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So something else came up at Trump and Putin's joint press conference today. In addition to the President of the United State's near-treasonous remarks—Trump’s performance in Helsinki was so galling that even one of the talking-, lying-, demagoguing-heads over at Fox News was briefly critical—someone asked Putin about the pee tape and the murderous Russian dictator all but confirmed its existence with a non-denial denial. TPM:

Putin was asked specifically to confirm or deny that the Russian government had “compromising material” on Trump and his family. He laughed when the question was translated for him. Putin danced around the question, claiming he did not know that Trump was in Moscow, a reference to the 2013 Miss Universe trip, when the alleged tape was filmed. (Trump wrote Putin a letter then personally inviting him to the Miss Universe pageant. Trump would later claim to have been in contact with Putin about the trip.)

Putin then spoke more generally about the idea that he’d try to collect compromising material on “high-level” U.S. businessmen visiting his country, such as the 500 businessmen Putin said visited St. Petersburg for an economic forum. “It’s difficult to imagine an utter nonsense of a bigger scale than this,” Putin said. “Please, just disregard these issues and don’t think about this anymore again.”

Putin has gathered "kompromat" on comedians whose television shows he'd already had canceled:

[In still another of the videos released in 2010], a Russian comedian named Viktor Shenderovich, who had been targeted by Putin in 2002 for his satirical show “Kukly” (“Dolls”) that skewered Putin and earned his ire, is seen timidly expressing his gratitude to [a prostitute nicknamed Moomoo] for finding an old man like him attractive. The video dropped two days before Shenderovich’s daughter’s wedding.

And according to one former KGB/FSB agent (who's probably dead now), the Kremlin does indeed gather dirt "on 'high-level' U.S. businessmen" in Russia and outside of Russia:

As the row over Donald Trump’s alleged lewd sexual acts in Moscow escalates, a former KGB lieutenant colonel has rubbished the Kremlin’s claims that its spy agencies do not gather kompromat—compromising material—for possible use against public figures.

“The task of intelligence services all over the world is to gather any information whatsoever that could be useful for the state. Compromising material, non-compromising material, material on your allies, materials on your friends—intelligence services are obliged to gather all of this, and if possible record everything. It doesn’t matter who we are talking about—a businessman, a public figure, Jesus Christ himself,” Gennady Gudkov, who served in the KGB from 1981-1992 before continuing his work in the FSB, its successor agency, for another nine years, told Vocativ in an interview.

“Whether this will be used, however, is dictated entirely by circumstances. Your friend today could very well become your enemy tomorrow.”

And a complete buffoon today could become President of the United States tomorrow—with a little help from Russia's dictator, who could then weaponize his asset in the Oval Office against, oh, the Western Alliance, the European Union, and NATO. Just spitballing here.

And at least one Democratic senator is willing to go there:

[Oregon senator Jeff Merkley] said he believes Russia might have compromising material on Trump, and that "something close" to the infamous pee tape is likely out there. "It's a standard strategy of Russia when people visit there who are important to try to get compromising information on them," Merkley said, "to set them up with hookers, to tape everything that goes on in their room."

Anyway: the pee tape is real and Putin reminded Trump of that fact in the most public way possible and the most publicly humiliating way possible. And by telling the rest of us to stop thinking about it... he made it impossible for us to think about anything else.

And do you know who else wants us all thinking about the pee tape? Melania Trump—nothing else could explain that golden shower of a dress Melania wore to meet PM Theresa May.