Worst Case

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA - MAY 10, 2017: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US President Donald Trump, and Russia's Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak (L-R) during a meeting in the Oval Office at the W... WASHINGTON, D.C., USA - MAY 10, 2017: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US President Donald Trump, and Russia's Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak (L-R) during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House. Alexander Shcherbak/TASS (Photo by Alexander ShcherbakTASS via Getty Images) MORE LESS

By Josh Marshall

December 7, 2018 7:24 p.m.

THE BACKCHANNEL

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It’s always important to step back from the particulars and see the big picture in the face of a rush of information like this. That big picture is starting to fill out. And it looks pretty bad. So let’s take stock of it. We know that the Russian government went into the 2016 campaign with an aim of damaging Hillary Clinton. It’s unclear at just which point the overriding aim became electing Donald Trump. But it happened early.

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