Traitor. Period. Where the Hell Is Congress?

Russia. Epstein. Classified documents. Congress owes America answers under oath.

I knew Donald Trump was a con man in 2016. I saw a man who lied effortlessly, admired dictators, and seemed to regard the presidency as another business opportunity. I didn't trust him then. Ten years later, I'm watching the United States government make decisions that benefit Vladimir Putin while Congress struggles to do much more than express its disappointment.

And I'm supposed to believe this is normal?

In 2016, Russia interfered in our election. That wasn't a hoax. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation confirmed it. The Mueller investigation did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia, and I won't pretend otherwise. But in Helsinki in 2018, Trump publicly questioned our intelligence findings while standing beside Putin, praising the Russian president's denial.

Then Trump lost the 2020 election. We have the recording of him asking Georgia's secretary of state to find 11,780 votes. We watched January 6 unfold. And on his first day back in office, he pardoned nearly everyone convicted of crimes related to the attack on our Capitol.

We also know that classified national defense documents ended up at Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors accused Trump of deliberately retaining them and obstructing efforts to recover them. The case was dismissed before trial over the special counsel's appointment, not because a jury determined what happened. Who had access to those documents? Why did Trump keep them after the government demanded their return? Those questions still matter.

Now consider what happened this month.

Trump announced a deal to loosen restrictions on Russian diesel exports. Reuters calculated that the initial proposed shipment could generate approximately $400 million in revenue for Russia. Then, on October 16, Trump signed an executive order waiving major provisions of the very sanctions law Congress had passed to pressure Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that U.S. intelligence assessments indicate Russia has provided Iran with military support, including satellite imagery for targeting and weapons components. Trump publicly said he didn't believe Russia was helping Iran.

We're fighting a war involving Iran. Russia is reportedly helping Iran's war effort. And our president is easing economic pressure on Russia.

What the actual fuck?

And there's more. On October 3, Reuters reported that negotiations involving the Trump administration and Russia had expanded to a proposed multibillion-dollar transaction involving Russian oil giant Lukoil. The reported participants include business groups with prior commercial ties to Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff's family. That does not establish corruption. But it raises questions about conflicts of interest that deserve independent scrutiny, not another White House press release.

The White House says the sanctions waiver protects negotiations for a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Trump has also presented the Russian diesel arrangement as a way to relieve fuel prices. Those are explanations worth examining, not facts we have to accept on faith. Congress should be demanding the administration's evidence that easing pressure on Putin serves American interests, especially while the war continues.

And I keep coming back to a possibility I cannot prove.

I wonder whether Trump is preparing for the day his political protection weakens. The November midterms have not happened, and no one knows what they will produce. But if his allies lose control of Congress, serious oversight could become harder to avoid. Is he trying to position himself for a future in oil and gas, perhaps through people or businesses connected to negotiations with Russia? Could he be looking for wealth, influence, or even refuge outside the reach of American accountability? My mind goes as far as imagining him retreating under Putin's protection.

That is my suspicion, not an established fact. I have no evidence that Trump personally stands to profit from the proposed Lukoil deal, that he has arranged a refuge in Russia, or that he is planning to flee. I do not know his private intentions, and I will not invent them to make an argument sound stronger.

What I do know is the publicly reported sequence: a proposed Russian oil transaction involving parties with ties to people close to the negotiations, a Russian diesel agreement, and broad waivers of new sanctions. There may be policy explanations for each. There may also be conflicts worth investigating. The way to distinguish those possibilities is to follow the money, identify every beneficial interest, examine the communications, and require officials to explain their decisions under oath.

My fear is that America's leverage is being traded away while people with access to power position themselves to benefit. I cannot tell you that is what has happened. I can tell you why I believe the possibility merits scrutiny. If the evidence disproves my suspicion, publish it. If it supports it, act on it. Either way, the country deserves more than another demand that we trust the president.

Then there are the Epstein files.

We know Trump associated with Jeffrey Epstein. We know the Justice Department initially omitted FBI interview records containing allegations against Trump, later explaining that they were incorrectly classified as duplicates. Those allegations remain uncorroborated and denied. And now 17 state attorneys general are calling for stronger enforcement of the Epstein Files Transparency Act because they contend that millions of records remain improperly withheld.

Is there compromising information about powerful people in those records? Are officials protecting themselves or others? I don't know. That's precisely why we need an independent investigation. The absence of answers is not permission to manufacture them. Nor should it be permission to stop asking.

And Congress?

Yes, some Republicans have publicly condemned the Russian sanctions decision. Some lawmakers have introduced legislation, demanded records, and challenged the administration. They deserve acknowledgment for doing so. But the government cannot survive on strongly worded objections while serious questions about national security, public corruption, and the abuse of presidential power remain unresolved.

Congress has the power to investigate. It can demand testimony, compel records, hold public hearings, and examine whether conduct warrants impeachment. It was never supposed to be a spectator while the executive branch investigated itself.

I am not claiming I can prove Donald Trump is secretly working for Vladimir Putin. I am not claiming the Epstein files contain evidence of some vast congressional blackmail operation. I am asking why the documented record, and the unresolved questions it raises, have not produced the kind of sustained, independent investigation that Americans deserve.

Put witnesses under oath. Follow the money. Examine the agreements. Account for the classified documents. Enforce the disclosure laws. Let the evidence be tested publicly, with appropriate protections for victims and national-security information.

And if that evidence establishes impeachable misconduct, do your constitutional duty.

I believe this presidency already warrants a serious impeachment inquiry. I believe the conduct I've watched for ten years amounts to a betrayal of the country Trump swore to serve.

Call that my opinion. Fine. Investigate it. Prove me wrong.

But don't ask me to ignore what is happening right in front of us.

Traitor. Period.

What the Hell Is Congress Waiting For?