Stop letting Donald Trump and the GOP get away with it, Mr. Mueller!!!
45
Here is a link to an article by James Risen of The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/16/trump-russia-election-hacking-invest...
I think it's time to ask whether Trump's actions (or lack thereof) amount to treason.
33
Trump will not act until his Russians handlers tell him to act. Plain and simple.
39
Donald Trump will only do what serves Donald Trump self-interest. From his point of view (and the Republican party's point of view), the last election worked out just fine. He has no reason to care or to do anything about Russian election interference. So far, the Republican party has no reason to do anything either as the Russian interference meshes nicely with ongoing Republican voter suppression efforts.
42
Politico reports today that Manafort has additional charges of bank fraud and money laundering being made against him under the Mueller investigation. The news also reports, just one day after the news broke that 13 Russian nationals are under indictment, Kushner's buddy Reed Cordish, his tech assistant actually, is leaving the WH. Interesting coincidence. But more people have left this WH administration than populate some small rural towns in America.
Trump lies and propaganda spread daily on this official investigation, and undermining our national security, the integrity of our vote in U.S. elections, as well as discrediting the entire U.S. intelligence community is heinous enough on its own, but add in all the lies about Russian meetings, contacts, emails, phone calls, money ties, and so on and I think we know there are more indictments to come.
44
I remain astonished that this man is president. Anyone who has followed people and events in the NY metropolitan region and bore witness to this man’s behavior over the last twenty years is also, no doubt, astonished. (One would have thought his comportment as a candidate would have been enough to prevent him from rising to the highest office in our land.)
One only hopes that the harm he is doing to our country and to our institutions of government does not take years to repair once he is out of office.
72
This is not about Trump or Putin it is about America and its economy. It is about neoliberalism and democracy. I am a Canadian I believe my country has chosen liberal democracy. I will not say our choice is better or worse than plutocracy but it is the responsibility of the American people to choose either liberal democracy or plutocracy.
With a clear cut choice, something we in Canada were never given, America has a plutocratic executive and legislature and seems to acquiesce to a plutocratic judiciary. It seems from this side of the border the choice has been made. You chose Gorsuch over Garland, Trump over Clinton , Ryan over Pelosi and McConnell over Shumer. What are we missing?
41
Thank you NYTimes for your consistent, outstanding and precise reporting!
While the spineless GOP leaders, Ryan and McConnell, have clearly FAILED our nation by stonewalling the House and Senate investigations, the american people can still rely on our free press to expose their cowardly acts and print the TRUTH!
74
Trump has had access to all the intelligence and continued to attempt to bury this investigation . How is this not incompetence of the highest order? How is it not giving comfort to our enemies?
52
Allowing Russia to continue to attack our country because it benefits him is collusion. Trump is committing treason by inaction.
65
Of course it's hard to prove it but of course the Russians influenced the election. There's no "I'm voting against Hillary Clinton because of Pizzagate" lever in the voting booth, but obviously those fake stories add up.
There were plenty of legit reasons not to vote for HRC or DJT, but our elections traffic in petty rumors and smears, and evidently that's what the Russians dished out.
16
Stop trying to appeal to Donald Trump. He’s not listening. And he’s certainly not listing to The NY Times. The way to combat the Russians on this is to vote every republican out of office. They have stood by and enabled Trump and the Russians in this conspiracy. This party must change if they want to remain a major party.
71
Hay, boys.
While this is important, I am disgusted Kelly is getting away with claiming the previous administration permitted abusers to work for them to cover fro his own value system. Someone should sue that rat basterd for libel. Of course I can now see he permitted abuse in his previous commands...shame on him.
22
Are you sure you still want to call it fake news, Mr. President?
-----------------------------------
FYI, Trump calls "witting collusion with Russians" fake news.
Also, the indictments show that the effort was ongoing since 2014 when your lovable human Barack Obama was the president and after he famously said on open microphone to Medvedev that he would deal with Vladimir more favorably after his reelection.
Why is nobody looking into why Obama said those nice things about Vlad when he was up for reelection?
3
I hear all the liberals screaming at Trump to do something. Did you read the indictments from the Special Council? This started in 2014. That was under Obama. Be fair, yell about your Prince dropping the ball too.
15
According to the megalomaniac, Putin once called him 'a very smart guy', and the brainless took it hook, line, and sinker. Can anyone imagine how loudly Putin is laughing at his Stormy puppet?
22
"mysterious resistance to acting against Russia and to focus on protecting his own country" equals Russian blackmail! The "compromat" must be very damaging.
15
For years, Donald used a racist birther campaign to challenge the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency. Now it's his turn to show he is legitimate.
Ain't karma grand?
39
Motive, weapon, opportunity...if anyone in the Trump campaign was made aware of this secret operation and failed to report it, that’s conspiracy to commit treason...
18
Trump is violating his oath of office every single day! Shall we call that treason? OK, we'll call it treason.
30
So the Russians are — “alleged to have operated a sophisticated influence campaign intended to ‘“sow discord in the U.S. political system.”’
Dropping the legalize, the Russians blatantly and directly interfered in the American political process. But, and this is the real tell — we are told that they did not alter the outcome of the 2016 election. Of course how anyone would actually run that to ground remains a giant conundrum. Short of intensely interviewing every voter in every district how could you possibly even begin to know?
And, face it, by comparison with the estimated $6.8 BILLION spent on various forms of domestic Republican and Democrat political promotion, the Russian operation wasn’t a drop in the ocean of political persuasion, propaganda, and outright misinformation that flooded the campaign scene beginning in mid 2015.
As for sowing discord in the US political system, seems the Ruskies sought an opportunity to at best minimally exacerbate an already rampant home grown condition that was conveniently full blown well before the Russian bots and trolls ran rampant across the web and social media.
As for the Donald, nothing will be forthcoming but signature deflection and denial.
11
I sincerely hope that the readers here take the time to read the now 665 comments (as of 10:30 EST). It is most important to understand the fake outrage from the Editorial Board and from the left. This group of 13 Russian Nationals began their hijinks in 2014. Barack Obama did nothing and we all know why. If the Editorial Board were sincere, or honest, this would be a part of the outrage. Instead, all we hear are crickets on that score...
14
If we're going to go after Russian interference in elections then we should also go after Israeli interference and require groups like AIPAC to register as foreign agents.
19
No collusion? Just “happened” that Trump’s entourage was engaged with Russians, paid by Russians, and lied about it. Reassuring, what?
20
Dear editors, Why should Donald Trump stop Russia from 'getting away with it'? He's got a whole country complete with a lawless dictator working for him. Its his dream come true, but our nightmare.
15
The New York Times is right on the mark again. Russia must not be allowed to get away with sowing discord in the U.S. political system.
As the Times makes clear, our political system is broken beyond repair, election results cannot be trusted, and this is all going to happen again. Many voters where under the mistaken belief that Hillary Clinton is Satan. If they had known the truth, they may have voted differently. Trump is an illegitimate president.
The Times must continue to point out Trump's lies and weaknesses and reinforce that Russia is strong and run by a great leader. Putin is so clever that he was able to overcome the billion dollars spent by the Clinton campaign with in monthly budget of $1.25 million. He also employed staffers, known as "specialists".
Trump is a puppet of Putin and Trump's support will collapse the second he no longer has Putin's support.
Spasibo New York Times.
10
Dereliction of duty. Lock him up!
20
Didn't Putin's animosity toward Hillary Clinton start beause he accused her and others in our State Department of similar activities in the Balkans. ?
8
There’s nothing ”mysterious” about Trump’s “resistance to acting against Russia”!
He’s in this up to his eyebrows!
Time to come out & say it: Trump has been “compromised” by his financial ties to Russia and is, in effect, a traitor!
WHERE is there evidence that he is NOT?
Tax returns, anyone?
20
Talk to Obamasan he was President when this all started and happened!
5
The looming question is whether McConnell/Ryan and the GOP Congress will feel the need to distance themselves. It is likely, based upon their actions so far, that any such distancing will be only pro forma, and actions will follow the path well trodden of dismembering Democracy.
14
It is obvious that Trump is a very insecure man. He lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. That makes him even more likely to become defensive when faced with accusations that others, besides his own campaign staff , were part of his success in winning the election.
All Trump voters now must reckon with the possibility that they were duped into voting for Trump by fake news spread by Russians. What a weight that would be on my conscience if I had been so foolish enough to vote for Trump.
13
Congress enacted sanctions against Russia. Trump refuses to implement them. Of course the Russians will continue to do whatever they like because Puppet Trump is in the White House and they know that whatever they do, there will be no consequences. We don't have a President. We have a slavey kowtowing to Moscow. Trump should be impeached. He is endangering our democracy every day he continues in office.
22
Collusion no longer matters much to me in the long game. Trump doesn't really matter all that much to me either. What does matter is the fact that Trump and his goons seem to want to slow play and down play the severity and plausibility of what Russia is doing. That is where the real crime is to me.
Any Americans that are defending Trump on this topic are on the wrong side of history. Not only are they making a mistake but they are selling out the USA to defend the actions of a president who is a hack at best and damaging to our country in a multitude of ways that they refuse to acknowledge.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! This guy and his administration are not making America greater. They are doing real damage to our country.
26
Where are the voices of the Republican leadership about those ignored sanctions? From Republicans all over the country? FOX News?
Faithfully execute the laws? We all know by now Trump won’t do anything he doesn’t want to, so why haven’t Republicans started publically calling for them?
21
He won't push sanctions. Witting or unwitting, he's clearly a Russian operative.
21
Does anyone out there believe that Trump is not indebted to the Russians for sustaining his organization's cash flow during our real estate collapse in 2008? My bet is that is what this is all about. He won't call out Russia because his organization received hundred of millions of dollars in 2008 to provide needed cash flow to sustain his business and prevent total bankruptcy. What other reason can there be? Is his ego so fragile that to admit his election was aided by Russia is something he cannot bring himself to admit? If this is true, then we are dealing here with a very wounded human being and that does not portend well for America.
11
We have been "Hoaxed";
1) Obama is going to take away your guns (run and get one, mention the 2nd Amendment, accept NRA payments to elected officials),
2) Climate Change is a Chinese plot (pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, throw out environmental protections, stick head in tar sands);
3) Russian interference in the American election is just a 'witch hunt' (this president was elected with the highest, most beautiful ratings ever).
11
My only direct personal knowledge of Trump supporters; not so intelligent, more than willing to believe, and spread obvious lies, incapable of logical process thinking.
The only thing that will change these people is what removed the Bush Cheney and Support Our Troops bumper stickers from Republicans cars more than ten years ago, shame. The truth about Iraq finally sank in. And now the old hawks are against pointless foreign wars.
13
Not only is he in denial about Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, but also about imposing the Congressionally mandated sanctions. After the Stormy Daniels affair, one has to wonder if there may be truth to the salacious "compromat" in the Steele dossier that accounts for the ongoing efforts by his allies in Congress to discredit it.
9
If the alleged Russian intervention had no effect on the 2016 election of Donald Trump, would the legal defense be de minimis, because the DOJ charges could be leveled at nearly every foreign government? For when we want a foreign leader to win an election, we either send our troops or CIA foreign contractors into the country to make sure that who ever wins the popular vote, only our candidate assumes power, as in Haiti, the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Grenada, the Seychelles....as in....
3
Trump and the GOP will do nothing substantial because Russia supports them. Moreover the GOP and Russian goals are the same - to ruin the US.
12
Trump and his supporters would rather lock up his political opponents and fellow Americans such as Hillary Clinton without even a trial! Hey, don't forget 'America First'! Also remember they have monopoly on patriotism! I cannot help ask: what exactly do we have as a our 'leader'?
5
The collusion continues.
We are witnessing the early unveiling of a scandal of historic proportions--a presidential election hijacked by a hostile power.
And what do we get from the GOP leadership? Outrage? Calls for action?
No way. Instead there's silence denial and enabling--the second phase of collusion that began with Trump.
15
Where is the leadership in this country on this issue of the security of our electoral process? We were promised the best people. I guess Mueller is the real leader here since our President has undermined the investigation from the start. Let him finish what he has started and let the chips fall where they may.
8
The Russians obviously want the Magnitsky Act repealed so they can get all their money freed up.
But why would the Russians think a Trump administration would repeal Magnitsky? Of course they want the money, but why do they think Trump will make sure it happens? They went to a lot of trouble to make sure he got in there. Their strategy has to be based on more than just hopeful thinking.
Why do the Russians think Trump will act in their interests?
What do the Russians have on Trump? What kind of deal have the Russians and Trump made, and why? What barrel do they have Trump over, and how and when did it happen?
These questions are never addressed.
12
This does not clear Trump or his cronies from illegal or treasonous charges. It only says that there is no evidence at this time, in this narrow focus on the information trolling campaign, of collusion. It does not say that there is evidence of no collusion, nor does it say that a broader conspiracy was not in place. if Trump wants to really clear his name, he should release his tax returns, campaign communications, and, at a minimum, stop lying and stop protecting Putin. He won't do that -- gee, I wonder why
9
Failure to address this is dereliction of duty. It is his reluctance to take action to protect our nation and punish the offenders that create nothing less than an appearance of collusion.
12
I didn't see anything in the indictment about hacking into voting machines. That would be a very serious matter. However, spreading mis-information on the internet through anonymous identities is done EVERY SECOND of EVERY DAY for various reasons and by various people AND institutions. 90% of media advertising is misleading to one degree or another when one looks at things closely. It is what it is and on the whole the internet is an extremely important vetting and communications tool that has far more positives than negatives. Did the Russian propaganda change one vote? That is a laughable assumption.
7
Now it IS a form of collusion. To fail to acknowledge the Russian role in attacking our elections, to fail to at least scold the Russians is colluding with them. If the President hides from the truth of these findings, he is preventing the power of the presidency from condemning and punishing these election crimes.
7
Mr. Trump is likely to take aggressive measures to counter Russian meddling in our elections but, at this time, his schedule is full with golf outings and Playmate meetings. Stay tuned.
9
I find it rather shocking that so many readers' comments try to throw this back on Obama, who yes was president when the Russian interference activities came to light, but he felt better to wait and yes, perhaps, this would favor Hillary. Does that really equal what else the Russians have done that did sway the election? The money from Russia to Manafort, Gates, eventually leading to who knows how many sweeter deals for the Trumps et al, along with hacking and Comey's inept disclosure, created the Trump presidency. How can Trump possibly tack now that all is being revealed? A con tutored/mentored by Roy Cohn cannot change. It is not necessarily narcissism as much as it is collusion, financial gain and the sweet sweet smell of success. Trump is the president. How can we get him out?
6
It's a good thing that Trump imposed all the sanctions Congress overwhelmingly approved last August. He did impose them, right? 11/06/2018: VOTE!
6
Collusion or not, Mr. Trump is at best a dupe and at worst....
6
If the Russians were so effective why did Sanders lose the primary? The funny thing is if the situation were reversed and Hillary won with Russian interference we would never had known about it.
5
Dear Editorial Board,
When are you going to figure out that Russia *is* Trump's own country? (Which seems ironically balanced, since Trump *is* Russia's.)
1
Trump is stuck on the word "collusion" like a labrador with a rubber bone, but why does he never use synonyms such as scheming, secret understanding or connivance? Could it be those words are closer to the mark?
5
Stormy Donald will not do anything to Russia. He is afraid of Putin. Putin has dirt on him.
8
There's an old saying that you "dance with the one that brung you." Trump will continue to dance with Putin as that's his only chance of becoming a two term president.
6
Stop calling for The Con Don to lie again. WE THE PEOPLE know he and his Robber Baron brethren worked with Russia to throw the election.
They are all going down. Those who are leaving his administration are smart because WE are coming after them to purge them and their treasonous plans to destroy democracy in OUR United States of America - any way necessary.
8
"Stop Letting the Russians Get Away With It, Mr. Trump"
One has to assume from the title of the article,that Mr. Trump is an "innocent" in all of this - "perhaps" NOT!
5
To Majortrout ~ Without a shadow of doubt trump is complicit in some way.
3
He's acting more guilty than Putin!
5
One critical step to help insulate state election systems from hacking is to dispense with voting machines. Anything the states can do to foil attempts at electronic intrusions from foreign attackers can bolster defenses and further confidence in the elections process. In three states, (a step first taken by Oregon) every voter has the opportunity to easily vote-by-mail. After its debut, Washington and Colorado followed Oregon. Here in Oregon, there are no precinct polling stations. No lines to stand in, no wonky voting machines, and no electronic vulnerability at casting as ballot. Many years ago, so many voters had already been casting absentee ballots that the state switched entirely to the same process for everyone. It saves huge sums of expense. More voters actually cast ballots. Seniors do not have to stand in lengthy cold lines to get inside a school or other public building to vote. Security is tight, requiring a signature on the security envelope by the voter. Oregon has never turned back to the old methods and its voters watch in amazement as voters in other states struggle with the lines, troublesome machines, delayed vote counts and cyber security. Here, the results are being reported right after the 8 pm Election Day deadline. It is remarkable that only three states do it this way. For the sake of cyber security, if not simply for the convenience and health of the rates of participation in our nation, it is time for a change in most states.
47
This makes sense. That means Republicans will fight it.
12
You know he isn't going to do anything about enforcing sanctions or trying to stop Russia from interfering with the US elections until Putin tells him to. And that won't happen.
If you ask me, Trump, Sessions, Ryan, McConnell, Rohrbacker and most of the Congressional Republicans act like they are paid political consultants for Vladimir. They will work for whoever funds their campaigns - the NRA, the top 0.01%ers (Vlad included), etc. ,As far as working for the general US public's interests......Meh.
