Today's explosive report from the Washington Post offers the most compelling reason yet to suspect that members of Donald Trump's team were indeed colluding with Russia as its agents secretly worked to tip the election in Trump's favor.

It is still smoke, not fire. And the story is based on anonymous sources, so it's unlikely to change many minds.

But if you are following this trail, take note: A federal judge issued a warrant after finding "probable cause" that Carter Page, one of a small group of advisors to the Trump campaign on foreign affairs, was acting as an agent of Russia at the time.

That's a first. Until now, information on the many links between Russia and Trump's team has come from intelligence agencies. This time, the FBI had enough damning information to get a warrant from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The FBI's application for the warrant included exhaustive evidence that led investigators to believe that Page was an agent of the Russian government and knowingly engaged in spying on behalf of Vladimir Putin's government, according to the Post.

The cobra, it seems, is tightening its grip. Trump himself is not implicated, at least not yet. But the ties between senior members of his crew and Russia have grown so numerous that every American, regardless of party, should be alarmed.

Trump still dismisses all this as a political vendetta, as only a deluded narcissist could. He has not lifted a finger to prevent Russia from meddling in future elections, despite warnings from FBI Director James Comey that Putin intends to do just that.

Page yesterday responded to the Post's story with the same baseless bravado: "It shows how low the Clinton/Obama regime went to destroy our democracy and suppress dissidents who did not fully support their failed foreign policy."

Right. Comey sunk a knife into Hillary Clinton's campaign by breaking precedent and publically revealing that his agents were taking a second look at her private e-mail accounts. But this same man, at the same time, ordered his agents to "suppress dissidents" who dared to challenge the Democratic administration's foreign policy.

Please. Only a guilty man or an adolescent conspiracy theorist could dismiss the many connections between Trump's team and the Russians. Here's a reminder of the big ones, aside from Page:

-Michael Flynn was forced to resign as National Security Advisor after he lied about a secret meeting with the Russian ambassador during the transition period. Why would he have lied about that? And if he is not guilty of a crime, why is he asking for immunity before testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee?

-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from this investigation after he lied to the Senate during his confirmation hearings about meeting the Russian ambassador twice during the campaign.

-Roger Stone, a long-time Trump friend and advisor, claimed to have communicated indirectly with WikiLeaks before the website went public with e-mails from key figures in the Clinton campaign that were stolen by Russian agents.

-Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, was involved in a couple of big investment deals with Russian oligarchs close to Putin.

There are several more, and you can read the details here.

Trump himself has done business in Russia, and his son, Donald Jr., famously noted in 2008 that their businesses "see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." But we don't know much about those ties, because Trump has refused to release his tax returns.

Why would a sitting president fail to offer that simple assurance? What exactly is he hiding?

Finally, keep this in mind above all else: Even if there was no collusion, is beyond strange and deeply alarming that Trump sees no need to stop the Russians from meddling again. The integrity of our democracy is at stake, and our president is dawdling.

Why is that?

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Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.