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Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press via AP
In private, sources inside the White House aren't even pretending it's ok.
- They know the Donald Trump Jr. emails that led to his Russia meeting are a terrible story, and mostly they're scrambling to find ways to deflect it and to turn this back against Hillary Clinton or the media.
- One line that's been thrown around internally is that this is just normal campaign opposition research, the kind that gets thrown around in a dirty hard campaign, especially one against the Clintons (Don Jr. has already used this line.)
- It's unclear, though, whether the White House or the legal team surrounding it — which has followed a Hannity-first comms strategy, ignoring mainstream media and preaching entirely to the base — have any good ideas to get out of this pickle.