Opinion: Making sense of the dossier

View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. Friday, January 13, 2017 [The New York Times] [NYTimes.com/Opinion »] [Opinion] Friday, January 13, 2017 Making any sense of the explosive Trump dossier isn’t easy. Is it simply a mixture of lies and smears, as the president-elect says? Or is there any fire to the smoke? One of the most helpful pieces I’ve read comes from [Lawfare], a blog started in 2010 by a journalist and two academics. I recommend [the piece] and recommend Lawfare more generally. It also had [one of the most clarifying articles] I read about what James Comey, the F.B.I. director, did wrong during the final weeks of the presidential campaign and why he likely made the mistakes he did. The authors of that earlier piece acknowledge knowing and respecting Comey but also are willing to criticize him, which makes the criticism all the more telling. As for the Trump dossier, the authors of [the new piece] — Benjamin Wittes, Susan Hennessey and Quinta Jurecic — write: “First, we have no idea if any of these allegations are true.” From there, they make a couple of other important points. One is that while the dossier’s allegations are “entirely unsubstantiated,” a larger mystery is certainly real: What is Donald Trump’s motivation for behaving so strangely about Russia, a country that is not an American ally. In particular, “Why is Trump so insistent about vindicating Russia from the hacking charges that everyone else seems to accept?” Finally, the piece points out that the dossier “contains highly specific allegations, many of which are the kind of facts it should be possible to prove or disprove.” That’s why the headline on the piece urges people to take a deep breath. “We shouldn’t assume either that this is simply a ‘fake news’ episode directed at discrediting Trump or that the dam has now broken and the truth is coming out at last,” they write. For anyone trying to follow the story, I also recommend [David Ignatius’s column] in this morning’s Washington Post; [an illuminating tick-tock] (as journalists call such a story) from several of my newsroom colleagues; and [a Room for Debate exchange] on BuzzFeed’s decision to publish the allegations. The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including Senator Ron Wyden on [why Trump’s tax returns matter], and both [David Brooks] and [Paul Krugman] on health care. David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist  ADVERTISEMENT  Editorial [James Mattis: Toughness and Restraint at the Pentagon] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Donald Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon may become a strong counterweight to an impulsive and uninformed commander in chief.  Op-Ed Columnist [A woman applying for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.] [Do Markets Work in Health Care?] By DAVID BROOKS There’s psychology as well as economics in a consumer-based system. Op-Ed Columnist [A journalist holds a poster with portraits of President Vladimir Putin, Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump prior to Putin’s annual news conference in Moscow last month.] [Trump’s Pivotal Russian Test] By ROGER COHEN Hurtling into a love fest with Putin would be calamitous. Russia responds to toughness and Trump must show it or NATO and the E.U. could unravel. Op-Ed Columnist [Donald Trump’s Medical Delusions] By PAUL KRUGMAN Magical thinking won’t work on health care. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Workers breaking down the stage following President-elect Donald Trump’s press conference at Trump Tower.] [The Trump and Pony Show] By TIMOTHY EGAN In the combustible Wednesday news conference, the skills of a talented charlatan were on display.  Op-Ed Contributor [President-elect Trump after the press conference Wednesday.] [Why Americans Care About Trump’s Tax Returns] By RON WYDEN Unless he makes disclosures, rumor and scandal will dog his presidency.  Brandon Celi [Sunday Review] [Big Sugar’s Secret Ally? Nutritionists] By GARY TAUBES The scientific consensus that all calories are equally fattening is outdated and dangerous.  More From Sunday Review [The president’s 2009 speech in Cairo, broadcast in a cafe in Baghdad.] [Obama Hoped to Transform the World. It Transformed Him.] By ADAM SHATZ The president entered office with a vision for a cosmopolitan foreign policy. Then he encountered drones, Syria and a growing wave of illiberalism.  Editorial [Jared Kushner on Capitol Hill on Monday.] [Donald Trump Keeps It in the Family] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD The president-elect’s selection of his son-in-law as a senior adviser shows he is untroubled by nepotism and uninterested in following the law. Editorial [Oliver Schmidt in 2014. Formerly Volkswagen’s top emissions compliance executive in the U.S., he has been charged with defrauding the government and violating the Clean Air Act.] [Making an Example of Volkswagen] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD The Justice Department has delivered a strong message to multibillion-dollar companies and their executives: No one is “too big to jail.”  Matthew Hollister [Op-Ed Contributor] [Forget a Wall. There’s a Better Way to Secure the Border.] By STEPHEN R. KELLY Physical barriers won’t do the job, but recent agreements allowing armed U.S. customs agents to screen travelers and cargo in Canada and Mexico will.  Op-Ed Contributor [President-elect Trump, with his son Donald, presented his plan to address conflicts of interest at a press conference in New York on Wednesday.] [Trump’s Business ‘Separation’ Plan Does Nothing of the Kind] By RICHARD W. PAINTER It’s window dressing, meant to conceal his deepening conflicts of interest. Op-Ed Contributor [The portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.] [The U.S. Must Talk to North Korea] By SIEGFRIED S. HECKER Bilateral diplomacy is the best way for the Trump administration to limit the growing nuclear threat.  Insider Podcasts [President-elect Donald J. Trump, left, and President Obama. Bottom, witnesses were sworn in on Wednesday for the confirmation hearing of Jeff Sessions, Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general.] [Good, Bad and Mad: Andrew Rosenthal on the News] By SUSAN LEHMAN An opinion columnist, Mr. Rosenthal gives his take on the Trump presidency, cabinet confirmation process and Barack Obama’s “transformational presidency.”  ADVERTISEMENT  Nicholas Kristof [Cassidy McDonald (right) traveled to Oklahoma and Arkansas to report on domestic poverty with Nicholas Kristof.] [Behind the Scenes of Win-a-Trip 2016] By CASSIDY MCDONALD What it was like to travel with Nicholas Kristof and report on poverty.  Letters [Tamika Mallory, right, co-chairwoman of the Women’s March on Washington, speaking to the media this week.] [Race Issues and the Women’s March on Washington] Women urge one another to “join hands” and march in unity. “We should have conversations on race, but I also believe that we are women first,” one writes.  SIGN UP FOR NICHOLAS KRISTOF’S NEWSLETTER Receive exclusive commentary from [Nicholas Kristof] as well as his Thursday and Sunday columns. 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