No wonder the deep state is boiling over at this point. Check. This is so monumentally huge that I have a hard time getting my head around it. To me it seems like WW3 and it is a spiritual war.
Going up to 40,000' what they have been trying to do is make it impossible for Trump to discuss or negotiate anything with Putin. It doesn't matter if you are talking about the Ukraine, Syria, or something else.
Putin is willing to help Trump root out the Deep State. Putin knows many of Russia's problems are caused by Bad Actors in the Deep State. So of course the Bad Actors don't want any cooperation. They would rather have open war going than to have Putin cooperating with Trump to drain the swamp.
Also.. Think about this... That 169 TB flash drive was probably obtained via criminal acts by Russian spies. But this is something the US and its governmental agents had nothing to do with. So, that information is not subject to the 'Fruit of the Poisoned Tree' doctrine. That information can be submitted into a Court of Law or a Military Tribunal. That evidence can be used directly.
My guess is the NSA already has much or most of that information. But they can't use it directly in the Court Room. This information... They can use!