52
Trump? It was the Obama administration that let all this happen and did nothing to stop it, or even expose it. Why doesn't that trouble you?
6
"Robert Mueller’s latest indictments show how real the threat to U.S. elections is. When will the White House acknowledge it?"
How about when Democrats and the media acknowledge that, in light of the indictment document, the collusion case against Trump is looking more and more shaky.
10
More indictments to come and it should bother you that some of Trump's campaign members contacted these Russians unknowingly. Some also contacted Russians knowing they were meeting with Russians.
2
The conspiracy case is looking quite strong. This is just a warning. How did Mueller's investigators get such details as were set out about the internal workings of the Russian operatives and agents? If they know those things, what else do they know. These indictments were a signal to the witting collaborators to come in and make a deal. The sooner you negotiate, the lighter the sentence with Papadopolous as an example. Gates will be another. Manafort is in too deep and is going to face more serious charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and perjury.
As for the Kelly memo about interim security clearances being revoked....and how the FBI is going to report directly to the WH counsel....does he think that will change anything? After all, the WH counsel is one of those who has not been able to get a security clearance. He should be the next person John Kelly would fire if he were serious.
5
"It’s true that, as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in an announcement, these particular indictments do not allege that any American knew about the influence campaign, nor that the campaign had changed the outcome of the election. But that’s quite different from saying that there was no collusion or impact on the election. As Mr. Rosenstein also said, the special counsel’s investigation is continuing, and there are many strands the public still knows little or nothing about."
What part of this did you not comprehend?
5
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said there was no allegation that any American was "a knowing participant in this illegal activity" nor was it alleged that the meddling altered the election outcome. 'Nuff said.
8
Americans are too stupid to know they are being used both by foreigners and by their enemies. The desire among Americans for fame and recognition is so intense and all consuming that they will say almost anything,and do nearly anything with anyone, to be noticed.
AS a result, people in America rarely read books, they don't know anything about their history and only live in a bubble of a few weeks around themselves "today", never considering the future or the past-just their fakebook accounts.
1
And just keep leaving out his emphasis that he was talking about just this indictment. This was a signal to the witting conspirators to come in and make a deal to tell all they know because so much is already known about what they were involved in. How did the investigators learn so much in such specific details down to the texts Russian operatives sent to their family members?
That should scare the daylights out of the witting conspirators. That is going to shake a lot of apples out of the collusion tree.
5
Yes, Rosenstein said there were no such allegations IN THE COMPLAINT. He did not say that NO Americans participated. He did not say that the meddling had NO effect.
9
And the RNC and Republicans in states where they appeared never questioned who ordered these attack ads on Hillary Clinton if they didn't order them or endorse them? Didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth?
8
PAC's can buy ads and they are not supposed to be co=ordinating with the campaigns. So, no, they would not be questioning all the extra help they were getting from the Russian black ops.
2
And let's remind everyone that Obama was president while all this was going on and his appointees headed our intel agencies. Yet they either knew nothing nor did nothing --- until Trump won. It seems obvious that Obama pushed the investigation by our intel services and the report they put out in Jan of 2016 to try to discredit Trump. The victim of all this sowing of discord by the left has been Trump. What Obama and his minions should have done was either confront Putin before the election and make it public that the Russians were trying to interfere...OR ... hand the investigation off to Trump privately and allow him to handle it. Instead, Obama, HRC, the dems have used the false narrative of Trump-Russia collusion to try to de-legitimize his presidency.
12
So why hasn't Trump done anything since taking office?
6
The key to this is Trump's "mysterious resistance to acting against Russia." I pray Mr. Mueller can unlock that door.
25
The answe to that question most probably lies in Trump's undisclosed tax returns.
8
I wonder if you would have taken this position had the Russians worked to get Mrs. Clinton elected. Putin walked all over the Obama Administration and largely crickets from you with respect to his response.
With Hillary’s weak, reset diplomacy vis-a-vi the Kremlin while at Foggy Bottom and her quid pro quo with Uranium One while also at State, it’s curious to me why the Russians didn’t support her.
In light of that weakness and receptivity to self enrichment, Putin’s choice is a puzzle.
Unless we learn that a Trump connection was more devious and beneficial to Russia. Now that would be something. Hard to top $3Million “bribe” for access to uranium and enhancement of nuclear capabilities.
We’ll see what Mueller comes up with.
6
I think one of the biggest collaborators in all of this has to be the people who ate up all of these lies like they were high-end chocolate. The real problem here is the fact that so many of us are so eager to think ill of our supposed enemies that we will believe anything of them, no matter how outrageous. And in doing so, we ignore the real, the actual. Which is juicier, Clinton runs a child porn shop in a pizzeria or Trump has a proven history of malfeasance? Perhaps it is time to see ourselves in the harsh light of day and stop taking pride in our own intransigence masquerading as principle. Our unwillingness to compromise is the best tool that the Russians have, and we fashioned it ourselves and gave it to them gift-wrapped with a bow. And in doing so we subvert the very life blood of democracy itself. Who is the criminal here and what was the crime? There's an old line: You can't steal a willing mind.
20
A Republican friend told me that she read that Hillary Clinton destroyed a hotel room in a fit of rage and that she could never vote for someone who did something like that. She probably read that story on one of the Russian fake Facebook accounts. You can't convince me that the Russian antics didn't influence the outcome of this election.
31
I have read that trump thought he would lose the election and that would be the best thing that ever happened to him. What if winning becomes the worst thing that ever happened to him? In the words of Don Jr "I love it especially later in the summer".
9
Which side is Trump on?
3
Excuse me, but didn't much or most of this Russian "meddling" take place while Barak Obama was President? I guess he bears no responsibility because he's a Democrat.
9
it has been reported many times that Obama and crew knew of the election meddling prior to the election but the info was kept from the public to avoid looking as though they were trying to influence people to vote for Clinton. I wish he would have made the info public at the time. But can anyone truthfully say that the media and the Republicans wouldn't have blamed Obama for doing exactly what he feared.
4
And the cycle continues (or should I say circular firing squad). Obama bad. Trump good. Russia? Who?
4
Irrelevant. Barak Obama didn’t need help from the Russians to get elected.
9
Since it seems credible that Trump is working for Russia, has deep obligations to Russia, it would seem foolish to hope that he will throw any presidential weight behind thwarting this interference.
8
Trump working for Russia is only credible in the fuzzy minds of progressives.
4
One crucial fact that seems missing in these articles is whether the United States is engaged in similar activity in other countries?
This doesn't justify anything Russia might have done, but isn't it important context? If the US does engage in similar activity maybe Russian meddling is a sign the everyone should cease and desist.
The electoral process is fragile enough these days what with PAC's, campaigns costing millions and billionaires fronting their own candidates.
While many in the media have got their blood pressure up, this might give us pause to re-evaluate and reform many aspects of our very flawed electoral system.
At the end of the day many of the things the Russian's are accused of doing are also being done by various paid political operatives right here at home.
5
This is a good first step on Mr. Mueller's part. Donald's "mysterious resistance" is puzzling and troubling, but once again, it appears that some guardrails are holding and our government continues to function in spite of him. The bar has been set so low by this White House, that any adult who appears on the scene looks like they are simply stepping around a whining toddler in the middle of the room. Donald's reactions only enhance that appearance. It's still up to the adults to pick up the pieces and figure out where the truth lies. It's clear that Donald has no interest in helping.
7
It would seem that Obama’s interest in achieving a better relationship with Russia clearly failed and likely never even stood a chance.
3
"Stop Letting the Americans Get Away With It, Mr. Putin" The total nothingburger of a "conspiracy" Mueller uncovered is perfectly comparable to the low-level static that U.S. spy agencies have been pumping into foreign elections/politics since WWII. The fact that Putin's government knows about it, and basically laughs it off as Spying 101 tells you exactly how big a "threat" he views it to be. Face it Lefties; there's nothing there.
11
No collusion? Trump's words during the campaign amplified the Russian effects. His failure to impose the Russian sanctions passed overwhelmingly by Congress supports the Russian activities. His failure to staff key State Department positions creates a vacuum that the Russians gladly fill. Even his handshake with Putin indicates he won't try to bully Putin.
No collusion? There are many more shoes to drop in this investigation. Wait and see.
11
This is all the proof we need that Russians have Trump over a barrel. If any other country had been indicted for these same crimes, Trump's fat little finger would be hovering over his Red Button, he'd be screaming threats and imprecations.
8
As I read this piece about the actions taken it appears the Russians were as knowledgeable about their target audience as the grifter from Queens was and is. The targets? The most gullible people in this country were the targets-and apparently it worked, and in the case of the "president", it is still working.
If the evidence, unquestionable evidence, was brought forth that show Trump is a paid patsy of Putin, Trump's supporters, along with Trump, would loudly complain about the fake news.
Yes indeed, Trump, along with his patron, Putin, won.
8
To put this in perspective, while visitng the UK before their Brexit vote in 2016, President Obama stated that if the UK were to vote for Brexit, he would put the UK at the end of the queue for any trade deals with the US. This threat was also unusual in that President Obama had only ½ year remaining in office and he would be long gone before Brexit, if voted on, would be put into effect. Did Theresa May sanction him or censure him? NO!
Also, in 2016, the Obama administration paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayers grants to the Israeli opposition, in an attempt to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli election, also in 2016. Did Benjamin Netanyahu sanction him or censure him? NO!
I am all in favor of sanctioning Russia in their interference in the US 2016 election, this is exactly what the Congress overwhelming did in 2017, and even Trump (resultantly) signed it. And now there are strong indictments on 13 Russian citizens. But do not pretend that the US was only a victim in 2016 - under the Obama administration, it was also a perpetrator to 2 of the closest allies that the US has, the UK and Israel! This is selective outrage!
To have moral authority, President Obama should not have interfered in other countries' elections either, and to me, it makes it worse that Obama interfered with 2 close allies elections.
6
Gee. If only Obama hadn't won the election in 2016...Maybe someone should have run against him.
1
Regardless of the political accusations crossing the aisles, shouldn't the US government fight this cyberwar with cyberwar? We are the best in the business -- go after them. What exactly am I missing?
4
The larger crisis is that we now forgo argumentation and reasoning, and instead lazily succumb to confirmation bias--especially when it comes to how we readily accept data and statistics when they're offered by "our side."
For example, I was spreading misinformation on the frequency of school shootings that was put out by Everytown. In order to move people on gun control, they were including incidents of gunfire near schools that were decidedly not school shootings.
Truth actually exists, folks (we're not living in a postmodern nightmare). The problem is, it's easily smothered by manure.
3
No matter what is found out, the base will never believe it as evidenced here in some of the comments. Trump and his minions will never cave, but will get their supporters to bring out the guns.
12
Everyone knows Trump will do nothing about Russia. The problem is no longer Trump. The problem is Congress. We have three branches of government for a reason. Time to turn the microscope on House and Senate Republicans who are good for nothing but public hand wringing.
11
I have two questions: Why is DT so unconcerned about Russian interference? Are the Russians interfering in other countries' elections?
4
Still, one might wonder how the Russian infiltration to create mayhem with websites and protests could make a difference in the election. After all, just because sites are popping up suggesting Hillary is a devil, who would believe that other than the extreme elements of the Republican base?
Well, think about it for a moment. Trump is basing a significant part of the narrative on "Crooked Hillary." There are news sources floating around that the Clinton Foundation has had some questionable dealings. Combine that with Bill's stains in the WH, the cries of "Benghazi, Benghazi." the chants of "lock her up" at the Republican convention, and her own email bungling, and you have at least a narrative of Clinton dishonesty. In a close election, this could have swayed enough voters.
To some borderline or undecided voters this smelled funny. So they decide, en masse, "It's time to clean house. Let's get a business man in there. Let's throw a wrecking ball into the government. Let's elect a destructo. Washginton is dysfunctional anyway. Give this a try"
And enough voters from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and a few other states swung over to make the difference and elect Trump.
(Plus, he shrewdly and at least somewhat skillfully tapped into those states with populist rhetoric.)
So it is not at all a stretch to see how the Russians could influence the outcome of the 2016 election, and throw a wrecking ball into our democracy.
6
I wish the Boarder Patrol would/could tell the public what they think we really need as far as boarder security. The pieces I remember are we don't need a southern wall shore to shore.
If we look at the danger to America that can be caused and prevented the same money is more likely immediately needed to prevent Cyber attacks. Want to be kept up tonight look up what damage Cyber Attacks can do to America's Electric Grid.
Yes look at this weeks news that Russia did just that in Ukraine.
3
Russia was so clever to take advantage of the uncompromising partisanship of US politics. The Republican politicians and their eager supporters ate the Russian bait willingly to become duped collaborators to dismantle democracy which they have enjoyed so far. Their actions and no-repentance even at this point have been suicidal.
3
Mr. Trump has also denied any collusion with the Russians which the media have been clamoring about. If Mr Trump needs to admit the Russians did as is alleged, when is the media going to admit that there was no collusion?
There is a little bit of crow for all to eat here.
The CIA has orchestrated coups and assassinations and all types of destabilizing of countries. Why no mention of that here. Or ever.
What's bad for one is bad for the other.
5
As I read in one foreign publication, Russians working for Putin's "cook" didn't know at first what "purple" states stood for. It has to be explained to them, but they caught on real quick and targeted three of them.
2
NO COLLUSION! ?
Perhaps, but I don't know which is worse, that the EverTrumps acted in concert with Russian trolls or that they were, are, just to stupid to understand what was, is, going on, or to recognize the real damage being done to America on their behalf.
4
Have to wonder if the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling made it easier for much of the criminal activity in the election interference to take place.
4
Applicable old saying: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, chances are it's a duck.Collusion!
6
If an individual wins an election, that he did not think he would win, and every expert on politics did not believe he could win, there is cause to look further.
When this same man calls any Russian interference "fake news", when every American and British Intelligence agency states emphatically that Russian Intelligence did violate the election, there is a good reason to investigate.
When the president fires Department of Justice officials and FBI administration in order to obstruct investigations into Russian violation of the election, there is cause for any American with literacy to investigate the Trump Administration, and those congressmen who conspire with Mr. Trump, to commit treason against the United States,
7
This different start recently.
Funny, now spelling/syntax errors tweek my warning systems. I think if we want to comment here, we should have to buy subscriptions, and that way we can get these bots on wire fraud.
2
Trump properties are financed by laundered Russian money. He will not speak out against Russian involvement in our election because he does not want to jeopardize his financial interests with Russia. Our president is a traitor to our country and all thos Republican politicians who support him are traitors as well. I hope they all go down in November.
8
Refusal by this administration to even offer verbal rebuke for Russia, let alone lift a finger to counter this attack, should be regarded as treason. I gather that republicans are all OK with treason as long as its a republican doing it. They would have already impeached and convicted Obama or Hillary had either done this. Their betrayal of the oaths they took to defend the Constitution are also impeachable offenses.
10
One of the real issues is the influence of money in American campaigns.
There is a significant parallel between Russian interference in American elections utilizing monetary means and the buying of influence in America elections by wealthy Americans such as the Koch brothers.
In each case, democracy is defeated. The prevalence of money in American elections must be limited or restricted if true democracy is to prevail.
7
Does the word collusion appear in the indictments? After over a year of investgation, is their a drip of collusion evidence? Interestingly NYT seems now changing their tune to election interferance. Was the collusion just a delusion?
4
When? We all know when.
When hell freezes over.
Either the Trump circus actively conspired with Russian operatives
or
Trump's election was due to in part to an independent Russian effort.
Neither of those two scenarios are anything Trump is capable of admitting to.
Active collusion would (will?) be no surprise, and the reasons for denial are obvious.
But unwitting benefactor of Russian meddling?
Plausible, from the standpoint that Trump and unwitting in the same sentence is redundant.
But even more likely to be denied.
Donald is incapable of sharing credit.
5
Because we can't ..
Putin has blackmailing 'dirt' on Trump, much as the pro-Israeli lobby does on every politician.
3
Well, they do get full frontals of emails we can only see as metadata...unless they tip us off.
Good GRIEF! Ever since the United States has become the dominant world power, it's intelligence agencies have been destabilizing and interfering with foreign the elections and governments of sovereign foreign nations a THOUSAND TIMES more than the reverse will ever be true.
...including EVERY nation south of the Southern border.
With Russia too...AND CHINA. And Barrack Obama's interference in Israels' elections is well documented.
This current Russian meddling is a DIRECT response to Hillary Clinton's BLATANT interference in Russia's sovereign elections in 2010/2011. Putin was rightfully angered, vowed a response, and here it is.
But still, it's peanuts compared to the extreme level of cyber and other types warfare being prosecuted daily by the CIA and others in IC in the interest of creating MASSIVE CHAOS and disruption of our "competitors".
And sadly still, for hypnotized partisan reasons, some are buying the RIDICULOUS "evil Russian" propaganda, mind control, and fear porn being pumped at us relentlessly by the mainstream, globalist, "liberal" media.
6
The lofty NYT editorial itself suffers from deep credibility problems absent acknowledgement, much less a critique, of Obama's, his FBI head's, impact on the last presidential election and the U.S. government's long and frequently bloody history of overthrowing foreign governments. Might one be pardoned for expecting context from the Times as well as something other than single factor theories. Of course the monumental nonfeasance/malfeasance of Obama and his FBI does not preclude impeachable offenses by other presidents and the misconduct of other actors.
