Just Security’s Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and Ryan Goodman make the following points.

Knowing about the Trump Tower meeting with Russians on June 9, 2016, we can now understand much better particular events and activities related to the Trump campaign and Russian activities following that date. And as each new piece of information comes out about what various actors did in the summer and fall of 2016, so should those new data points be analyzed in light of a deep appreciation of what the June meeting meant to both sides. With the information currently available, where does the analysis point? Toward an increasing likelihood that a partnership of sorts existed between Donald J. Trump’s inner circle and Putin’s officials and associates sustained long after June 9 and even past the election.

Mowatt-Larssen and Goodman outline these ideas in a new Opinion piece published at CNN. Here’s how their analysis begins:

“Many in the media have focused too narrowly on how Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lobbyist and lawyer in Trump Tower looks bad.

But what the media, the public and investigators should really focus on now is what happened after the meeting. The key is to think more broadly, including asking two questions.

First, assuming this was an overture by Russian intelligence agencies, despite the Kremlin’s denials, what would the Russian government most likely have done next?

Second, how should we then interpret subsequent actions of the Trump circle in light of the actions the Kremlin would have pursued? The answers to those questions suggest that the alleged collusion between the Trump circle and Putin’s team could well have continued far beyond June 9.”

You can read their full essay at CNN.

Watch this space for more from Mowatt-Larssen and Goodman in the coming days at Just Security.

For more on their recent writings on this topic, read these two pieces:

Image credit: Melissa Bender