CNN is reporting a potentially explosive development in the Russia investigation that for the first time explicitly links President Trump to Russian interference on his behalf in the 2016 campaign. According to CNN, Trump was informed ahead of the notorious June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his top campaign brass and a handful of Kremlin-linked Russian operatives pushing dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump had previously denied knowing about the meeting beforehand, saying he only learned of it shortly before news broke revealing the interaction a year later, once he was already in office. Now we’ve learned that Trump was potentially not only aware of the meeting, but instructed his advisers to take the meeting after Don Trump Jr. was contacted about a Russian lawyer that had potentially damaging information about Clinton. The source of the information is former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he was present when the discussion took place, along with several other people.

If true, it’s hard to overstate the legal peril this puts the president in. The meeting itself was already a blazing red flag, even without Trump’s explicit knowledge of and involvement in making it happen. It brought the absolute innermost circle of the Trump campaign—campaign head Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and Trump Jr.—into contact with Kremlin-linked operatives on the explicit pretense of discussing information on Clinton that could be passed from the Russian government to the Trumps. The documents “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” reads the introductory email written by the intermediary, publicist named Rob Goldstone. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” “If it’s what you say I love it,” Don Jr. responds.

The Trump family has been all over the map about the Trump Tower meeting, appearing to lie essentially from the start. Don Jr. lied consistently about the content and tenor of the exchange until confronted by a New York Times story that was about to drop last July blowing a lid off the meeting. Don Jr.’s response evolved and his final statement is believed to have been dictated from President Trump himself aboard Air Force One, which everyone involved denies. Don Jr. also testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee last year that President Trump was unaware of the meeting. “He wasn’t aware of it,” Trump Jr. told lawmakers.” And, frankly, by the time anyone was aware of it, which was summer of this year, as I stated earlier, I wouldn’t have wanted to get him involved in it because it had nothing to do with him.”

On the larger existential question of collusion, while the CNN story says Cohen does not have tapes of the meeting, he and other witnesses were present for it. The fact that President Trump may have actively directed his campaign to take a meeting known to be with Russians trying to boost his campaign with Clinton dirt, a meeting that took place just one month before Wikileaks started dropping hacked emails that detonated the race, could be presidency-ending news for Trump. It is the definition of collusion. The next question is: is this just the beginning?