President Donald Trump regularly says that there was no justification for appointing a special counsel to investigate his campaign's ties with Russian government agents.
However, as a devastating CNBC video makes clear, there is ample evidence that connects Trump to Russia going back well over a decade.
The video starts by noting all of the Trump campaign officials who have entered guilty pleas and who are now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe -- and then it takes a deep dive into Trump's past business dealings with Russian nationals.
Among other things, it notes Trump's decision to partner with convicted Russian mobster Felix Sater to build Trump Tower Soho, a project that has been accused in a lawsuit of being a thinly veiled vehicle for money laundering; Donald Trump Jr.'s 2008 statement that Russian money had been "pouring in" for his family's properties; Eric Trump allegedly telling a reporter in 2013 that Russian sources were providing the family with money that American banks wouldn't; and Trump's decision to hold his 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, where he tried to arrange a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The video then notes Trump's decision to hire Paul Manafort -- who is facing multiple money laundering charges related to his work on behalf of a Kremlin-connected Ukrainian oligarch -- as his campaign manager.
From there, it breaks down all the known contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian agents, ranging from foreign policy advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos to Trump's own son meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower to discuss her government's campaign to help Trump become president.
The whole video paints a damning portrait -- check it out below.
