Being a liar has defined Donald Trump.  He’s been lying his entire life. Now he is trying to save his presidency with a blizzard of lies about Russia. The Trump strategy has been first to lie outright that his campaign had nothing to do with Russians whatsoever. When meetings with Russians were revealed, they explained them away with new lies, that the meetings were routine and didn’t mean anything. When the Russian contacts turned out to be real and substantive, they lied that the contacts didn’t amount to “collusion.” When collusion between the campaign and the Russians couldn’t be explained away, they created a wholly new line of lies, that it was Hillary who colluded with Russians through the so-called “uranium sale,” by financing the Steele dossier, which had sources . . . who were Russians.

Telling lie after lie after lie got Trump the presidency, but now many of the people who have stood by while he lied, or lied for him, are being put under oath, and when you raise your right hand and swear to tell the truth, telling lies can get you arrested. Lying can put you in jail. Deciding whether or not to tell the truth when you’re under oath is why people in the Trump White House are hiring $1,000 an hour Washington, D.C. lawyers. It’s no fun at all.  For example, consider Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who lied to the FBI, was arrested, charged, pled guilty, and is now cooperating with the investigation into Russian connections with the Trump campaign led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

More to come as the Trump presidency unravels.

More details at Salon and the New York Times.