Smoking Guns wrote:

And a million impeachment types suddenly went silent

They need to move on from that one because it is a non issue. The US always has secret backdoor channels to the Russians. The Kennedys did as well. I never heard of cries for impeachment and that was during an insane chapter of the cold war.

I suppose the issue at hand is exactly WHAT the channel is/was for. If so, push that angle. Instead its, "OMG!!! White House has channels to Russia!!"

Who gives a rat's ass.
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Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.