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1. There has always been a ton of smoke around the relationship between Trump and Erdogan, two of the most corrupt leaders in the world. Whatever happens in November, this has to be investigated and people held accountable. https://twitter.com/EricLiptonNYT/status/1321822804631789569
2. There was the issue of Flynn being a paid representative of Turkey while he was advising Trump, focused on Erdogan's obsession with getting custody of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html
3. I was in meetings when Erdogan would demand that Obama send Gulen to Turkey. Obama would have to firmly and patiently explain that even the President cannot interfere in the US Justice system (norms! how quaint)
4. There's the sketchy work that Rudy Giuliani has done, another case of Trump's close associates grifting. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/11/rudy-giuliani-trump-oval-office-turkey-iran-prisoner-swap
5. There's Trump's own considerable business interests in Turkey. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/donald-trump-s-longtime-business-connections-turkey-back-spotlight-n1064011
6. Interestingly, there are reports that Erdogan's notoriously corrupt son-in-law is a channel of communication with Trump's son-in-law, who manages notable diplomatic accounts like Saudi Arabia and Turkey. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/politics/trump-erdogan-family-turkey.html
7. There's the strange reporting that Erdogan and Trump speak with a bizarre frequency and outside of normal bilateral channels. https://www.businessinsider.com/erdogan-reportedly-called-trump-as-much-as-twice-week-cnn-2020-6
8. This personal channel was apparently decisive when Trump abandoned the Kurds who helped us fight ISIS, a decision that served precisely zero U.S. national security interest. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/former-u-s-officials-criticize-trump-s-decision-abandon-kurds-n1084156
9. Then there was the abrupt and alarming decision to oust the most important U.S. Attorney in the country, reportedly in part bc of investigations into a Turkish bank. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/nyregion/trump-geoffrey-berman-fired-sdny.html
10. The simple fact is this: corruption is the lubricant of authoritarianism around the world, the connective tissue between many of the autocrats we see in power today. They claim to be nationalists, but they put their own profit first.
11. We have to get to the bottom of this both for the sake of accountability, but also because it's essential to combat the way in which corruption has undermined democracy.