4
This is either fake news, or Fox news...which is is? If you're a Trump Supporter, its the former, if it's you just don't care about anything other that guns, sharia law and abortion (As do most in the red states)its the later, so we must recognize the efficacy of the Russians in their mastery of the American psyche. Won't matter though because Russian interests aligned with the Republican right and Business interests. Next?
3
Illegal election. Illegal president. Illegal congress.
9
President Holster Mouth pleads the Fifth Amendment.
1
"The question is whether Mr. Trump will at last accept the fact of Russian interference and take aggressive measures to protect American democracy."
Did the NYT or any other MSM outlet question Obama when he told the Russians: "Stop it" after they hacked several government agencies during his watch?
2
The child-President, like the naughty boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar and tears in eyes cries, it wasn't me Mom, it was my sister, my little brother, it was a mouse, it was a Troll...while lilcking crumbs from his mouth. The child-President swears it wasn't him while begging Mr Putin to release the Emails and leading the chant, Lock Her Up, Lock her up. Those words alone are "Proof" of his crime. It got him in the White House and he will most certainly use this technique in the next election. And so, it will be said by coming generations, this was how American's gave away their Democracy. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
5
Rather than a comment, may I ask a question: to wit, Did Donald request and obtain before taking the oath of office in 2017 the exemption to protect and defend from all enemies except Russia???....and Oligarchs who purchased his property at triple-market prices??? And was there a second exemption from money laundering previous to the actual day of swearing-in?? Please advise.
5
Headline is misleading as if Russia acted alone.
2
So, militaristic NYT, should we nuke them?
Will other countries be given a free nuke or two to throw at us when it is obvious we are also interfering in other countries’ elections?
Grow up.
5
Those with a severe narcissistic personality disorder need years of therapy, not 4 years in the WH. Not one second goes by without this man thinking only of himself. The kind of person you ignore at parties. Well, most people would anyhow. With news of his compromising behavior and failure to protect America is it not obvious that he cannot faithfully execute the laws of the land?
11
I'm finding these editorials to be quite tiresome, as an example, the question in the last paragraph: "The question is whether Mr. Trump will at last accept the fact of Russian interference and take aggressive measures to protect American democracy." Why would the NY Times even ask this question?
Considering the constant barrages of daily outrages (many probably illegal) by Trump, his staff, his family and cabinet, I'd say the answer, obvious to all, is a resounding NO!
If Trump bothers to respond, he will just deny...again if he bothers. Then it will be forgotten as the next outrage hits the news.
Why do the generally thoughtful editors of the Times expect different?
Apparently, Trump is winning!
3
the easiest thing would be to stop asking these questions - trump is in fact counting on it. I'm sure the editors would like nothing more than to never have to think about trump again. they are doing good work.
2
Just as the media struggled for a year to say that Trump is a liar, how much longer is it going to take to call him what else he is, a traitor.
17
The New York World finally got around to Tea Pot Dome years after that first spilled. It was all the plotters making for Paris with no return tickets that gave away the story. That and Harding stroking out, and Coolidge deciding Congress should be left to do their jobs.
1
Not one word about Clinton funding Russian anti-Trump propaganda through Christopher Steele, aided and abetted by Obama's FBI and Justice Department. The selective reporting from the liberal media is far more insidious than than any misinformation coming from Russia.
6
I for one am shocked, shocked, to learn that people are using fake identities on the internet, but are you sure it's a profound national security threat?
3
I guess Trump and his ilk are left defending themselves, "Hey, we were 'unwitting.'" Or too stupid to collude.
5
Great defense "No collusion only stupidity" Well those stupid people are running our nation with short sighted policies that will irrevocably harm our nation in the near future.
trump who do you believe? Muller? Putin? Not a single cabinet level meeting on securing our elections. This is dereliction of duty. Defined as someone who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties (or follow a given order) or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties. He has violated to protect America from all enemies foreign and domestic. His business ties and sex scandals have left him vulnerable to blackmail and thus incapacitated him. There has always been a reason he kept his taxes secret. He should be impeached and not given a pardon like Nixon but tried and convicted
8
I do believe Obama was president in 2014, when this nonsense began.
5
The only constitutional commitment which Trump made at his inauguration was to his daily one.
2
I remember thinking that I could just ignore Facebook and Twitter and whatever else & make up my own mind about the candidates. No one pulled the lever in the ballot box fir me. I made my own decision.
But these charges of identity theft take it to a whole new level for me. Russian nationals actively sought to deceive me as I made my choice. That’s a crime. It sure as heck ain’t right.
13
He is in league with them. Impeachment procedures should begin.
10
Are you even reading the articles? Mueller could find no evidence of knowing collaboration by Americans, including Trump.
1
There are a lot of Russians in this thread. No doubt about it. Supporting Trump no matter what the evidence. Traitors to our country.
10
Who are the Russians going to get elected this Nov.? What did we do to them (the street demonstrations forged up by "social media" some years back have interesting fingerprints all over) first and worse? What is the real point to all this noise...
A yes "sanctions". Another name for the economic war we have been engaged in since the "red scare". This looks like red scare redux, and the widespread Left wing press folks "voluntary" enlistment in the campaign makes me wonder...after all the 17 intel orgs gave us Libya, Iraq, Afganistan, all the way back to Nam...
Lefties... where went your skepticism?
Sanctions force our "allies" and commercial "partners" to not take better priced deals from Russia. Tout court. Or we break their arms (meta4ically).
So what it is is (since nothing of the $15 million Moscow supposedly spent scratched the surface of ugly US domestic politics) we have a Western Liberal system in which fictional paper entities fronting for economic latter day Dukes and Earls effectively own what is in other countries, sell those resources to all the other countries lacking said same and reap huge profit from the Biz. Russia does not let that system in to own its resources, and sells that for itself.
It is interesting to see the two systems test out, will the one in which oligarchs are puppets of the state prevail, or will the one in which the government is a puppet of oiligarchs (particularly those in the military supply system) survive?
Who would you think?
1
Of course the smart thing to do is to criminalize all statements against the government. It is what is done in most countries.
Well, I hope Mueller's charges help stop the outside influence in our elections, but, I wonder if we really can stop it? And, after some of our own forays, I'm guessing some will be more than happy to volunteer, as a sort of quid pro quo? Of course when you have candidates doing private business with foreign entities, how will that work? Maybe future candidates should be grown in the USA.
1
Trump's minions are still saying there was no collusion, and votes were not changed. This indictment shows there was communication between the campaign and the Russians, but they were unwitting. Fine. But it was correct to investigate these communications; it is not a witch hunt, it is a proper investigation. And, no they didn’t changes actual votes, but they certainly changed minds. Planted false news stories, like Hillary was dying of something (repeated by Trump over and over); Hillary was running a child porn ring (repeated by Flynn); Hillary favored sharia law, and so on. Trump’s continued refusal to implement sanctions or do anything about the Russian cannot be defended. Trump for ex-president. .
12
This was an attack on our nation. Yet no consequences:
Trump has not implemented Russian sanctions passed by a bipartisan House and Senate on October 1st.
Nor has he kicked out every last Russian spy before going off to golf.
Congress must demand implementation, or it is complicit.
What Republicans are doing in the GOP-led investigation is already suspect.
Have our intelligence agencies investigated the details of this scary
tweet from Trump on 7/9/17, after he spoke directly with Putin:
"Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.."
14
Joanne--"Russia," if you're listening, I hope you can find the 30,000 emails that are missing..." Aw, no, there was no collusion! Naming and shaming is the first step towards the end of this corrupt "administration."
4
The editorial board seems to be confused about who was president during the three years when this activity took place.
You also deliberately mislead people about the scale of the attack, by stating raw numbers without context. Russian social media messaging amounts to a couple of drops in a waterfall. Cyber security attacks come by the millions every day. The Russians spent $1.2 m a month on this activity. Hillary spent $1 b on her campaign. The NYT alone reached millions of people daily with a constant barrage of messages supporting Hillary over Trump.
As for the DNC hack. Podesta's password was "password". My cyber-illiterate sister could have hacked that. Calling it a hack makes it sound sophisticated. Calling the Russian activities a threat makes it sound significant. .
In the meantime, someone who knew the shooter in the Florida school massacre calls into the FBI a month ago and tells them the kid is an imminent threat and they don't have the resources to follow up on it.
8
@Ed Bukszar
And the governor of Florida failed to keep his schools safe. The Broward County Sheriff's department received over 20 calls over several months about the dangerous threats the shooter made and they did nothing, they too failed keeping this school safe. But hey, the most important thing here is that its still easy to buy a gun in Florida. And it only takes a few social media messages to multiple sites for a message to go viral, any internet-illiterate person would know that. And you must have missed the news that President Obama's desire to go public with the Russian hacking was blocked by Senator Mitch McConnell. So if anyone is trying to deliberately mislead, it may be you.
6
I'd like to hear from David Nunes and Paul Ryan.
11
I want them to do a perp walk for me like Trump did yesterday. No comment? Maybe their lawyer has one?
3
USA is democracy of facade.
Powerful american financiers (aka oligarcs) had bought (no limits on contributions) Congress and Senate (onerous races) and then lobbyied them afterwards for political and economic favors (paid-back time).
Trump contributed to Dems before running as GOP. As a wanna-be oligarc himself, he wanted his piece of the american dream: the outlier becoming POTUS. Power, prestige and ethos.
The american political sytems at all levels (primaries, candidate background checks, presidential vote, electoral college) failed in averting his rise to power.
Still, the GOP saw its interest by siding with this candidate whatever its past and flaws. Channeling discontent (now known to be encouraged by foreign powers) and finally grabbing power after 8 years of Obama, the end justifies the means.
Whom to not to blame? The man, the other candidate, the parties, the system, the people whom voted for him and now a useful scapegoat: the russians.
We the people that the founders etched in stone in the openings of the Constitution maintains the illusion of direct democracy but in reality the electoral college entirely eliminates any political power of the popular vote.
Some people in DC knows better than the masses that the people can be subverted so easily by propaganda or don’t understand much of the intercracies of politics and financial interests.
Rest assured, american people, there is an oligarc somewhere (here or abroad) whom has your interest at heart.
5
I guess I don't understand how can Donald Trump's continued efforts to paint the Russian investigation as a hoax when all evidence proves otherwise not amount to treason against the country? I mean he is effectively aiding and abetting a foreign power in interfering with our elections. Do Republicans no longer care anything about the country over and above their immediate partisan interests?
8
I wonder if Putin is surprised at how much support his puppet in the White House is getting from Republicans in Congress. This has to be a very welcome turn of events for him. With Republicans protecting Trump by helping him discredit the FBI, failing to enact protection for Mueller and not threatening impeachment for Tump's failure to protect our democracy, Putin has essentially taken over our government. This is a Russo-Republican coup. There is some reason, however, for Putin to be worried. If we can overcome his propaganda an remove the Republican traitors from power there will be strong support for severe retribution against Russia and Putin personally. There should also be some Congressional Republicans and a president looking forward to wearing a lot of orange.
8
Ironically this news seems to further divide us. All according to Russia’s plan. This is a test of our Democracy so let’s get through this with unity and dignity. The world is not perfect, people will suffer and struggle, others will exploit. Even here in America. But letting our government be destroyed by infighting over these facts will not lead us to a better tomorrow. Socialist countries can’t accept immigrants, Fascist, religious and communist ones strip rights away. It’s up to the wisest among us to stop lashing out along party lines and start dealing with reality.
2
Trump has an ace up his sleeve.
The charges filed against the 13 Russians and the three organizations are Federal crimes, are they not? The president has the absolute authority to pardon any person or entity convicted of Federal offenses.
His base won't care. They'll still vote for him anyway, as long as he leaves their guns alone and continues the unbroken stream of lies told to them about how great their America will be again, as long as he is left unhindered in his efforts on their behalf. And as long as they keep sending good, NRA-approved Republicans to Washington.
What, me worry? It's good to be king.
2
From another NYT article today: "Whether any of that violated federal law is the weightiest question facing Mr. Mueller, and Friday’s indictment did not answer it".
1
I don't see anything about collusion with the Trump administration. Did the Justice Dept. miss something? The election sore-losers, Clinton supporters, appear desperate.
2
The question is whether Americans will at last accept the fact of American interference around the world and take aggressive measures to protect foreign democracies.
Of course, this would require them to overcome their mysterious resistance to facts and to focus on protecting their own country from the corporate ruling class that has turned this country into a corporate kleptocracy and is guiding its citizenry towards fascism via xenophobia and militarism.
5
All the Russians did was show that they were on the side of change when it came to their interference in the election. It was 9/11 and its aftermath that instigated their stance of solidarity with the electorate that had chosen to run a populist candidate. And it was the media that saw an opportunity to discredit the election, and the Trump campaign, through these actions by a foreign entity.
''It’s true that, as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in an announcement, these particular indictments do not allege that any American knew about the influence campaign, nor that the campaign had changed the outcome of the election."
All true when it comes to the current allegations. However, when the masses get "Hillary is Satan" and the like drilled into their heads 24/7 during the runup to the electrion, it's impossible to imagine no effect on Hillary votes.
5
Yet Donald believes Vlad when he says he didn't do it. Sanctions against Russia still sit collecting dust - never to be enacted. And remember Donald saying he wanted to work with Russia and share intelligence on combatting cyberthreats?
MAGA - Mueller Aint Going Away. Impressive investigating by Bobby Three Sticks!
5
Trump? It was the Obama administration who let all this happen while doing nothing about it.
1
Masterful release of indictments by Mueller. It placates President Narcissist into thinking it’s only about Russians, not Trump, while laying out an inescapable case that Russia did, in fact and irrefutably, meddle in our elections, with great deliberation, AND with a strong bias for Trump.
The remaining question: is there enough tin foil in the Universe to wrap around the heads of his remaining supporters to maintain the conspiracy theories that Hillary and Barack are choreographing all this?
1
Well, Trump claims the indictment proves HE wasn't involved, so it's all good.
2
It is not illegal to:
Stage rallies;
Stage rallies and lie at them;
To obtain an account on a server;
To lie over the internet;
To lie about your purpose in obtaining an account on a server. (Stealing someone’s identity is a crime.)
As far as I know there are only limited instances in which lying is a crime, such as to Congress, a US or state Court, or to a government investigator. Lying can also be a crime under certain statutory laws such as security and banking laws.
But there is no law against lying at a rally or over the internet. Fake news is not a crime.
Maybe they should be; and maybe such laws come to close to the First Amendment.
This op-ed offers only one solution. Sanctions against Russia.
That worked really well to force Russia out of Crimea.
Do you have anything else?
3
His "mysterious resistance?" You mean to the forces that put him in the White House? Surely you jest. He's not only a criminal, he's desperate. Thinking is about the last thing he normally does, and at this moment all he can focus on is his own skin.
4
Some question “Why did the Russians do this?” My theory is simple: Oil. The Democrats will move the world off of this dirty fuel to clean renewables, and that would bankrupt Russia. It’s one of their key sources of income. Meanwhile the core of US conservatism is driven by US oil Barron’s from oil rich states. A natural fit. Why is Rex Tillerson is Friend of Russia? Oil. Why create chaos in the Syria and the rest of the Middle East? Drive up the price of their oil. Oil, oil, oil is the answer.
3
My suspicion is that Robert. Mueller is dealing with only one side of the same coin for now, the Russians who are involved in this drama ….. and he will likely deal next with the other side of the same coin, Trump and his team.
Robert. Mueller: Continue to move ahead on your work … the world is waiting with anticipation.
6
So, now we know that Donald Trump is, at best, a Russian dupe, quite possibly a victim of Russian blackmail, or at worst, an active Russian agent. How much longer do we let this man remain President of the United States of America?
4
New sanctions were passed by Congress months ago,but for some reason this administration refuses to enact them. Why are they struggling to move forward or is this administration in Putins pocket. Are we fools to believe every lie that come out of this WH, I think its time for Congress to do their job! The stakes are high and our Nations electoral system is in danger.
3
I wish someone would advise DT that his best political interest would be to stop attacking the investigation and start saying something like, “the Russian attack on the US was an attack on me as well...how dare they try to sow doubts in the public’s mind about my election. I’m going to do everything in my power to stop these attacks on the US. After all, my philosophy is America First.”
12
His philosophy is Trump First. He wraps it in America First because it helps him expedite his true philosophy. He is a con-man, a coward and a liar.
2
Actually, his philosophy is obviously "Trump First"
3
And Mueller's indictments now shows the incredible irony of Trump's reaction to the assertion that Putin orchestrated this disinformation campaign in his favor:
“He said he didn’t meddle,” the president told reporters. “. . . Every time he sees me, he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it.”
As we now know full well, Putin should be believable for an extremely good reason. Namely, because he didn't do it. Just like Chris Christie didn't do the BridgeGate scandal.
No, in both cases, they merely let their wishes be known to their subordinates, who then executed the details on their behalf.
For Trump to miss this nuance--that the statement he is believing is completely beside the point--is indicative of his primitive reasoning skills. Well, that and his YUGE pride at his "never-seen-before" electoral win. Sad.
17
If Mr. Trump does not take immediate and effective steps to completely stop Russian interference in our election campaigns and processes then Congress must do its Constitutional oversight duty and step-up to stop this horrific meddling - free and unfettered elections are the most basic and important aspect of system of government.
24
How can anyone claim, with any degree of certainty, that Russian interference did not affect the outcome of the US elections? Why would Putin spend over $1m per month for something that had no chance for success?
19
Wow! One Million a Month! Hillary and Trump spent 2 to 3 BILLION.
