David French of National Review Online sorts through the evidence of Donald Trump Jr.’s controversial meeting with a Russian leader and arrives at a disturbing conclusion.

… [T]here now exists evidence that senior members of the Trump campaign tried unsuccessfully to facilitate Russian government efforts to defeat Hillary Clinton. …

… From the available evidence, it looks like Donald Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner (the latter two were forwarded the e-mail chain and attended the meeting) attempted to cooperate in what they were told was an official Russian government effort to “support” Donald Trump. The meeting became meaningless to them only after it was clear that the Russian lawyer couldn’t deliver the goods. In other words, this isn’t the smoking gun that proves actual “collusion” with Russia, but rather evidence that Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner tried to collude with Russia.

… [T]o say that it (so far) appears that Donald Jr. didn’t break the law isn’t to defend his actions. To repeat, it now looks as if the senior campaign team of a major-party presidential candidate intended to meet with an official representative of a hostile foreign power to facilitate that foreign power’s attempt to influence an American election. Russian collusion claims are no longer the exclusive province of tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists. No American — Democrat or Republican — should defend the expressed intent of this meeting.