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gation into what predicated the Russia probe into Trump and his
campaign. That investigation is being led by John Durham, a U.S.
attorney in Connecticut. The ostensible beginning of “Operation
Crossfire Hurricane,” as the FBI’s Russia probe was called, came
in July 2016. But Trump partisans believe that that was not, in
fact, when the investigation opened. They believe several foreign
intelligence agencies—including the British, the Australians and
the Czechs—were all feeding information to the CIA about some
low-level members of the Trump campaign and their alleged in-
teractions with Russians in 2015, and that they were acting at the
behest of the Obama administration’s intelligence chiefs.John Brennan and James Clapper, respectively the CIA chief
and the Director of National Intelligence under Obama, have
both denied the allegation, but Durham is looking into what role
the CIA might have played before the FBI formally launched its
investigation. Trump’s problem is that this line of attack—that
the CIA and the FBI colluded with foreign intelligence services
to damage his candidacy and then cripple his presidency—will
only be borne out if Durham finds credible evidence of that as-
sertion. That, at minimum, will take awhile, and the revelations
that Trump supporters seek may never arrive.
In the meantime, a bitter impeachment fight has opened, one
likely to last well into the campaign. Optimists in Trumpland believe
we will now see a replay of the unpopular and unsuccessful effort to
unseat Bill Clinton 1998. That resulted in GOP losses in the House
and a resurgence of popularity for Clinton. As Trump predicted glee-
fulfully, impeachment “will be a positive for me.”
History rarely repeats itself that precisely. Trump will likely sur-
vive because a conviction requires a two-thirds vote in the GOP
controlled Senate. But an epic political war—in a Washington that
doesn’t get much done anyway—is about to begin. The concern
among some in Trump world may be justified: A year from now,
a sufficient number of Americans may be tired of the drama and
gridlock, and they’ll vote to send Donald Trump into retirement.TRUMP HONED
HIS IGNORE, DENYAND ATTACK MODUS
OPERANDI DURING HIS
LONG AND LITIGIOUS
BUSINESS CAREER.”