Spy assassinations aren't that common in the news, but of the ones I can remember, they almost all involve Russia.

People want to downplay this investigation though. But the thing is, it's deadly serious. Russia gains leverage on someone, then they can blackmail you somehow, then they are yours for life at the risk of losing yours. That's a big deal.

So when we see that there are all these shady Russian actors around team Trump, it shouldn't be downplayed as a nothing story. People like Manafort, Flynn and Gates had a lot of influence on driving decisions of the Trump team, and they were all highly susceptible to blackmail. So when faced with defrauding the US, or turning on Russia (and what the consequences of that could be), they seemed to have chosen defrauding the US.

This is high stakes stuff that seems like it should be out of a movie.