1
It's said "the outcome" of the US elections. That doesn't mean the russian fraudulent behaviour didn't "affect" the election which it cetainly did.
Maybe DT had won anyway, that possibility can't be excluded.
There are those who don't want to believe what's right in front of them. Surely you've noticed?
I have tried to let the allegations speak for themselves. But when the indictment says there was no wittting act by Americans even limited to this context it defies logic. It's one thing to say they don't allege witting conduct. The same goes for a claim that they have no evidence to support such conduct. But to say the acts even limited to this indictment were unwitting is something else entirely. On this set of facts all they can possibly say is that they have no reason to believe it was any more than unwitting. There is no basis set forth in these facts to believe anything about the state of mind of the American actors. To go so far beyond what the facts support in order to exonerate some participants is curious.
3
Once again the EB stretches the truth. And ignores the fact that the left has used Trump--Russian collusion to attack him for his entire presidency, to discredit him and to re-litigate the election.
We don't want foreign entities interfering with our elections. But interference means altering votes, hacking the voting system. All the Russians have been charged with doing is spreading false information -- something both sides of every campaign does. Given the mass of info re both candidates for decades, the news coverage, ads, it's difficult to make a case the Russian program had any impact. And they really had to get advice to focus on purple states? That's pretty sophisticated.
But the EB continues to sow discord. "That's quite different from saying there was no collusion..." Trump's campaign has not been charged with collusion, nor is there any evidence yet the EB continues to repeat collusion again and again. The guilty pleas for lying about legal acts. The indictments against Manafort and Gates were for activities unrelated to Trump or campaign. And Trump did not encourage hacking the DNC. As you well know, he made a sarcastic request to Russia to release the e-mails everyone thought they had hacked from her private e-mail server then erased -- and Trump's remarks occurred after Comey let HRC off the hook.
And what is key is this whole propaganda campaign started long before Trump announced for president. The aim was disruption. Period.
3
Now when I read responses like this I wonder if a Russian wrote it.
If the aim was disruption of American elections by a foreign adversary, and that later turned into supporting Trump and demonizing (literally) Hillary Clinton, isn't that serious enough in and of itself? And if Trump still refuses to protect the 2018 elections against continuing Russian attacks in the face of the current hard evidence, doesn't that amount to treason in and of itself? His continuing attacks on the FBI doesn't exactly get him friends in the American and Western countries' intelligence communities. But then criminals always say that law enforcement is biased against them, which of course, is exactly what law enforcement should be...
1
Mary -- is that the best you got? If you disagree with my points, make your case. Otherwise, your comment is irrelevant and simply an ad hominem attack.
Anna -- nice try but Trump isn't a criminal. And think about this. Do you really think anything the Russians did switched a single vote. If they did -- which I doubt -- it would have had to have been Clinton supporters who were dumb enough to be swayed in their opinion and changed their vote. Now, I'm not one who believes the dems are the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, but even I give them more credit than to be swayed by ads like "Hillary is Satan."
Forget about the current news cycle for a minute.
Think about large scale manipulation using social media.
When we read a comments section, we are likely reading comments from groups trying to influence public opinion.
The same goes for blogs, chats, etc.
It’s not as if we can see the people we are interacting with. We have no way of verifying who or what they are.
We need to open our eyes and recognize that social media has been weaponized.
6
Social media are not neutral: they have an agenda detrimental to full disclosure & truth.
Consider this statement from today's Times regarding a police killing in Baltimore: " ....(the killed woman) posted videos during the standoff, effectively live-streaming what was going on. Through Facebook — which owns Instagram — the police were able to essentially deactivate her account just a minute or two before the fatal shot was fired..."
To be clear, what Trump has repeatedly said, and is becoming more obvious over time, is that there was no collusion with Russians and his campaign.
You seem surprised that he states a truth that differs from your narrative.
In any event, the Mueller investigation is turning up quite useful information for the Anerican people, none of it good for Democrats. We will see convictions and the American public will learn about Democrat corruption just in time for the next election.
On the Russians, they had a dozen folks involved and spent $1 million on playing with our election. Given that $2.4 billion was spent on the Presidential race, $1.7 billion by Hillary, are we supposed to believe this had major impact? Please.
BTW: I wonder how many people and what the budgets are for our intervening in other countries’ elections?
5
Good point, F. Also why didn't Obama order Internal Revenue to expedite the auditing of the orange one's tax return? Why did the Democrats nominate H. Clinton who labored so mightily for decades to cover up her hubby's, Bill Clinton's, terrible abuse of women?
Asking Trump to take serious action agains Russian/Putin's actions during our last election is a waste of ink. To do that, Trump must accept that his election's legitimacy is seriously doubtful, that his "charm" and unconventional campaign weren't what got him elected. His very child like ego cannot allow that. We won't take any actions against Russia until the White House and Congress are in different hands. That makes November 2018 even more crucial.
8
I'm perplexed at how so many people continue to blame the president when, in reality, it's our spineless, feckless Congress that has the power to remedy the situation.
Oh, pardon me, I forgot: Congress is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries and Rennaisance Technologies (Robert Mercer's company).
5
The White House will only care once it is no longer occupied by a Republican. They know the Russian meddling directly benefits them, so they will do nothing about it. Party over country: the new GOP.
12
For Trump to act against Russia it would be a tacit admission that Trump's election was tainted and confirm an aura of illegitimacy around his entire Presidency. His ego could not handle that. At all costs Robert Mueller needs to be shielded from further Trump interference and allowed to run its course to an outcome that is becoming more and more apparent.
5
I think I finally had a good night's sleep because of this news. Thank you, Mr. Rosenstein and Mr. Mueller. Please keep working to protect our democracy, we are very grateful for your efforts.
5
Donald Trump could not care less about how the rest of us, including the intelligence community, views Russia and its attempts to sabotage our democracy. His nefarious relationship with the Russians is likely so deep that it is akin to that of a mob and its members. If they opt out, they are done. If they stay in, they are done too - but the extent of their getting cooked depends on the ability of the larger society to hold them accountable. In this case, the Trump electorate could not care less. He has managed keep them effectively spellbound via his numerous dog whistles. As for the rest of the GOP, they have long been part of the larger mafia. We have been simply looking the other way.
7
It is time to crack down not only on the Russian but time to crack down on Social Media. As pointed out in the article, Social media is at least complicit in the generation of fake news thru it's Trending features, the ability to resend fake stories and on and on. This is a great job by Mr Mueller and he should be commended.
8
Trump looks even worse now than ever before.
Not just for what happened in 2015-16, but for his stubborn, steadfast refusal to protect the US since becoming president.
9
If this were an election held in a foreign country,with all we now know. Would our government recognize the results. I seriously doubt it.
7
The striking thing about the indictment was how much mueller's team knows about Russian interference and how little the rest of us knew. I suspect there is a great deal more to be revealed
8
45 will never accept evidence/findings based on the special counsel’s investigation. Neither will this Congress. Will The Trump Reality Show viewers elect a Congress that will hold the The Executive branch accountable based on stubborn facts in November? Stay tuned...
4
Proof-positive evidence of Russian meddling involvement in the 2016 General Election is hardly surprising at this point. Nor the adversay’s favor of the weakest of all candidates, Donald Trump. All this notwithstanding, Trump keeps the focus on him in a way that seems to make him more powerful. He seems to have found a way to be unaccountable ... and it’s working. Yet his “leadership” is ineffective. The disturbing thing about the Trump phenomenon is what this says about us. We’ve collectively let this happen and we are, naked before the world, shamed by this person.
3
Russians did help, but it was Trump’s message that ultimately led him to victory. Democrats will do well if they listened to people on immigration, economy etc. They can begin by stop supporting illegal immigration, diversity lottery, chain migration and instead support skill based immigration.
1
We have laws on the books to allow us to prosecute those that interfere in our elections. It is up to the Justice department to pursue any illegal activities-it is not the Presidents responsibility. Why is all the attention directed at him and not the FBI who is responsible for the investigation of crimes? When they find evidence of a crime it us up to the Justice Department to proceed-not the Presidents. Let's get the process straight.
If nothing else can be done, identifying sources of 'info' against political opponents will have to become a weapon against Russian meddling in future elections.
2
Trump is a purely ego driven human being, more so than ninety percent of the population can even begin to comprehend. Doubts about the legitimacy of his election haunt him more than any national threat or tragedy ever could.
4
The sad part of President Donald Trump is his obsession with protecting his own tail rather than the country.
6
The Russians were responsible for which of the following"?:
1. Politically partisan gerrymandering.
2. Citizens United allowing for unlimited campaign financing.
3. Voter ID laws intended to strip voters from the rolls.
4. Electronic voting machines allowing for hacking and with no paper ballot accountability.
5. Smear campaign advertisements.
6. Opposition "research."
America has been very good at interfering with its supposed Democracy without the help of the Russians.
5
Trump should be like Jeff Sessions and recuse himself from all matters Russian.
The “mystery” of Trump’s resistance to acting against Russia really needs to be solved. More than likely there are $$$$ involved.
Trump may be right that the Russians started their operations in 2014 before he formally announced. But they ratcheted up their support for him once it became obvious that he was going to win the nomination.
3
Mostly, the Russians were anti-Hillary. Trump was a gift!
2
Hillary's e-mail was examined in minute detail to search for evidence of breaches to national security. Mr Trump shameless called for Russia to search for deleted e-mails. The press was complicit in this game of blowing up the e-mails out of proportion and Republicans gleefully used to put her down. The result is probably the worst national security breach in US history, aided and abetted by none else than the President of the US.
19
We should all give thanks to the comprehensive approach that Robert Mueller and his team has taken to their task. Truly, until we know the full scope of all the players' activities, reports will continue to be met with political pushback geared to deflect rather than inform. That will end once it all sees the light of day. Additionally, the information provided will either force enablers (like social media) to either clean up their act or be seen as pawns to be sold to the highest bidder. Finally, it serves as an imperative that we must protect our democracy as if our freedom depends on it for most assuredly, it does.
20
"this would require him to overcome his mysterious resistance to acting against Russia and to focus on protecting his own country." Chilling words indeed.
I would very much like to know why Russia chose to support Trump over Clinton. Although the indictments are very clear that any American cooperation was unwitting, the slogans, the attacks, and the fabrications that the Russians were using to disrupt the election, were, in some cases, word for word, the attacks that Trump and his people were using. And I still want to know why Mr. Comey chose to release those emails just days before the election. These indictments are great news - perhaps the indictments will eventually reach Putin, though I doubt it - but I hope this is only the beginning. It is absolutely terrifying that Americans were so willing to believe these empty, vicious slogans and smear attacks without once questioning whether or not they were true. The Russians were so gleefully surprised that an electorate, tasked with the somber task of electing a president in a free society, was so easily influenced by their unsourced venality. I think they called us "stupid," and they are correct.
28
I don't think they 'supported' Trump. What they did was try and throw some chaos into the elections and boy did they ever! They have everybody at everybody elses throats.
1
What does this say about Americans who get all there need from the internet? It is amazing that some believe that if it's online it has to be true. We have to go to reputable sources for our news.
8
Do you not remember that the TODAY show and Good Morning America ran news spots on Trending Item and took their feeds straight from Facebook. Don't you remember that stupid Orange Room with Carson Daily that the Today show ran . The stupid News organizations were just as dumb about news as us civilians yet they were never held accountable.
There should be calls for an overwhelming retaliatory response. Something along the lines of crippling their satellite communications.
7
I find it fascinating that the same people who exaggerated the Soviet threat in the 80s (when I was serving in the USAF) are now minimizing the Russian threat. Maybe their "concern" wasn't about national security after all, as some of us suspected. Imagine that.
23
Agree!
In one masterful stroke Mueller changed Trump’s discourse and options, from collusion to meddling. Trump can boast for now that two dots haven’t been connected—thanks to one single word, “unwitting.” By the power of the same word, Trump can no longer make this about him as a politician. It’s about the country he’s supposed to defend. His indifference to the meddling blatantly exposes a very public collusion-by-omission with Russia, extremely relevant to the mid term elections. How would he justify firing Rosenstein and Muller now without making the situation more egregious? Or pardon any of the individuals charged, or yet to be charged, who don’t “flip?” They too must see that safeguard disappearing—and may yet aid Mueller to edit out one word from his narrative.
12
Benjamin: Did you forget who controls all of the armed forces of the U.S.?
Who controls funding for the census?
What is so stunning is that this administration's actions are the same as the actions taken by the Russians. First, lie all the time. Attribute statements and positions to your opponents that are not true but are designed to denigrate them and attract an uninformed audience. Confuse and anger people by flooding media with reports repeating and spreading false rumors ("people are saying") of alleged positions taken by others. Stage rallies where you pay people to show up, deny deny and deny the truth, suppress voter turnout and promote false allegations of voter fraud. And, although not included here, heavily fund the NRA and urge everyone to get guns. These are all actions taken by this administration, touted by Trump and supported by Republicans. Simply put, we are living under a Russian administration. And we need to hurry to get rid of them before their urging of violence truly destroys us.
29
There was one glaring omission in this editorial - Russia wanted either Trump or Bernie in the WH, at least according to the NYT's front page article. I wonder how Bernie and his followers feel about this? To think that they also bought into the fake news about Hillary and advanced it as much as Trump's core followers did. I worry about this more as the 2018 elections approach.
7
Bernie had no chance, ever. Russian support for Bernie or Jill Stein was meant to siphon votes away from HRC.
1
They didn’t want Bernie in but they wanted the Dems divided. Every vote for Bernie was a contribution to Trump.
Why is it so easy to set up a shell company? Shouldn't somebody be looking into that? All of this Russian money was laundered through shell companies, Melania Trump's inauguration organization seems to have been a shell company that was set up only six weeks before the inauguration - nobody blinked an eye? What kind of papers do you have to present in order to set up a company? It just seems like forming shell companies are the every day business of most businesses, an easy way to get around all sorts of laws - a sub-society, if you will, of the rich who use shell companies not to pay taxes, to hide how much they're worth, to funnel money to enemies of the US, to do business with countries that they shouldn't be doing business with. An entire alternate universe that has nothing to do with normal, decent behavior. I am shocked.
8
James Clapper on CNN said that President-elect Trump was notified of the Russian involvement that led to these indictments and that Trump chose to ignore it at the time and after entering office. He saw no threat to the US but he only as an attempt to invalidate the magnitude of his electoral victory.
7
The way I see it, there are three options for Trump.
The first: Do the right thing: the thing every other President would have already done as part of their oath to protect the constitution and the country. Address the country from the Rose Garden. Acknowledge what the Russians did. Impose the sanctions authorized by Congress and further retaliate as appropriate. In other words, be a President.
Second: If he can't or won't protect us because he's compromised by Putin, then resign immediately.
Third: If he won't resign, remove him.
It is no longer acceptable or plausible that we have a President who refuses to protect America's democracy. It's almost impossible to believe we've let this go on for as long as we have. There's something terribly wrong here.
73
Or fourth --- Crack down on Social Media along with cracking down on the Russians --- since Social Media was complicit in this whole thing as pointed out by the article. Time to indite Facebook and Twitter.
eeny44:
Not possible. Not in the .01%
1
History will forever show a stain of the Trump presidency with the indictments handed down by the Special Counsel. Though no objective conclusion can be drawn on the election results, it is highly likely Russian interference influenced the mindsets of hundreds of thousands based on the detailed evidence contained in the indictment and logical cause and effect.
The president does not seem concerned with the threats to the security of this country and to democracy such foreign interference demonstrates. The president’s failure to act, in my view, to punish Russia and to challenge his Cabinet to secure our democratic Republic from foreign influences are reasons enough for impeachment.
12
Why would Trump accept the notion that he might not have won the presidency without help from Russia? To do so would be to confess that he is aware that his position was obtained fraudulently, whether he knowingly participated or not.
5
Why not a bold editorial calling for impeachment?
Even without collusion, the dereliction of duty to protect this nation is obvious.
This is not normal. This is unprecedented.
27
My question is if Obama knew about this for such a long period of time, how come he never did anything until HRC lost the election. It seems a bit disingenuous to not give the prior administration responsibility for something that obviously was happening under their watch.
11
keep reading; he did, and recommended means that were bipartisan only to be rejected by Mitch McConnell. Then he expelled Russian spies, took away their spacious homes, imposed strict sanctions....all the while Flynn (and probably Trump) were assuring the Russians they had nothing to worry about.
1
He did but was overly concerned about appearing partial to Democrats so would only proceed with GOP agreement. McConnell refused...in hindsight Obama should have acted unilaterally but the likely results of doing so are impossible to assess.
1
Dear bsb- please try to understand Mr. Obama's dilemma; having become aware in months before the election of the Russian efforts to impact our elections and electorate without the depth of proof that Mueller's investigation provides, and with an intentionally deaf Congress, any significant action to arrest the Russian actions and or actors (if known at the time,) might only be viewed as partisan and "unfair" support for his party and its nominees. He made the honorable decision- a tough one- but honorable. Just one more small example of the principles that a great president displays.
3
Top this all off with over half of Trump's advisors who are unable to acquire security clearance. Why not just rent out space in the West Wing to the KGB---throw in the computers to show good faith.
13
Our system for electing our leaders has been corrupted, and it is high time that all those in power each gets a large dose of humble pie. All of the congress, every governor, and the president need to get together in one room and let the American people know that not one of them can be sure that they are in power because they are the people's choice.
Massive changes need to be made to our campaign system (not just our campaign finance laws) that have to do with taking more seriously the choices we make when we vote. My father once proudly announce that he had voted for the "Vegetarian Party".....well, it is pretty funny.
