As I pointed out above, there's a difference between hearing about Russian interference and knowing it's true. What I was responding to in my OP was the claim by the article's writer that the emails are evidence that the Trumps knew of Russian interference in the election. I don't see how they could have known any…

Agreed. As I pointed out, the Clintons used cut-outs in the Steele Dossier case. The Trumps, being amateurish idiots, didn't. As for Trump, there are a whole host of very good reasons to impeach him. The only point I'm making is that Russia-gate isn't one of them.

Once again, I'm not disputing this. You keep bringing it up and I keep agreeing with you. I don't get why it's so hard for you to accept that I'm not contradicting your point here…

No, I'm only pointing out that the Trump Jr. emails don't prove that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. I'm not disputing that the Trumps would have liked to have gotten intel from Russia to use against Clinton, I'm only pointing out that they didn't.

Except the part where they arranged the meeting in full expectation of receiving incriminating information from a source with ties to the Russian officials

That's what I said.

No, I never said that the Trumps shouldn't be prosecuted. What I was pointing out was that the corruption in the political system runs very deep. No one has clean hands here. And, moreover, nothing in these emails proves the Russia-gate conspiracy theory. And I'm not disputing your claim that what the Trumps did was…

No, it doesn't. First, what the emails say is that a friend of the Trumps heard from someone who heard from someone inside the Kremlin. In other words, it was hearsay. Second, this hearsay info was said to be about the Russians colluding with the Clinton campaign, not the Trump campaign.

Again, I'm only pointing out that nothing in these emails proves that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. The Trumps didn't receive anything from the Russian government. There's still no evidence the supports the Russia-gate conspiracy theory. Whether the Trumps are guilty of a crime is beside the point. To…

Yes, I agree. I'm only pointing out that the Trumps got nothing from the Russians. Nothing in these emails proves the Russia-gate conspiracy theory. On the contrary, if anything, it proves that the Trumps would have liked to have gotten their hands on incriminating evidence against Clinton from the Russians, but…

Yet, again, if you believe these emails, the Trumps accepted and received nothing.

I don't know which is worse and I don't care.

Sure. The difference between what the Trumps did and what the Clintons did is that the Clintons actually received info from "Kremlin insiders" whereas the Trumps didn't. Again, which of these two cases is worse?

Except that the emails don't prove any collusion with the Russian government. Now, did the Trumps try to get their hands on Russian government intel? It sure looks like they did. But, again, they never actually got any such intel. The Clintons, on the other hand, if you believe the Steele Dossier, actually did get…

Yeah, there is. Steele was paid $1 million from Clinton operatives to get incriminating info on Trump. In Idiot Jr.'s case, no money was paid and no info was given.

Absolutely. The Steele Dossier is an example that the Clinton campaign was trying to do the exact same thing. In both cases, no reliable information was found, and evidence of Russian "interference," "meddling," "collusion," or whatever has yet been shown.

Sure. Except, again, if you believe these emails, there was no collusion, it didn't happen. The Trumps appear to have been happy to do it, but so far, there's no evidence they actually did it.

…proving that they knew that the Russian government was actively interfering in the election.

Not even remotely true. Finally saw that new Spider-Man movie and it was pretty good. So, y'know, I'm happy that Spidey's back… How've you been?

Sure. But did you ever stop to think that maybe Trump was checking to see if Putin hid the Russia-gate evidence in his crotch? I mean, it would explain why nobody's been able to find any proof so far. It's always in the last place you look, y'know…