This is exactly what collusion looks like. What remains to be seen is whether that collusion was also a crime. The lead charge in Mueller’s indictment was “conspiracy to defraud the United States.” Conspiracy — a partnership in crime — is the legal equivalent of collusion. According to a report in the New York Times, Gates was involved with Manafort in passing the campaign polling data to the Russians. But this is potentially the most concrete evidence to date of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russians who were secretly engaged in a massive effort to help Trump win the election.

Source: Washington Post January 10, 2019 21:19 UTC