But is has been the way our parties have clung to the coattails of technology, devising campaign ads and rallies of no substance, but full of "likes" and "retweets", that has helped drive us to this lowest form of democracy (the most enlightened form of government).
On top of the Russians, we have GOP sowing their own disinformation (of exactly the same kind as the Russians) to create distrust in our nations institutions, while the Dems let their donors from Hollywood, and Harvard impose ineffective social engineering, and economic strategies on us.
Our nation's people are viewed by political, and corporate leaders, and by Russian operatives, as highly trained consumers, and easy to manipulate. Just as we are conditioned to be quiet when lights go down in a theater, when we see a shiny ad on a screen we settle in and press the purchase button.
3
Trump's response told me everything I needed to know. He and his administration proclaimed their innocence. Said nothing about protecting America. Said nothing about implementing the long-overdue sanctions. Then he left on his usual weekend golf vacation with a short stop at the close-by scene of a mass shooting. Business as usual in Trump world.
19
“his mysterious resistance to acting against Russia and to focus on protecting his own country.”
Russia will be Trumps country eventually.
The escape plan is what he and Vlad discussed at their private meeting.
4
The evidence is in Trump's tax returns. He is hiding the fact that he's been doing business with Russians for years as a private citizen. That he didn't come out upfront about this entanglement, one that has been documented by various news reports detailing the purchases of Trump properties by Russian oligarchs, is criminal in my opinion. The man has no idea what a President is.
11
Trump's resistance to acting against Russia and protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States is not mysterious. The fox is guarding the henhouse, and we are facing a crucial test and the most existential threat to our democracy and way of life since World War II. The level of responsibility borne by Mr. Mueller and his team cannot be overstated, and without a president and a Congressional party in power dedicated first and foremost to protecting our democratic values, they may be our only hope in bringing those who would destroy it to justice, whoever they may be.
8
Is this really a threat to our elections, though? There’s no evidence that these actions changed anyone’s views. I remember reading an article in this paper recently saying that ads don’t have a significant impact on voting. I would believe that the Russians actually interfered with our election if there is hard evidence saying their actions did do so. Until then, it is all conjecture
5
So...aiding and abetting are only criminal if the actual crime is successful? Don’t think so. Conspiracy to undermine does not require an undermined state. Likewise, allowing it to continue, in the face of unanimous intelligence reports confirming, is at the very least negligence, possibly criminal negligence. How about refusing to enact the Congressionally mandated sanctions for election tampering...claiming that they really aren’t needed anymore- in defiance of Congressional authority.
1
Oh for crying out loud.
1
So you believe they spent all that time and money just for kicks? Many of what you call ads presented as news. Attacking people's minds is effective. Ever heard of Pizzagate? Radicalization?
It's not whether Russia "might" do it again; they are doing it. Right now. And as long as Trump won't confront them, they will succeed again.
Last week our national intelligence agencies testified that Trump has not directed them to investigate and stop Russia. Why? It may be just his ego. If Russia helped him win then it diminishes his victory. This is very possible. But what is also possible is that Trump is controlled by Putin.
Robert Mueller seems to be conducting an excellent investigation. I believe he will get to the truth. If Trump has a compromised relationship with Putin, and Mueller uncovers it, the question becomes, what will Congress do? Mueller may not be able to indict the president. But Congress can act.
Therefore if Trump is guilty, our only sure recourse to stop Russia is to vote Democratic in November. If we can flip the House, I trust we can act on Mueller's findings, and impeach Trump.
3
Trump proclaimed the indictments to be good news because they didn’t implicate him. No real concerns about what has happened to our country and its democratic processes. And there’s your proof positive that our President is only in this for himself.
The indictments demonstrate that, especially given the complete absence of a government response, the solution to Russian meddling is for Americans to wise up and not be taken in by phony sources with catchy labels. Basically, the same remedy for dealing with Trump.
8
I was heavily involved in social media battles that went on during the 2016 election. I have this bizarre habit of having to verify things that I’m told (weird, I know). It was so easy to spot the complete nonsense that friends of mine were citing - friends on the right AND the left. It got to the point where - and I still maintain this is the case - it was difficult to tell the difference between Bernie supporters and Trump supporters. They both repeated the exact same gibberish. Well, now we all know why.
It’s not just Trump that let them get away with it. Millions of Americans let them get away with it by just accepting things that they agreed with at first read as true. And it’s still happening. I do this with friends all the time: I will prove to them with something they can read with their own two eyes that what they’ve posted simply isn’t true. They don’t care. It sounds good, they go with it. Sad!
6
It is quite unsettling and impossible to fathom why so many Americans do not believe into Russian interference into the USA elections or system of democracy. How did this unbelievable thought process that Russia didn’t interfere came into both the elite Republicans and ordinary citizens who would otherwise shudder at the very thought that the arch rival enemy state had good intentions to help disrupt the USA’s archaic but functioning democratic system with spies!! Is the moral(?) fabric of country first before personal gain has been lost by those people trusted to care for one and all?
3
I hope this inoculates Mr Rosenstein and Mr. Mueller from the wrath of DJT. He can try to fire them now but even Repubs might see then see the obvious obstruction. DJT is looking and acting like a cornered bear and I fear it will get worse before it gets better. Be swift Mr Mueller ...be swift.
7
Surely it occurred to Putin to hack our vote and surely he tried. We may never know if he succeeded but trump's perfect combo of unlikely wins is in part this campaign to bolster him a discredit Hillary but it is not crazy to think that it is in part a hacked vote. I hope Mueller is on that trail too.
2
Trump doesn't care how he wins as long as he wins. He has been doing business like this his whole adult life. The only thing he cares about is the bottom line what's in it for me. Republicans lawmakers have been holding their noses and allowing Trump to do what he wants as long as it works for them and their rich donors like the NRA and the Koch brothers.
5
The Trump Organization owes Russia a lot of money. Trump jr. admitted as much. What we don't know is what other things Putin holds over trump but it is becoming obvious that whatever they are trump is willing to sacrifice the security of our country to save his own skin.
5
This is World War III and worse than we expected. Password protection is key, but money is required for each state to secure their systems. Any American president would have started this on Day 1 of his administration. This compromised president colluded even to today by doing nothing.
But now that Mueller is showing the devil for who he is - and how infected the administration is throughout, maybe, just maybe, we can use the next 8 months to fix this broken system.
Had the Russians shot bullets into this number of American heads instead of fake news, we would have stormed the Kremlin by now.
This is war - have no doubt - and the next wave has already begun.
3
"Of course, this would require him to overcome his mysterious resistance to acting against Russia and to focus on protecting his own country."
This is a false dichotomy. Though this would have seemed unimaginable to most people a couple years ago, Trump's "mysterious" resistance to acting against Russia IS protecting his own country. His country is Russia. All faux patriotism aside, Trump does not have the slightest loyalty to the United States--indeed does not even identify with it.
This is not to say that he has some deep ethnic bond with Russia. No, Trump is a complete mercenary, an opportunist through and through. Russia is his only real source of income and so that is where his loyalty (such as it is) lies. Every single action that he takes reveals this.
The media has been painfully slow in discerning what sort of person Donald Trump really is. Unless we are going to continue to be duped, we must stop giving him the benefit of the doubt, treating him like a normal patriotic American.
4
Russia is one of the very few sovereign impetuses for Christianity. A secular United States reasoning as an adversary, is understood.
1
Where's the Congressional outrage that the president himself is blackmail target number one? Our national security has been breached god knows how many times since Trump and his cohorts came onto the national scene.
4
Because of the revealations in this indictment, Trump will now act on imposing more actions against Russia, issue an executive order to appropriate large sum of money to fund initiative to secure 2018 elections against hacking, issue another executive order to take counter measures to influence Russian election, admit that he was wrong along about his attacks on Russian hacking reports as " fake news", and stop being Putin's lap dog whenever the two meet.
I AM JUST KIDDING.
Realistically, if none of the above happen in forceful and meaningful way, then it would prove that Trump is compromised and US got a Russian Asset elected to WH.
3
If Trump is smart enough which everyone doubts except his uneducated and ignorant followers, he'd pack up his bag and leave the White House without Melania who's wants to go on her own like she recently did after being thoroughly disgusted with the news of her husband's trashing of his marital vows right after the birth of their son, Baron.
With the "indictments of 13 Russian citizens and 3 Russian organizations by the Special Counsel Robert Mueller" as mentioned in your article here, Trump has to know about what's coming next ?
It's his own indictment.
Trump's earlier badgering of Mr. Comey, the ex-F.B.I. Director of the news whether he was under indictment or not just like a guilty man would do, is coming too real for him to run away from it.
Actually this news that is about to greet Trump right inside corridors of the White House will be the most embarrassing news for all the former presidents of this country which he has turned into a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.
We all remember the time when the 10+ Republican congress members walked into the private chamber of Nixon's White House telling him pointedly "Mr. President, it's time to go."
Nixon did just that on the morning of August 9,1974 when he climbed on a helicopter in the White House,saluted the nation with tears in his eyes and almost saying,"Goodbye America."
We all just wonder which 10+ Republicans will enter the private quarters of the White House and tell Trump, "Mr President. It's time to go."
1
Suddenly, the Steele dossier becomes more credible. I, for one, found it frightening from the inception. The interaction between confidants of the Republican nominee and Russian interests contrary to our national interests truly seemed just like what Trump would do. The frolicking at the Moscow Ritz with Russian prostitutes is quite easy to accept as an accurate revelation of this man's bad habits and questionable behavior. Mr. Steele warned of the possibility of blackmail. One can only imagine the fear inside Mar-a-logo and the White House that one wrong move might trigger a frustrated Putin to begin releasing snippets of videos of an old, overweight man having a little fun.
1
More credible? John McEnroe is screaming : "You can't be serious." Steele had been out of the "business" for several years, had no reliable contacts, did nothing to substantiate "oh I heard this about Trump."
Accepting the truth is not a fast or easy process. There are law-abiding Trump supporters. Not all of them can be completely brainwashed. Our hope is the number of people unwilling to tie their wagon to a failing con man will grow.
2
How naive. Donald Trump only acts in his personal interest. Acting Presidential by kicking out the Russian diplomats (spies) and enforcement of sanctions would be a conflict of interest. He is clearly beholden to Mr. Putin and both he and the GOP are deeply compromised at that.
3
Trump is not innocent in any of this he either goes down for collusion, dereliction of duty or he goes down criminally for money laundering with the Russian mob. One he resigns or is impeached the other he goes to prison.
3
If Trump has any sense of patriotism of love of country, and frankly I don't think he has much of either, he must apply the sanctions to Russia and stop this foolishness of claiming it's all a hoax.
299
How do we punish Russia?
Sanctions? Send them to detention?
Or engage in an all-out war?
Amidst of this investigation I wonder how Fox News will twist this story to save Trump. I am guessing they must be in bed with Russia on this conspiracy and if so, they should also be held accountable for spreading non truths and falsehoods masked as real news.
4
Mr. Mueller's tumbrils move slowly, but they are doing the people's work.
I do wonder at the actions of those Republicans in the house who have been doing Putin's work for the last few years, including Nunes and all the Banghazi mob. We they paid to mess up America's electoral system?
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
2
Well, if Trump, our "so-called" president does NOT act to deter Russia, then he is cornered as a co-conspirator. If his administration doesn't act NOW against Russia, they are complicit, pure and simple. Me thinks the American political activist in Texas that helped the Russians is Jared Kushner, as that is where he was armed with 30 years of Republican leaning voters rolls and would know where the fewest amount of votes would make the most difference. If this is true, may God have mercy on their souls, as Americans will not.
5
What did our "so called President Obama" do? Obama knew full well of Russian hacking. Oh, I remember he sent Hillary over with a Staple's Easy button.
OCCAM'S RAZOR: One should not make unnecessary assumptions and that the answer to a problem is often the simplest.
No News Here: Russia has been spying on the United States since the Russian Revolution (100 years ago)!
I believe the so called “Russia Investigation” about Russian meddling in 2016 election is a hoax conjured up by the Democrats. Can anyone answer my questions?
- How did the Russians tamper with voting machines?
- How did the Russians tamper with the Electoral College?
If you suppose the Russians tampered with the voting machines then the "Russian Hacks" of the voting machines helped Mrs. Clinton win the popular vote.
2
Why would Donald Trump try to stop the Russians from helping him? That would make no sense to him.
2
Why would Hillary stop accepting money from foreign countries if she had been elected?
The title to this piece should more properly read: Congress, Stop Trump From Letting the Russians Get Away With It.
3
Where was your anger when Obama let Russia get away with it beginning in 2014 and not until right before his term ended did Obama tell Putin to stop it and put sanctions on Russia. The editorial boards hypocrisy is showing and the continued divisive rhetoric such as this does more harm than good.
3
Just how did Obama let the Russians get away with it in 2014? Do you have some documentation that you should pass to Mueller? Please, for the sake of the country do it. The king of divisive rhetoric and a serial liar to boot, sits at the head of our government, hopefully as Mueller proceeds, that won't be the case much longer.
In 2018 we should be voting on paper, tabulated by hand in full view of the public. These sealed voting machines that mostly do not allow security audits are extremely vulnerable to stuff way less sophisticated than anything Putin has and he is not the only one who could hack our electronic voting system. The best thing we can do with the insecure and outdated Windows based voting machines bought with HAVA funds is throw them into the nearest landfill.
As to Trump & Associates, my bet is that the next batch will be from Deutsche Bank, where Trump’s Russian money was laundered. Unlike Russia, Ms Merkel will hand them over to us for trial. I’m betting Jared has dirty hands as well, and not from all the assignments for his Father in Law as President.
Should Trump get indicted, the thought of a President Pence is not very comforting as he is well known to be a Christian Dominionist. If you do not know what they are and believe, you should read up on it.
Finally, I wonder if all the “Bernie Bro” stuff came from this Russian operation. If so, a lot of journalists and Hillary supporters owe the Senator and his supporters an apology. I volunteered on the campaign and never saw or met a “Bernie Bro”.
The hydra approach to this Mafia style roll up and Trump/Kushner financial bailout are the prime course. This is where laying out the first course to indict the “threat to America” has Congressional Leadership singing hosannas. When the rap sheet comes down on “Combover and Mr. Skinny” less room to weasel out over indignation of a partisan witch hunt.
It is active collusion now. This Russian activity has been exposed for more than a year and continues. The Russian bot "#releasethememo" was spread by Republicans, Trump people and Russians. The NRA alliance between Russia and the NRA that is being investigated for funneling Russian money to Trump and other Republicans instantly after the latest school massacre sent out pro gun bots.
Destroying democracy as promoting guns go together in any banana dictatorship.
Trump and the Republicans are once again wading through blood as the massacres get larger and their inaction becomes complicit. Is the money from Russia and the NRA worth it?
The attitude is the same--Tillerson saying there is nothing that can be done about Russian cyberattacks on our elections and the GOP saying nothing can be done to stop gun massacres.
Computer technology is an American invention and there are many things that can be done. There are many steps that prohibit gun violence also.
Republicans refuse to do them. They let Russia invade our elections and the NRA kill children. This is complicity and conspiracy against the US.
Wrong statement. It won't happen, and EVERYONE needs to come to terms with what HAS happened. The demons, the fear, the all-encompassing self-loathing and ineptitude of a breathtakenly damaged human being is now projected onto all of us, and in the process, the world.
No, the statement of this seemingly hopeless and twisted time is "everyone come to their true inner senses and remove the home-grown cancer that has altered the 'American' landscape, and everyone in it, and stop letting yourselves get away with inaction.
As sickening as what is coming to light re: outside influence to our "democratic" process, it hopelessly pales in comparison to the decimation of our self respect both individually and collectively as a nation by a very sick and paranoid man, and his psychotic following.
Anyone else tired of the daily nausea and depression yet? When is enough REALLY enough????
Now Trump defends himself in a tweet saying:
“Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President.”
So Trump would have us believe that Trump was not considering a run at the time.
But, in September of 2014, Trump tweeted:
I wonder if I run for PRESIDENT, will the haters and losers vote for me knowing that I will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN? I say they will! (Caps in original)
Could it be that Trump is one of the "unindicted, unnamed co-conspirators" mentioned in the indictment?!
How many foreign elections have we and our so-called “closest allies” subverted to elect the foreign leader of our choice, against the wishes of a majority of citizens of those countries? Are we and Israel actively involved in overthrowing the Syrian government of Bashir Assad? Are we trying to subvert and confuse Venezuelans to overthrow the Madero government?
Have we, our British, Israeli, and French friends had a hand in secretly funding political groups in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sudan, Libya, Chad, Niger, Kenya, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine, and Tunisia? And isn’t that interference what we are charging Russia of doing here?
Mueller’s investigation ought to give us a comparison chart of our interference in other countries’ elections and the covert foreign activity and funding of candidates in our elections? Hint: start the probe on spy agencies and lobbies for Britain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada.
The one thing we can know for sure as Americans, whether Republican, Democrat or Independent--Russia is our common enemy. They have secretly declared psychological war on all of us, so we must work together to stop believing the crazy Russian nonsense we will continue to see online. Use critical thought and reject anything for which there is only rumor and no proof.
