Once again, it's what President Trump and his top aides and family members are doing to themselves concerning Russia that is keeping things tangled, far more than anything Russia is doing to them. Now confronting the White House: Another undisclosed contact with a Russian operative, plus another set of misleading statements about that meeting. (Just what's being admitted to now – that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian source with the expectation of receiving damaging information about the Clinton campaign – is stunning.) Also for the president to sort out: Contradictions out of his meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin about whether sanctions were discussed, how hard and to what end he pressed election meddling, and a bizarre presidential about-face concerning a cybersecurity task force the president himself proposed and disposed of on the same calendar day. White House aides want to compartmentalize Russia, to put the past behind them. But time and again, it's not just history. It's continued actions by the president, his children and members of his inner circle that confound and complicate. It's when inexplicable things happen that more people are intent on looking for explanations.
