Apparently Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma never heard that rule where "if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."

Appearing on CNN's New Day, Lankford had a creative excuse for Paul Manafort sharing internal polling data with a pro-Putin oligarch (allegedly!).

Lankford argued with a perfectly straight face that Trump's campaign manager giving polling data to an individual connected to Russian intelligence is perfectly acceptable, because Manafort had a long-running business relationship with that individual.

"This is an ongoing relationship that Manafort had...I don't see this as deliberate contact with Russia." said the US Senator.

Apparently, Lankford has never met a drug dealer. They have lots of "ongoing relationships" that involve trading cocaine and heroin for money and obviously don't involve "deliberate contact," just a random meet-up on the street.

Add to that Manafort's financial dealings with said oligarchs and the fact that he owed money and mentioned in writing (now evidence) that he wanted to be "made whole"...

...and the fact that he worked as Trump's campaign manager for FREE...

Hey Lankford, if you knew a couple drug dealers you'd know the first packet is ALWAYS free.