Excuse me, but recent reports detailing Trump’s various extramarital affairs and his readiness to pay off these women, if they want cash, or at least bribe them to keep quiet, suggest that all the details in the Steele dossier are accurate ... including those that just about every journalist in the US has called “salacious.” It is likely that Russian agents have this man, Donald, in a dog collar, and tied to a post of his own making. We cannot depend on Trump to use his authority to protect American elections. He doesn’t care about America. He cares about Donald and satisfying those big dog appetites. After all, he himself won an election based on a career grounded in slander and hate.
So ... let’s get real.
Anybody know ... does Robert Mueller enjoy chicken soup with homemade noodles, corn, celery, lots of carrots? I can drive it to DC.
1
Prigozhin cooked led a delicious deal for Putin and Trump by infiltrating social media here as well as having people on the ground creating a third party to harm Hillary’s campaign. Yet, Trump remains mum in the face of overwhelming evidence that our country was attacked by foreign hostile government agents. For every other little peccadilloe real or imagined against him, he tweets away or fires someone. But he cannot make a public stand against Russia reveals that he is a tool of Putin. As such, he cannot be a defender of our Constitution to protect and preserve. Step down, before you are impeached or worse.
1
A horrified world watches the beacon of America flicker and thinks Stop Letting Mr. Trump Get Away With It, America.
1
Failure to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States? Impeachable.
Quite a notable change from the onslaught of “Trump colluded” headlines we’ve seen in this newspaper for the last year. And a notable difference from Hillary’s insistence that the Russians cost her the election.
1
Encouraged by increasingly unambiguous straightforwardness in the media to call Trump what he is - a traitor. He has encouraged a hostile foreign government to interfere with elections and in his illegitimate capacity as "president" is interfering with the necessary steps to deal with that. He is a traitor as are his enablers in the White House and in Congress. Addressing this begins with straightforward and continuous acknowledgment that this is who and what we're dealing with.
1
Russia meddles - USA meddles everywhere too.
So, just what is the beef?
Yes, the Russians were maliciously meddlesome. But this really speaks more to the extent of the US voters' receptiveness to nonsense. If stories as ludicrous as birth certificates, pizza-gate, and death panels can swing elections, foreign meddling is the least of our problems.
5
Actually, Facebook never admitted such a thing -- but there's no denying that it sounds good:
"Facebook finally admitted ... the Russians used its platforms ... to tilt the election to Trump."
How many times have you read this? A dozen? A hundred? It MUST be true.
There should NOT be two sides to this issue, we should all be for democracy and against Russia AND the person who benefitted most from the attack.
Tax cuts for the rich? Are you kidding me, you destroy our democracy to conspire with the enemy?
There is a word for that, it's treason.
1
Will the party of new "transparency" (Devin Nunes the righteous) now ask to see DJT's tax returns? Let's get the influence out in the open. Like the honorable Paul Ryan says “I think we should disclose all this stuff. It’s the best disinfectant. Accountability, transparency — for the sake of the reputation of our institutions,”
Lets go Paul, put your money where your mouth is. It's time.
1
I can only imagine horrific calamity for the Trump family if Trump goes back on his loyalty oath to Putin. But the GOP will go down with them. Never should have followed Trump's lead, RNC!
2
Trump needs to stop listening to the voices in his head and start listening to the American people.
2
Look, Trump is smart enough to know that if he was being blackmailed by the Russians he wouldn't make it look like he was being blackmailed by the Russians.
Oh. wait.
1
Why ask Trump if he "still wants to call it fake news"?
That's like saying to a habitual and pathologic liar, "Don't you want to stop lying?"
Donald John Trump has utterly defaulted on his oath of office to uphold the laws and Constitution of the United States. That means removal from office. [Pssst, Republicans: you'll still be in power with your President Mike Pence, although his Trump history standing in the background silently nodding is most troublesome.]
Okay. C'mon. Someone address the 800 pound elephant in the room.
We keep acting like the Russians meddled in our election just to be bad, kind of like Jessica Rabbit -- they were just drawn that way.
But that's rubbish. Yet that's how it's reported -- everywhere by everyone. And now you're asking "Mr. Trump" (your words) to stop letting them get away with it?
Really? That's your takeaway?
Why aren't you addressing the question of what the Russians were going to get if Trump were in the White House that they wouldn't get if Clinton were there. The Russians didn't do this "just because." They are the slickest mob machine in the world -- they KNEW they would get something if Trump was in the Oval Office.
What was it?
1
No new sanction and repeal of Magnitsky Act...everything else is a bonus
True, but why would the Russians think a Trump administration would repeal Magnitsky? Of course they want that money freed up, but why did they think Trump would make sure it happened?
What do they have on him? What kind of deal have the Russians and Trump made, and why? What barrel do they have Trump over?
And while all this outright illegal activity is underway, and more and more proof of it is presented by Mueller, the Republican Congress blindly kowtows to this arrogant fool who is our president.
At this point, trump have made it abundantly clear that his intentions are to destroy as much of our democracy as he can and with the support of the Republican Party.
2
"Mysterious reluctance to acting against Russians"?
He's been laundering money for Russians for decades and doing business with Russian mobsters. They can bring his whole house of cards crashing down and he doesn't want to die in prison.
Mystery solved.
3
Why did Putin want Trump to win? Why did he believe that Trump rather than Clinton presented a greater threat to the US ? Because Putin knew how corrupt Trump was based on the money laundering for his oligarchs. And Putin has sex tapes of Trump in case he , Trump, thinks of not serving his Russian masters.
It was always about Make Russia Great Again, and Trump was willing to help.
1
Where are our patriots?
1
To the Trump Cabinet, the Republican Congress, and everyone else who coddle President Trump by catering to his shameful aversion to "bad news": Cowards!
So what if he doesn't want facts? So what if he wants to fake his own news? So what if he doesn't want to read? Who cares? Treat him like the child he demands to be: Make him behave. Or quit en masse. Force him to deal with the problems of his own making. Tell his fawning base the truth, and keep telling them, and showing them. Bring reality to the White House, and make it feel welcome. If our President doesn't like it, too bad.
I have a severe emotional disability (severe major depression) after surviving a history that many would consider obvious justification for suicide. I can write like the dickens (thanks to editing), but I can't even think on my feet. I rarely leave my apartment without a friend. But if my friend got me to Washington, I would be all over your cases regardless of what came out of my mouth.
And you're the ones who are afraid to stand up to Trump?
What do you have to lose? Your jobs? Who cares? Each and every one of you can make more money writing a book and going on the talk-show circuit — and if you tell the world what you should have been telling Trump all along, then you'll get more money, fame, and glory than you ever thought possible.
You're making history now, whether you like it or not. Why not make the kind that you, and yours, and theirs, and ALL Americans will be proud of?
3
How about clamping down on Facebook and Twitter for enabling this massive subversion of our most basic democratic right?
1
Why would Trump take aggressive measures to protect American democracy from the Russians? They got him elected
Trump/Putin 2020
1
Not so fast, Mr. President! While their operations BEGAN in 2014, the company they used was established in 2013. Weren't you there with Miss Universe in 2013? Hob nobbing with Russians? Trying to build a Trump tower in Moscow? If you don't recall, there are pictures and interviews to refresh your memory.
11
Yes, and unlike in America, Trump couldn't the Russians to keep quiet with rubles or dollars. Putin, ex-KGB officer and richest man in the world, found other ways for Trump to pay. Two business men making arrangements with each other, that's all. What a deal.
By refusing to act against Russia, Mr. Trump has revealed himself to be a traitor to this country. He should be impeached, if not indicted as a criminal co-conspirator.
4
I realize that criticism of the Obama Administration is verboten at the Times, but here is a question: where was the President, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes and James Clapper while all this was going on? Sharp eyed readers of this editorial will note that we had only one President in 2016, Barack Obama. It seems the crack national security team recruited by our former CinC did not spring out of its stupor until Clinton blew her inevitable victory. The Times calls for countermeasures against Russia for its meddling. Agreed. But how about some level of criticism for Russia's enablers in 2016?
4
Perhaps you forgetl McConnells threats to President Obama if he were to make an issue out of what the Intelligence community had surfaced prior to the election? You know, threatening to charge Obama with trying to throw the election on favor of Mrs. Clinton.
Do the right thing. If all of this is indeed fake news, you MUST pardon all who were indicted. Do it now, before taxpayer money is wasted trying innocent Russians. Then, invite them to the White House and apologize personally.
1
Suggestion for a followup: swap out "Mr. Trump" for Congress.
1
Fraud and identity theft I get. But let me see if I understand the rest of the allegations as far as this column accurately presents them:
A Russian organization had employees that wrote articles/comments/whatever online that were unfavorable to Clinton and/or supported Trump. They staged rallies (I am not sure how a Russian does this without someone getting suspicious as the few Russians I have met carry that unmistakable accent with them), they tried (somehow - the article doesn't specify) to suppress the minority vote.
And I am supposed to react as if the sky is falling? How about this: polls leading up to the general election had Clinton with a comfortable lead, every debate scored with Clinton as the "winner", Clinton didn't bother to appear in Wisconsin during the general campaign, every pol or election guru had Clinton winning. Come election night, Clinton takes a five run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning and loses the World Series.
What happened to that notion of critical thinking and analysis that is supposed to taught in our public school system? Do you (yes, you if you are posting here) truly believe everything you read online? Do you not ask those basic questions from that ninth grade English class you sat in (What is this authoring trying to do?, why are they trying to do it?, is it credible?, what else have they written?, what do I know about them?). Grow up. I've hit my word limit.
2
The most salient question: Why did Russia want Donald Trump to become president?
6
The editorial should be, "Stop Letting the Russians Get Their Way with Mr. Trump -- Impeach Him Now!"
2
We can blame Russia, and I most certainly do, but ultimately it's up to the American electorate to look deeper and more critically into the sources of our 'news'. We have to get past taking things at face value. We have to ask ourselves, and each other, "Who actually said this. who do they represent, what is their motivation and is this actually true?" Until we do we're no better than our amoral clown of a president who says things like, "Somebody said, 'treasonous.' I mean, yeah, I guess. Why not? Can we call that treason? Why not? I mean, they certainly didn't seem to love our country that much."
Putin must be laughing at our gullibility and, somebody said 'stupidity', I mean, yeah, I guess. Why not?
2
Wonder how the press missed all this?
The President doth protest too much, methinks.
The Draft Dodger in Chief (a.k.a. the Real Stable Genius) will never acknowledge Russian interference in the 2016 election simply because in so doing he concedes he had help in defeating his arch nemesis, Hillary Clinton.
Is President Trump being blackmailed ?
3
It's obvious the Russians wanted Trump in... the question is, and has always been .... why???????
2
Trump’s response is absurd. His job is to keep our country safe. He is failing. Russia interfered in our domestic business. Are we going to stand for this? Mueller and the FBI and the CIA aren’t. But where is Trump? His silence is unAmerican. His silence is damning. His silence is a perfect illustration of a man who either can’t or won’t serve his country when a foreign power attacks. And the question is , “Why?”
And one more question. Is ignoring the actions of a foreign adversary against the U.S. an impeachable offensive?
1
Stop letting the Russians get away with it? Trump's a conspirator.
1
Stop letting *the Russians* get away with it?? How about: Dear Senators, Please stop caving in to this dangerous president! Stand up for your principles and put country before party.
He won’t see this important message if it’s not on Fox & Friends.
And written at the 8th grade level.
Trump should officially pardon them, then pardon himself.
Don't blame Russians too much. They didn't even start it. The GOP has been into manipulation, fakery, lying to the dear public for more than a few years. And for generations the South has been in the grip of fake history and lying ideology, about long-legged Yankee lies concerning the War of Northern Aggression and etc. etc.
And going back further and further there's more and more . . . We are a gullible, stupid lot. Plato and Aristotle already saw democracy giving way to tyranny as our low-down inclinations usually win out over whatever it was that was supposed to show some better, higher route.
2
Why should Trump do anything since they wrk for him.
Is it just Russia?
Or have nationals from other countries, such as the UK or Israel, interfered in US elections through posts on social media etc?
As to knowledge of the US political landscape, this can surely be gleaned from widely available media such as the NYT or CNN - the same sources you and I use.
Will your next editorial be titled: "Why didn't Obama do anything"?
2
The Electoral College Winner will not punish Russia with sanctions. He knows that if he did, we would soon be watching videos of the electoral college winner (Donald Trump) romping with Russian prostitutes.
1
Pretty sure that headline should read "Obama".
Let's get Russia's nose out of America's business!
So, the Obama Administration did nothing about this for 3 years???
To my mind Trump did not/does not have to do any colluding to be Putin's puppet. Just being what he is--a malevolent clown--he is destroying our country. Every day he spends in office is a day America loses and Putin wins.
1
If there was any doubt about it—and there likely was not—we now know for sure what a self-centered, narcissistic, despicable human being Mr. Trump is. His first thought after the Russian indictments was “no collusion.” For God’s sake, Mr. President, this is NOT about you! It is about my country—OUR country!
1
I recall how horrified we were to learn that the 9/11 hijackers lived among us while they planned their attack! Russians were physically hete, not just on keyborads, planning their attack, No outrage from Trump as he smirks and waves 'see ya' and flies off to Palm Beach!
272
You would be smirking and smiling also about how lucky you are and how dumb the American people are.
Trump is grateful to the Russians for interfering in order to help get him elected President of the United States so that he and his family can profit from whatever he is hiding from the American people in his personal and family income tax returns and business records. Trump is vacationing at his Mar-A-Lago resort and our tax money is paying him and his family for the privilege.
12
He can’t. Putin owns him.
Republicans now admire Mr. Putin (no kidding look at the polls). The Republican Party has come to resemble the old Russian Communist Party in so many ways...isn't it just control for the sake of being in control. What else do these people stand for...who are they anyway? What do they stand for...tell me...Fiscal responsibility? Personal responsibility? Protection of our homeland? Protection of our children and families? ...Really? Who are these people who call themselves Republicans, what do they stand for? Tell me comrade.
1
What the Russians did is expose the evil which is Facebook.
Trump is in a bind. He can either keep kissing up to Putin and look like a traitor, or he can cross Putin and be revealed when they release what they have on him. The thing I really want to know is--what is Vladmir's nickname for Donald?
Really Editorial Board,
Do any of you or most of your readers expect Trump to act w integrity? Prey tell, when has Trump EVER acted w INTEGRITY or BENEVOLENCE?
I read today, on The Hill, that a second prostitute was paid $150,000 for being Trump's bed partner following the months Melania gave birth in addition to Stormy Daniels liaison.
It is time for the media and our "honest" (?) politician to go full throttle in ripping Trump's narcissistic deeds to pieces.
Truly, our country is headed for a civil war which will take years and years and years to heal bc of our evil president and his naive and stupid followers.
1
This man is a liar, and a cheat but much worse he is a traitor. He stole the election with the help of Russians and easily fooled unhappy Americans... I wish I could say Hillary was a saint... she was a poor choice as was trump... and we got stuck in the middle. Good grief this will not end well.
Trump will do nothing. Because Trump only cares about Trump. And also because he is apparently deathfly afraid of only one thing: angering Putin. Absolutely everything else is fair game, except the Russians, again and again. Draw your own conclusions as to why.
Regardless, he is just a cog (puppet) in a Russian intel war effort to forment disunity in the US and Republicans are the suckers playing right into it, they are driving straight for the cliff edge following the Faux News propaganda machine like lemmings.
Putin wants his payback for the dissolution of the USSR. Wake up America.
1
Why isn't our government deporting the Russian mob in America? I just don't get it!
2
This is the worst crisis in US history, just as Donald Trump is the worst President in U.S. History. In fact, with hydrogen bombs in who knows how many hands, this might be the worst crisis in human history. Until the sun goes nova, the earth will last. Homo sapiens may go as extinct as the passenger pigeons or the dodo birds. We may be the first species to go extinct by species suicide.
This is our chance to be not the "greatest generation" [that defeated Hitler and the Japanese war lords] but the "good enough generation that keep our species alive.
Is the hypocrisy of the Times lost on me? Accuse the Presdent for over a year of "colluding", complete with false sources including Christopher Steele, and then complain to him with"do something"?
1
Your title is rather amusing. Don't let the Russians get away with it? Isn't that like asking Al Capone to take a stand against the mafia?
Take it easy on the poor guy. He'd have to put Obama, Rice, Lynch, and Comey in jail, same crimes.
1
Given the sophistication, insertion of Russian agents and millions spent on cyber warfare in our election, I think they easily swung the 70,000 votes in three states that accounted for Trump's victory in the Electoral College. Which makes him a true Manchurian Candidate. A real commander-in-chief would have telephoned Putin in a rage, kicked out the Russian ambassador, confiscated all the penthouses and Florida estates that Putin's oligarch buddies laundered their money with and banned all travel to and from Russia. Trump, on the other hand, refuses to implement additional Russia sanctions, does nothing to protect the midterms from more Russian meddling and goes golfing in Florida. His only expression of concern so far has been a self-centered tweet about his complete vindication -- dream on -- and the usual "NO COLLUSION." He may be too dumb to be a Russian agent but he's certainly a "useful idiot"for Kremlin agitprop.
2
God speed, Robert Mueller.
The level of denial by the NYT Editorial Board has reached new heights. Mueller's team specifically states no American worked with the Russians - but according to the Times that does not mean no collusion took place. Up is down, night is day in the fevered liberal minds that continue to troll conspiracies that never appear. It is as if the Russian indictments and exoneration of Trump and his campaign from any collusion was too much for the progressive elite mind to handle.
1
" unwitting " ? NO. Witless. Which is it, incredibly incompetent OR irredeemably Stupid? As for Trump, his real " business " is money laundering, mostly for shady Russians. His Collaborators will prop him up as long as possible for their benefit, as long as their base howls. His smartest move would be to seek asylum from his buddy Putin. But, he truly believes he can scheme, scam and talk his way out of anything.
