The blame here lies with the parent company, e.Republic, who gave the Governing editor, Alan Greenblatt, an impossible edict. "I warned my boss that if we weren’t going to reflect reality — if we weren’t going to do journalism — I’d have to quit."

Dutch intelligence has been one of the U.S.' most productive and important partners on Russia for many years. This is an alarming development, and predictable. Trump administration efforts to expose a "coup" in 2016 have exposed Dutch sources and methods. Can't blame them for responding this way.

Where the Trump administration exerted undue political pressure: Rushing the case before it was ready. Career prosecutors complained that the administration was eager to check off another name on Trump’s enemies list, jeopardizing the integrity of the case.

You SHOULD question whether these charges would be brought if Trump weren’t president. But this case was put together by career professionals, not political lackeys, and according to people I spoke with, is seen as a "righteous" prosecution.

Putin seems to understand that he must act urgently if he wants to keep the allies divided, which has always been his strategy. Hence his two-hour call yesterday with Trump, and their agreement to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks. Trump meets with Zelensky today at the White House.

Some highlights: Estonia's prime minister, Kristen Michal, told me that Putin's incursion into Estonian airspace had backfired. He noted Trump's show of support for the Baltics and seemed to delight in how it must have affected Putin. “This is a strong message. Putin probably didn’t expect that.”