russia probe: anything short of indicting trump himself isn’t enough

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime associate Rick Gates surrendered to the F.B.I. today, pleading not guilty to charges of money laundering in connection to an investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia in last year’s presidential election, according to The New York Times.

The new developments come after one of Trump’s foreign policy advisers, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about contacting a professor with ties to the Russian government. This is proof F.B.I. special counsel Robert Mueller is expanding the investigation beyond a narrow interpretation of Russian meddling.

That’s all good and well, and it’s pretty certain that there were some fishy people involved in Trump’s campaign, but the question is what do they all have in common? Who were they all working for? That’s the what needs answering, and until its answered everything else amounts to little more than a show.