Opposition Research Quotes
He was referring to the accusations that the Donald Trump Campaign Staff had colluded with the Russians in 2016 and 2017. Senior members of the Trup Staff including his Campaign Manager and his son Donald Trump Jr had met with Russian agents to get damaging information about Trumps opponent. Trump staff had claimed that there was nothing wrong because the didn't get anything useful.
His sentiment was also that of president Johnson although there were several of the President's aides who argued that the public was entitled to know the kind of character that Nixon had, his dirty tricks, and the extent that he would go to win an election. He had through intermediaries persuaded the South Vietnamese President to not attent the proposed Vietnam Peace Talks by promising that after Nexon was elected President he would hold our for a much better deal for the South Vietnamese Government that was generally bery corrupt and incompetent. For Rusk the issue was one of the moral tone of a Presidential Election. Making any accusation just before the election does not give the public to contemplate the information, let the opponent defend himself and the public to weigh in. The integrity of the election process was to Rusk and many others more important than who won or lost. In the hyperpolerized atmosphere 50 years later there were few American Politicians who would not use this kind of information as who won was then considered much more imnportant than the integrity of the election.
