Let’s say for the sake of conversation that Donald Trump is correct about the Russia scandal. There are all kinds of reasons to believe he isn’t, but let’s imagine he’s right and neither he nor any of the president’s close associates did anything wrong.If that were the case, how would Trump act? If the president were certain that he’d be fully exonerated, and those who took the Russia scandal seriously would eventually regret their interest in the controversy, what would we see from Trump?The answer is, the president would be doing largely the opposite of what he’s doing now.Not to put too fine a point on this, but innocent people don’t act the way Trump is acting.Innocent people don’t try to end ongoing investigations.Innocent people don’t try to divert blame.Innocent people don’t lash out at witnesses and/or try to block their testimony.Innocent people don’t lie.Innocent people don’t show signs of panic.Innocent people don’t try to manipulate allies into making their problems go away.Innocent people don’t try to suppress questions.I won’t pretend to know where the Russia scandal is headed next, or what else Donald Trump and his team might try to do to derail the investigation.But following up on our discussion yesterday, I do know that Trump seems awfully nervous for a person who believes he’s in the clear.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."