporting. Indeed, the document says as much in black and white. 

The combination of Smith’s deep knowledge of the inner workings of the campaign, this document naming him in the “Trump campaign” group, and the multiple references to needing to avoid campaign reporting suggested to me that the group was formed with the blessing of the Trump campaign.

I know, right?

Tait's assertion that the names of Trump campaign operatives were included as part of a group involved in trying to get their hands on information that was hacked from American servers by Russian operatives, is fucking huge!

And what's more this is right after Donald Trump said this. So to be clear, right after Donald Trump is on stage openly asking the Russians to provide information about e-mails stolen from Hillary Clinton's private server, Mr. Tait saw a document listing Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and Michael Flynn as interested parties working to get their hands on that same information.

Does this prove that there was collusion? 

Not quite, but it is DEFINITELY a big step in that direction.