Resign, Donald. Escape WITH your one true love. Your Money.
1
Wow. Our country is lost. The Presidential election was hacked by the Russians. We have out of control gun violence and nobody does anything but whine about the Second Amendment (puh-lease). Racial nonsense at an all time high - denying immigration? what is wrong with you people? And this Congress... holy cripes. I don't know folks, I feel like I went to sleep in 1984 and woke up in an insane dystopia in 2018. Donald Trump is our president... I mean, hello... doesn't anyone see a problem? Wake Up!
Donald Trump:
Don't fight for Russia.
Fight for America.
Not one word of criticism for President Obama. It all happwned on his watch - he owns it. Heckuva job there....
Makes you wonder if some of the pro Trump comments might just come from the Russians
1
Admittedly, Russia won the 'cold war'. They have their puppet in the White House.
4
Trump's defenders still think it was ok, not a crime, that Russia interfered with our 2016 because they defeated the worst person on earth, Hillary Clinton! They will continue to give their Russian puppet a thumbs-up!
3
It seems to me that it was Obama who let the Russians get away with itl
1
Obama is responsible for everything that happens during the Trump administration. We know this is so because our president tells us so.
Get away with what? With posting messages on Facebook? Is this for real? I posted comments "disparaging Hillary Clinton" in this very forum many times too. Should I now worry about being arrested next time I visit the US? Are you all out of your mind? What kind of insanity is that? I thought it was hilarious at first, but now it is just getting scary.
1
Its hard to tell if you are being willfully ignorant or just blindly ignorant. Try actually reading the editorial next time. The crime was stealing identities, not making uninformed political comments.
One thing the Russians and the Trump Administration are both guilty of is stupidity. This is a prime example of the technological genie escaping the bottle to do damage. Sad this is It aint gonna get better!
Sad is believing whatever is posted on the Internet. Too bad we don't require critical thinking exams for all voters. Of course then nobody would be able to vote. Except for me, of course.
1
Russia's interference in our elections is an attack on our homeland and as "commander in chief", defending the nation is Trump's main responsibility.
Refusing to even acknowledge this interference and actively casting doubt on it is nothing short of dereliction of duty.
This all by itself is an impeachable offence. You don't need proof of hush money to prostitutes and "models" or evidence of actual collusion. His actions (or inaction) should be enough to remove him from his job ASAP! #TrumpFail!
3
Seriously?
Trump is a conspirator with the Russians, a/k/a a traitor. What ELSE can he do?
1
Wonder how mad Trump is at Rosenstein now.
1
As damning as these indictments are, I fear Mr. Trump’s base truly does not care. Nor do they care about his infidelities. I doubt they will care when our democracy is washed away in a flood of tweets, lies, and further anti media attacks. A Banana Republic mentality has taken hold and is gradually eroding the democratic fabric of our Republic,
1
The real tragedy is that we voted to become a Banana Republic by electing this congress and this president.
UNWITTING adjective
1.
inadvertent; unintentional; accidental
2.
not knowing; unaware; ignorant; oblivious; unconscious
Syn: POTUS
6
Trump will NEVER admit (even to himself) that Russia had anything to do with his "massive electoral college victory", so stop wasting pixels on op-eds like this one. The job of fixing this falls to Congress, and our best hope is that there are congressional Repugnicans who still have enough shame and honor to rise to the task.
There may be Republicans who can save the country before it's too late, but they are not in this Congress.
Trump appealed to the lowest common denominator of white American voters: their hatred for everything not found in their mookie world of sexual harassers, like those people living in the rump end of Chicago nearby who tormented their female coworkers at the Ford factory in Hegewisch. Hatred inspired many votes, and the Russians were quick to seize upon this perception and help their good buddy Trump to prevail and to pervert the office of executive. When and if, barring his initiation of a nuclear holocaust to cover his multitude of crimes, Trump is brought to justice, he'll play the incompetent card...
1
Some presidents cheat on their wives. This president cheated on his country.
1
Trump didn't cheat. He showed his marked cards before the election. America voted for him, nevertheless. We have only ourselves (or more accurately: we have only our fellow citizens) to thank for Trump's election.
The real geopolitical tussle is between Russia and China. The US has now been coopted as a pawn for the Russians.
Nice work, dotard and idiots.
1
I absolutely agree with this but would add that I don’t see the Republican Party giving a damn about Russian interference. They’re mum, enraptured by their leader. It’s like they’ve all drunk Trump Kool-Aid. If this were Hillary....as Brett Stephens said, they would not be indifferent.
I also call this newspaper to task. You continue to help this whole fiasco when you publish articles such as the one a couple of days ago where on of your writers reports (with no data to support it) fake news isn’t a thing to worry about?????
There were indictments. It’s a real AND DANGEROUS thing.
1
Tinkle, tinkle little czar. Putin put you where you are
1
Trump simply cannot acknowledge that a foreign entity and agents of an American adversary had a hand in corrupting an election that quite possibly gave him an advantage. Again, it's all about him. To hell with the facts, it's about HIM. If he had any integrity (don't laugh) he would embrace these findings and support the testimonies of various members of law enforcement and the intelligence community, and then announce that he will never allow it to happen again. He would protect America, her citizens and democracy. That's his JOB! Instead his priorities are to deny and denounce investigations into Russian meddling. I know keeping Melania from reading the papers is a lot of work but c'mon!
The sanctions need to be enforced. Failure to do so is an admission of being blackmailed by the Russians of Mr. Trump. Lock him up!
36
Yes, Yes, and double YRS!
8
Have the Russians done anything that matches the damage caused by gerimandering, lobbying, or the weight of billionaire donations?
39
You mean like Tom Steyer, Oprah Winfrey and George Soros? Or did you mean other billionaires?
Yes they have and it’s all of a piece.
Another wrong doesn't make it right, this is the Russian defensive line talking.
This should be no surprise to anyone. If you're still giving your unbridled allegiance to Trump you are becoming complicit in the most profound challenge to our nation since Concord in April 1775, without the bullets.
Our nation is in dire risk. Where do you stand?
474
Bob, what was your reaction when the Russians hacked several government agencies and Obama's only response was "Stop it"
2
Trump's always yacking about loyalty, like a Loyalist. He wants to be our king, by george.
8
Putin couldn't have made a better choice..for the desired effect.
33
Really? If he had helped Hillary, he could have owned 100% of Uranium One, unless some of the other donor countries wanted a piece of it.
The dragnet has been cast. Soon the bottom fish will start scurrying, if they haven’t already. Borders are closed. Passports will be confiscated. trump will sound ever so surprised. Melania will file divorce proceedings to protect Baron. Oh, woe is me.
And then all will be right with world as trump resigns. But oh no, pence.
18
And the Browns will win the Super Bowl.
Pence, disagreeable as his politics are, is unlikely to anoint himself president-for-life. Trump is.
It remains to be seen what Donald Trump is. But we know that those in his party who blindly support him are traitors.
72
You mean the RNC? Probably took Putin's money funneled in by Manafort.
1
How come there was never any mention of those in his party accepting millions of dollars from Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Australia, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Algeria or Russian bankers.
1
Dear NY Times Editorial Board:
Your opinions will ring hollow until you stop pretending that Trump isn't directly involved with organized crime, including the Russian mob (Putin equivalence).
"Mr. Trump" my foot. One hopes Mr. Mueller turns that into "Defendant Trump" in short order.
63
You write: “Mr. Trump’s defenders, desperate to exculpate him, seized on a single word — “unwitting” - to describe Trump allies who were involved. Shouldn’t that be “witless”?
22
Can't anyone restrain Trump? He is acting so guilty he seems to only have this crime on his mind. Anytime it is not about him, he drags the dead cat back in again!!
Everybody knows this!
"Trump lets the Russians get away with it because Trump owes them hundreds of millions off dollars. He can't pay it back..."
I've heard -- and I'm not making this up -- that Trump has offered Putin California, New York, New Jersey, and Oregon if he (Trump) isn't required to pay back his Russian loans. Notice they're all blue states -- just sayin'.
1
Nothing would surprise me. Trump is the most amoral person I've ever witnessed in action. He doesn't give two cents about this country, only how much money he can get out of it. And I'm sure he's as surprised as everyone else at the amount of support and crazed allegiance he elicited from a bunch of - well - idiots. These people had no idea who or what they were voting for. Their only agenda was to somehow make Hillary "pay" for her transgressions, to make immigrants "pay" for coming to this country, to make everyone else who wasn't like them "pay" for being everyone else. Vengeance is the beginning of mob rule and boy did Trump prime that pump. But these revelations certainly make Trump voters look very, very bad.
On the other hand - California, Oregon, NJ and New York - how about instead of having Trump give us to Putin, that we secede and form a new country?
Anyone desperate enough will turn to Russian money in a crunch, look at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. Anymore sanctions and they might as well crack, too.
How does one offer something to you when they do not own what they are offering?
So Donald, The Trump campaign did not know that these multiple posts for Trump rallies and and anti Hillary adds were not placed and paid for by the Trump campaign. ComeOn Man. COLLUSION!
22
My perception is that Trump has only maintained his innocence as far as collusion is concerned. Mueller' attempts to link Trump to collusion, Comey's attempts, they are a witch hunt. Period. You can spin any way you want but Russian organized rallies in New York had zero effect on the electoral vote. This paper has been spinning the Russian Trump collusion lie since the moment Trump won. Today you lost. And your continued shrillness changes nothing... President Trump is here till at least 2020.
26
I think that you are going to be shocked down the road, Arthur Taylor...
20
Sure there is no collusion. Because all the dirty laundry will eventually be clear and out in the open.
When the corrupt financial relationship is finally revealed between the corrupt oligarchs in Russia and the USA, we will know more than most care to know about the sham of democracy in the USA **AND** Russia.
10
What explanation is there for the many members of the Trump campaign ( Manafort, Papadapolis, Carter Page) and his transition team ( Flynn, Kushner, Sessions) and his family who met with Russians, None of them recalled these meetings in their security clearance interviews . We have taken this amnesia very casually. This is not the behavior of people who have nothing to hide.
28
If Trump doesn't act on this information he is guilty of treason. Period.
46
Trump continuous denial of Russian interference in our 2016 election in spite of mounting evidence and his refusal to do anything about it are amount to treason, whether or not his campaign colluded with the Russians.
The presidency was stolen from American people!
31
"Interference" If a mass of people is in the street preventing your drive to your workplace, do they get prosecuted for interference? How electoral votes did this "interference" accumulate? You nor anyone else can provide a bullet proof answer, only political bluster.
I don't care what Mueller alleges. I love to read all these Dim comments about Trump and how awful he is! I love the Trump effect. There are more people who think like me than you will believe.
Trump is President and Hilliary is not!
2
What is sadly unsurprising is the extent to which the Russian campaign’s racism and xenophobia mirrors Trump’s. It doesn’t take an evil genius to poke our weak spots.
9
Good point.
Beware the rising tide of fascism.
Obama knew long before the elections about the Russians and did nothing. But we now Obama did not care about this country so we are not surprised but he put up a great false show. The president needs proof besides aliening this Russia which after Reagan we got along with just fine.
2
It is almost beyond comprehension that the President of the United States could be guilty of treason. It is very hard to wrap ones head around such a thought. And yet it appears to be so. What are you going to do Congress?
13
Appears to be so? The only thing that appears to be so, is the relentless denial of the left, led by the MSM, that Hillary lost.
Trump should have his security clearances revoked. He’s compromised. More time for mar-a-lago, golfing, and Fox News watching.
17
I just watched Hannity for about three minutes, (all I could stand) and he's got it figured out. He is telling his fans that he knew all along Russia was doing bad things. But of course it was Obama and Hillary that were responsible on this end. What gets me nervous is that there are about fifty million people who the trolls have got hook, line and sinker. Hannity and Fox News are the real trolls.
49
Obama's response when Russia hacked several government agencies was: "Stop it." And sending Hillary to Russia with a Staples Easy Button.
Potus, the family and the GOP are all gangsters. If anyone thinks they will magically find religion...they haven't been paying attention. They will also not go quietly into the night. When indictments hit the family real chaos will ensue.
11
Given Trump's predilection for beautiful women, I have to wonder if the Russians have evidence about his possible extracurricular activities while he was in Moscow for the Miss Universe contest.
7
Here is the problem with this investigation. By suggesting and attempting to legitimize accusations by appointing an individual to make indictments for trolling on the internet is essentially giving the US government legsl access to deride the voters of our nation. To use an Olympics analogy, the Russians changed the rules several times at the end of a basketball game against America in order to win. This investigation smells more of Russia than America. We voted for Trump, regardless of how much garbage Russia put on the stupid Internet. Americans are smart. We can sift through the stench to find the truth. Stop deriding us.
3
There is no problem with the investigation. Like trump, rather than call into question his victory, you can’t stand the thought that your vote and those of other right wing extremists is tainted. By denying the truth, you and your guy are continuing to support Russian aggression against our country. There is a word for that and it isn’t loyalty.
1
Let Mueller keep investigating. You're ignoring the possibility that Russia was able to successfully infiltrate votes rolls, hack into vote counting software and what about stealing and publishing emails from the DNC? Sure Americans are smart. Seems like the Russians were smarter. Just like the 911 terrorists took advantage of our lax security, the Russians were able to find weaknesses in our system and exploit them for their gain. Like it or not, Trump was Russia's choice for President.
If Americans are so smart, they really need to begin consuming their news from reputable sources. Not just social media.
1
Although the terrorists were able to take down the twin towers, the Russians were able to undermine the very basis of your democracy. I think the Russians have already damaged your country in ways terrorists could only dream about.
39
"Stop Letting the Russians Get Away With It, Mr. Trump"
"I can't do it, I have to pay the debt" ... You know who... and to whom.
11
I request the NYT’s run a full front page story questioning why Donald Trump has still NOT implemented bipartisan approved sanctions again Russia for interfering in our elections. The president needs to explain to the nation his indifference to defending the US Constitution, for the benefit of Russia. This can only happen if a free press instigates this conversation, because a GOP Congress won’t.
40
Actually, your headline should be aimed at those in Congress, with the power to impeach that treasonous occupant of OUR White House.
They, republican senators and republican house reps, are the ones who are letting DJT "get away with it", and worse, pretending to represent the will of the people in our nation.
18
Now I want to see - who supports Trump? Every day goes by w/o agreeing and supporting Mr Mueller and our professional institutions - you 're siding with our enemies and become the American in the indictments.
GOP(& it's voters) - where are you? Unless you're fake, I want to here from you.
4
It's been so obvious for so long that it's a astonishing to have to say, "if you didn't see it before..." If Donald Trump isn't an existential threat to this country I don't know what is. He either colluded with the Russians in some manner, or he saw and heard nothing. The former makes him a criminal, the latter an idiot, and a very myopic one at that, surely unfit for office. Members of Congress have a sworn duty to protect our country. The time for ambiguity has ended.
25
This editorial arrives so late in the saga that it comes off as ridiculous. “Please, Mr. President, do some thing about Russia!” What do you imagine he’ll do, based on your own reporting and that of your colleagues? The guy owes his very fortune, and probably his office, to the klepto-fascist oligarchy that has emerged from the ashes of the USSR.
For many months, you have had enough material to demand Trump’s immediate resignation, not just for affairs Russe, but for dozens of other bald incompetencies, stunning grifts, gratuitous lies and reflexive assaults on our system of government.
I want your demand for Trump’s resignation on my desktop by next Friday at 5:00 pm.
8
Still waiting for evidence of the collusion that the NYT has been trumpeting almost daily for over a year. Now clear that if there is no evidence of collusion is ever found there will be no mea culpa by the NYT. Instead, you will just change the subject.
1
Be patient. Wait til Mueller is done. Then we can discuss.
1
There is evidence and the efforts expended to devalue the evidence and investigators speak to its validity. There is Trumps Jrs ‘if you have what you say (stolen/hacked emails) then I love it...), the constant lying and omission of Russian contacts by various Cabinet, transition, and sub-cabinet players, the refusal to enact congressionally mandated sanctions for election meddling, the RNC platform on Ukraine. Were you screaming for an end to the Obama derangement of his 8 years, or calling for and end to Benghazi hearing after hearing? How about efforts to Repeal and Replace...those went on for 6 years- were you patiently awaiting a result that never came?
Now, if you care a bit about what’s actually discovered I suggest that you wait a bit longer...stop whining about the thing and just let the investigation continue.
2
Here's an alternate reality.
Most all the Catholic masses --- during the 1950s and early 1960s ---parishioners heard the continuous weekly chant at the end of the mass, "Pray for the conversion of Russia!"
Just like all the "thoughts and prayers" offered for the child victims of American school shootings -- it's not worked out so well -- has it.
Time for some serious reflection. Time for some serious honesty.
5
The image that goes with Mueller's indictments is Trump laughing it up with Russian diplomats in the White House the morning after Trump fired James Comey, the FBI director investigating Russian interference.
"No collusion"? Really? Give me a break!
15
Stop you ridiculous cheer-leading editorials. Trump gave the order to attack Russian combatives in Syria. Several hundreds of them were killed by American forces. Trump protects the interests of the United States. The indictments yesterday were made by DOJ. That is part of the government. Trump is president. It is his government. Don’t be ridiculous.
Hard to believe there are such ignorant people who would rather believe Russian-trump lies at the expense of our democracy. But I guess that’s what distinguishes loyal Americans from ... those who are not.
