I think it at least reasonable that there could be an insulating layer of plausible deniability between the Trump aides involved in the Russia effort and Priebus and maybe even the President himself. Perhaps Trump is not aware of the extent of what aides were up to with Russian intelligence services.

It would tend to explain why he seemed to come genuinely unhinged last week at the press conference. Encouraged perhaps by Bannon, Trump might genuinely believe it all made up.

I think that it’s hard to explain all the smoke around this without some truth to it. But, the true story may involve Trump himself to a lesser extent than presumed. For that reason I’m proceeding with extra caution on this.