The thing about liars is that the truth is always bubbling on the surface ready to come upon the scene when the liar least expects it. It’s come to the point that almost everyone agrees that Donald Trump is untruthful. Some would call that being a liar while others call it exaggerations. The fact remains that virtually no one believes that Donald Trump can be truthful. That, in itself, is very telling. However, it seems that many Trump supporters don’t care about Trump’s truthfulness. When the Steele Dossier was first released to the public, many either snickered or were shocked by the salacious details of Trump’s night with prostitutes. Trump has denied he spent the night with prostitutes. But, this is from someone that many consider to be a liar.

Although much time was spent on the salacious details originally, most commentary shifted towards the factuality of the documents.

As the Mueller investigation has filed charges and some individuals have pleaded guilty, some have attempted to connect the dots between those events and the dossier. Trump and cohorts continue to insist that there is no veracity to the contents of the documents, labeling them as “fake news.”

Trump cohorts argue that the whole Mueller investigation is based on a lie – the dossier.

What has struck me is that the part of the dossier that I consider the most far-fetched, Trump’s participation “in sex parties” while in Russia has come up again in the national discussion. The thing about intelligence documents – whether state-sponsored or privately created – the details are not court documents based on neatly compiled evidence proving the details. Rather, they are a compilation of notes strung together to form a narrative from which details can be glossed from. It is usually left to others to prove or disprove the formulated narrative.

In the case of the Steele Dossier, like many I snickered at the mental image of Trump in the midst of in flagrante delicto with prostitutes. But, I believed it was an exaggeration of an episode in the narrative. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t really matter whether Trump was involved with prostitutes, or not while in Russia.

But James Comey’s memos, that were recently released, piqued the interest of the news media when Comey wrote that Trump seemed to be preoccupied by the notion that he spent time with prostitutes in Russia.

Accepting that Comey is accurate in his reporting about his interactions with Trump, I find it interesting that Trump is concerned that his wife may believe it, and that Trump spends so much time denying it ever happened. In denying it, Donald Trump told Comey and has stated publicly that he did not spend the night in Russia, and thus it could never have happened.

Liars tend to proffer more details then is necessary to prop up a lie.

Donald Trump could have easily argued that he did not cavort with prostitutes while in Russia. But rather than do that, Trump has argued that it could not have happened because he did not spend the night in Russia.

Forget for a moment that frolicking with prostitutes, as written in the Steele Dossier, does not require having Trump spend the night, prostitutes seldom stay the night and “John’s” usually don’t either.
But since Donald Trump is arguing that he did not spend the night in Russia it begs the question, did he, or did he not spend the night there?

A Facebook post, which includes a picture of Donald Trump, clearly shows that Trump was in Russia on November 8, 2013.

Donald Trump’s own Twitter account gives us more insight. On November 9, 2013, Trump posted that he was in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant.

Then on November 10, 2013, in the evening, Trump posted again that he had just returned from Russia.

Because Trump surrogates like to twist facts, let’s be clear here, the tweets, at the very least prove that Donald Trump either lied about spending the night in Russia, or posted lies on his twitter account. There are no two ways about that.

The Facebook post includes a picture of Trump in Russia on November 8, 2013.

But we have more than Trump’s own tweets and the Facebook post to go by.

It has been reported that former Trump bodyguard, Keith Schiller testified to the House Intelligence Committee that Russian prostitutes were offered to Trump but were declined. Schiller also agrees that they spent at least one night in Russia. To my knowledge, the actual testimony has not been released publicly but what we know was leaked. Therefore, it is only anecdotal evidence for us in the public.

Bloomberg compiled from public records the flight logs of the aircraft Trump used to fly to Russia. According to Bloomberg, Trump flew to Russia on November 7, 2013 on board his friend’s Bombardier Global 5000. The aircraft is owned by Phil Ruffin. According to a search of the FAA database of tail numbers I ran yesterday, the Bombardier (N443PR) is owned by Ruffin Development Acquisitions, LLC.

According to Bloomberg’s data, Trump left Moscow on November 10, 2018 at 3:58am, Moscow time, arriving at Newark at 4:11am, New York time.

Between the social media posts and Bloomberg’s timeline of the aircraft, we can see that Trump spent not one, but two nights in Russia.

Which begs the question, why lie about not spending the night in Russia when the evidence says otherwise?

Cavorting with prostitutes, even as described by the Steele Dossier, is not prosecutable at this time so why the lie? Trump supporters will likely argue, “who cares?”

If we accept that premise, then why the lies?

Martin Paredes

Martín Paredes is a Mexican immigrant who built his business on the U.S.-Mexican border. As an immigrant, Martín brings the perspective of someone who sees México as a native through the experience...