You have to give it to Putin and Russia, finding that fissure in the American fabric and working it up to the break up point. The authoritarian tendencies of the old south and tribal loyalties of Appalachia vs the democratic and egalitarian north and west coast (with defects). A conflict so alive, so pliable.
Trump is a joke that is not a joke. He is a symptom, a pestilent pustule, but he claimed to the presidency pushed yes but a Russian effort, but mostly pushed by a Republican party that still does not own to what they did to the nation, because they do not think they did anything wrong. An that is the problem.
19
You can find that chasm between Farmers and Immigrants wedged by two big time barons in the early 20th century. Thompson owned the foreign papers his immigrant copper miners read while JP Morgan promoted the farmer and his home grown influence in his rags. Then both sat back and watched their readers go to work on each other. Gould said he could get half his laborers to murder the other half, but these two proved you can turn one readership against another.
What Russia did to attempt to interfere with the 2016 election does not seem to be that serious. People that get their news from places like Facebook and form their opinions from rallies and YouTube are probably few in number and shouldn't be voting anyway if they are that ill informed and so easily swayed.
1
So, you think it would be good to disallow voting for Fox News watchers? That would, of course, effect our first Fox-obsessed president. Good point.
What about the people who decided not to vote because of when they saw/read on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter? This was/is very serious. We have an open society and the Russians used that against us.
1
More Americans get their 'news' from Facebook than any other source. They are NOT few in number. And it is a very dangerous situation that must be dealt with.
2
Indictments are allegations and not facts. There will never be a trial to test the truth of the allegations because the Russians will not agree to extradition.
2
The stage is now set for indictment of Americans
1
So the Robert Mueller investigation into "alleged" Russian collusion and interference in the 2016 US election was not a waste of time at all. After a year of painstaking intelligence gathering, the probe has borne fruit and uncovered incontrovertible evidence of Russian tampering with America's political and voting apparatus.
The reality that Russia has effectively owned and operated America's data system for their benefit and the detriment of the country's traditional structure for choosing democratically elected officials is frightening. Any security threat to the nation should at least be acknowledged by the president to let citizens know that he's aware of any threat to the homeland and that proper law enforcement and intelligence measures are in place to counteract any military or cyber attack on the country.
If the president has nothing to hide, he should be more determined than ever to help uncover any nefarious outside meddling done by agents, bots and a country who's only goal is to destroy American democracy.
The Mueller investigation is not on a weekend fishing trip. Russia's invasion and occupation of America's voting norms is as devastating as was Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Any normal and right-thinking president would have Bob Mueller's back instead of supporting Mr. Putin.
13 indictments is not fake news, Mr. President, but a real unlucky number for you, America and her voting traditions.
206
All of the hoopla about Trump and we miss the most fascinating piece of the story.... The Russians spent under 2 million dollars over 3 years promoting Bernie Saanders and Clinton spent 7 billion tearing down Sanders and Trump and still couldn't win.
Someone find those Rissians and start an ad agency on Madison Ave.... They are pretty good.
2
Let's get real, here. Trump will protect us against Russian meddling when he pays off his undisclosed debts to the Russian oligarchs in Putin's circle. You might as well ask Trump to release his tax returns. That will go nowhere too.
How about this: Trump will sign an immigration bill if Russians are allowed free passage into the US. Now that has a chance.
6
The real threat to American elections is overwhelming corporate power and hugely wealthy private interests. The Russians are just pikers.
2
Frankly, I see no difference in either their aims or their methods. I guess oligarchs are the same the world over.
"Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," Trump Jr. on their family business.
31
Statesmen seek to make the world a better place for all. Politicians seek to shape the world for the benefit of their party and its followers. Mr. Trump seeks to take the world for himself alone. His willful blindness makes it impossible for him to recognize a Russian threat to our country because it is not his country, a loose amalgam of golf courses, other properties, buildings and redoubts.
Were there a just God, while he accretes everything, Trump would be smitten like Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith), the bookish man in the Twilight Zone episode Time Enough At Last who, as the sole survivor of a nuclear exchange, gets all his treasured books and then breaks his glasses.
The end of this administration cannot come fast enough.
10
Travesty of a presidency. Clear; Donald Trump [the current president] is unable to uphold and embody the principles which this country was founded upon.
Who are the inhabitants of America? Why is this country is such disarray?
5
Answer: substitute "Republican Congress" for "Donald Trump" in the above. Focusing on Trump misses the reality that "complicit" doesn't begin to describe the Rep Congress. If you want a real answer, and not just a simple "this is all Trump" answer, ask McConnell and Ryan first, and the 1 out of 2 of your neighbors who voted for them.
Trump's tweet says it all, "The Trump campaign did nothing wrong — no collusion!”. Not a word about the threat to our country, the actions we will take to counter the Russians, or the twisted logic of his conclusion. This excuse for a president and a man cares nothing about his country or it's people.
18
Trump lives in the very small empire of himself. Any others are there to serve him, and if they don't do it exactly to his demands, he tosses them aside like yesterday's spoiled milk.
CMon America what is it going to take for our citizenry to stop allowing the uneducated in our country to choose our leaders? Trumps base is primarily white and uneducated and unfortunately it seems that totals in the mid thirty percentage of our voters. It is incumbent on the rest of us to get involved and at a minimum vote out as many of his cowardly supporter congressmen. We must put up a solid resistance until Bobby Three Sticks gets close enough to unveiling Trumps financial ties to the Russians that he quits the job in an attempt to save what he can of his dough. Let us pray that this was a learning opportunity and that we never again allow our number one enemy to influence our choice of leaders. The majority of my military career was spent working on our threat of Russia invading Germany through the Fulda Gap but instead of conventional warfare they figured out that we were very susceptible to cyber attacks.
11
Trump has failed to instruct his FBI Director to act on future Russian interference with the upcoming elections. So testified Mr. Wray this week.
We also learned that the president of the United States has facilitated hush money to two prostitutes who each allege an affair with him. His lawyer admitted to having have paid 130 thousand Dollar to one of them. The other one “sold” her story to the National Enquirer, but it was never published despite the sensational content. So it was reported by The New Yorker today.
Every White House employee would be denied security clearance with such a liability because he would be at risk for blackmail.
The head of the National Intelligence Agency, Dan Coats told members of Congress: “We need to inform the American public that this is real, that this is going to be happening, and the resilience needed for us to stand up and say we’re not going to allow some Russian to tell us how to vote, how we ought to run our country.”
Despite the immense threat to our national security the president has not made this his top priority.
Why?
11
This op-ed, in line with the entire "Russia-gate" campaign, is hilarious bilge. It assumes a tone of "moral indignation," babbling hysterically about "Russia’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 election," and Russia's alleged attempt to "sow discord in the US political system." Yet it never mentions the fact that no country in history has ever meddled in the elections & internal affairs of other countries as much as the US. Even if Russia actually did criticize Hillary on Facebook, so what? Compared to what the US has done in terms of interfering with the affairs of other nations, this kind of “meddling” is utterly negligible.
We should be honest enough to admit that the “discord” in the US results mainly from the gross inequities and failings of our own society, rather than trying to scapegoat Russia for our burgeoning strife.
Also deserving a chuckle in the op-ed is the sanctimonious reference to "the consensus of the American intelligence community," as though that deserves to be taken seriously. These are the guys who brought us "Saddam's WMD," remember? They're specialists in psy-ops, disinformation, and propaganda (like the entire “Russia-gate” campaign, for example).
Hillary lost the election to an unbelievably weak opponent because of her own grotesque deficiencies. It had nothing to do with "Russia.” And even if it had, I recall Obama telling the Brits not to vote for Brexit, & telling the French to vote for Macron -- so if that's a crime, let's indict him too.
3
Thanks for the daily "what-aboutsim". How could we get through the day without it!
I guess Berkeley isn't the same place it used to be.
1
Shouldn’t that be Stop the Trump family from getting away with it?
First, let’s s face facts: the probability of extradition of the suspects quickly approaches 0.
Second, one must carefully examine an indictment, which, as I write on my bedside micro-smartphone , which doesn’t lend itself to netsurfing, I only know it hasn’t been put up by the Times yet.
A detailed timeline must be drawn, but the simple conclusion is the Russians, several surviving candidates for the GOP nomination, then candidate Donald Trump were scared stiff that Clinton would win and use what she learned in her 8 years working with her husband, and 4 as Sec. if State, against the malicious, well, at least unfriendly to Russia would continue to be unfriendly.
While superficially challenging the Russians, one of the first things Trump did as president was hand them back two locations on suburban New York, that FBI agents have found impossible spy on, especially the one in Nassau County where a secluded, overgrown walkway leads to a private beach, which has, according to the NYT been used for very clandestine conversations that can escape all monitoring, even by Russian staff.
Trump, for many years, expressed interest in building at least one hotel in Russia, a direct conflict of interest.
DT Jr. has admitted at least, jumping at an opportunity for information against Clinton from Russian spies.
What did the candidate know and when did he know it? At breakfast with family.
Can’twait to see taxreturns
3
If the editors of the Times wants to hold Trump to account for his failure to stand up to Russia, they could give more prominence to important news stories that point to highly suspicious connections between Trump and Russia. A case in point is the recent visit of three Russian intelligence chiefs, including one who was not admissible to the United States. This visit immediately preceded Trump's cavalier refusal to implement the latest Congressional sanctions against Russia. We've heard next to nothing from the Trump administration about the reasons for this scandalous meeting between American officials and three men who head hostile intelligence services dedicated to keeping the criminal Putin regime in power.
The Times should be demanding an explanation for this meeting, and more to the point, should be investigating the true reasons for it.
8
@Grouch: I agree wholeheartedly. Where is the reporting about these three Russian spies coming to meet with Pompeo at the CIA? NY Times! Dig into that story, please!!
2
There is little here that we didn't already know. It was reported months ago that Russians organized a Black Lives Matter rally in Minnesota the same day they organized a rally in support of cops (in Texas, I believe).
The Times is simply using the occasion to repeat its conspiracy theory despite the fact that the indictments provide no shred of evidence for collusion.
As usual, the Times is mum about the Steele dossier. But the Times owes us an explanation for why highly placed Russians would have given dirt on Trump to Christopher Steele if they were in cahoots with Trump. It doesn't compute.
Btw, isn't anyone else underwhelmed by the Russian meddling? If our democracy can't withstand these sorts of foreign mischief, then it is in pretty bad shape. I have to believe that the Times has ulterior motives for making a mountain out of this molehill.
Wow, Ian. I could not disagree with you more. Disinformation via these social platforms (I hate them all, especially Facebook and Twitter) can bring down our flimsy democracy. The R's have tried their best to destroy it and now they have help from their buddies, the Russians, who OWN the Republican Party. Yes, I find that very dangerous to the country.
1
I once believed that the tragedy of 9/11 was going to be our nation's final "failure of imagination." Clearly I was wrong...we now have Trump's treason. I'm afraid it will be even more devastating.
8
"Stop Letting the Russians Get Away With It, Mr. Trump." What? This all happened on Obama's watch.
Are you not aware that it is happening right this very minute? It hasn't stopped and we have another election coming up - the most important election of my lifetime and I'm 66. Are you Russian? Do you want it to continue? Yes, Obama allowed McConnell, once again allowed that traitor McConnell, to back him into a corner before the election and not tell the American People. It was wrong and I will never forgive him but it's still happening now and Trump has got to deal with it. He has no choice now. Those sanctions better drop soon.
2
Dear Editorial Board:
You don't understand, Putin OWNS Trump.
He's owned him for over a decade already.
Donnie is not going to protect America from Putin.
Long before Donnie descended the Down Escalator and declared Mexican's rapists, he was laundering money for the Russian Mafia.
They were the only one's in the world who would loan him money, even before his sixth bankruptcy.
They expected something from him in return for their "friendship".
They wanted to invest in Real Estate, like Golf Courses and Hotels.
They would help Trump, and he would help them.
He HAD to help them.
And who do the oligarchs of the Russian Mafia have to answer to?
Who do they fear the most?
Who owns Trump?
That's why Trump has never said anything bad about Putin.
That's why he won't enforce the Sanctions.
And that's why Trump is trying to kill the Mueller Investigation - to hide his Money Laundering and Tax Evasion and Conspiracy to Commit Tax Evasion.
10
Only with a glass of wine can I think calmly about the dark reality of the Trump era.
I have come to accept that even if I could force all of my Trump supporting "friends" to read this and other NY times articles, it wouldn't change a thing. They'd stand by the GOP/Trump. No facts about organized Russian interference in the U.S. social/political conversations will disturb their opinions -- even as each day goes by, and an increasingly absurd display of mental gymnastics is required to deny the evidence. But deny it they will.
And they will find a way to blame Pelosi, Warren, Schumer, Obama,Hillary... And the FBI. And the media. They will continue to be among the most the fearful, authoritarian, racist, and NRA-loving of anyone I know.
The real trick to overcoming this nightmare is going to be how to get most of us to show up and vote some sanity into this country.
9
A primary concern of Trump supporters should be their political alignment with Russia. They should question their support of a candidate supported by a foreign invader. The present tense is intended. Thankfully, David From is making this point.
A Repub POTUS assures his followers that an attack on our country by Russia, confirmed unanimously by his appointed leaders of investigatory branches of government, is not true. He repeatedly labels evidence-based reporting as “Fake News” and undermines the very idea of epistemology and science, evidence and fact. Our POTUS continues to defend Russia and not America. No sanctions. No directives to agencies to investigate the continuing attack. No actions at all by POTUS to respond to the attack.
Hannity & Fox diminish the integrity of evidence based reporting by calling such the product of "The Deep State," an insulting reference to dedicated, career public servants that Repubs since Reagan have disparaged as "BureauKrats." The Repub Mr. Nunes disparages law enforcement for the direct benefit of Russia.
Repub should be aghast that their desires and actions align with a foreign power that wishes us ill. They should question their complicity. Their willingness to aidi and abet a foreign power currently attacking America.
8
The Russians own the Republicans - filtered money through the NRA. They were even caught on tape talking about it - and then Paul Ryan had to shush everybody, tell people it was a 'joke'. These people care nothing about our country. They care only for their rich donors - which now include Putin and his Merry Band of Mobsters.
1
Statement in the indictment:
This is “information warfare against the United States of America.”
DNI Dan Coats: "The Unites States is under attack."
SC Robert Swan Mueller Mueller just put Trump's back against the wall.
Trump will almost certainly be impeached if he elects to fire Mueller now.
In addition, Mueller did not hire the greatest financial crimes prosecutors just to prove an obstruction/collusion case.
Trump is doomed either way.
5
America, its democracy and constitutional institutions are under a cyber-attack by the Russians. However, rather than "protecting and defending", our commander-in-chief is not only AWOL, he is playing footsie with the former KGB operative who masterminded the attack!
8
The United States Media did everything they could to help Hillary Clinton win the Presidency, but they failed. Now the media is saying thirteen people in Russia threw the election to Trump? A complete delusion.
The Russians (and everyone else) have free speech rights. Is it so terrible that they did such things as telling people to "vote for Jill Stein"? or that they "deleted emails"? or that they used VPNs? I've done all of those things myself. I also know several Russians. Will I be indicted next? They seemed to have helped us see through Clinton's threat and elect the only other choice. Like him ( I don't ) or not, He was the only choice that made sense and he won. So let's move on from here. Mueller is the one who is "sowing dischord in our country".
What's so wrong? Let's begin with the fact that it is against US law for foreign nationals to engage in US election campaign activities and donations. You really need to get more informed.
1
"This is all going to happen again."
The Russians have been, and continue to be, so successful at spewing Stalinist propaganda at the citizens of this country, we don't have to wait for the next election - the interference in, and destruction of, American democracy is ongoing. And Trump and followers are active and enthusiastic participants. 50 million people are following DJT and subjected to this brainwashing multiple times a day.
Until Putin's Puppet is removed from office, the brainwashing continues. And even after he's gone - hopefully sooner than later - how long will it take to undo the effects of the mass hypnosis of the utterly conned base?
5
If he stands in the way of defending the nation, one more day, take him to the people.
4
Trump isn't "letting them get away with it;" he's a conspirator.
7
Trump can't match wits with Putin, so he puts our nation's election system, one of our most cherished institutions, in peril because he's trying to hide his corrupt dealings with Russia. If that's not treason, what is?
6
People don't get it, Trump IS Russia. It might be his country of choice, he loves it's form of government and leader, lack of free press, etc. Why would he do anything to harm his country? Treason you say? Let's start calling it what it is, TREASON. How much more inaction from the man in charge are we willing to put up with?
13
I agree. But is Trump using Russia as a giant bank because Wall St. has had enough of him? Is there a money trail to be followed? Isn't there always one?
The Supreme Prevaricator prevails.
3
There are more shoes to drop. Hopefully, and soon, but I fear the next one will be dropped not by Mueller but Trump who will use the inclusion of the word "unwitting" in the indictment as proof of his claim that there was "no collusion," and that, therefore, there is no reason for him to submit to questioning by Mueller's investigative team. The FBI's indictment exonerates and vindicates me, Trump will argue. Why should I submit to questions from Dem Friend Mueller about things that, in this indictment, he himself has admitted are not true. Since Trump is too dim to come up with this smelly line of anti-reasoning himself, it may take few days before it gets wafted out there, probably first by Fox Fake News Specialist Sean Hannity on Monday. Trump tweets should follow, at latest, by Tuesday A.M.
3
The is no doubt about why trump is taking no action against Russia. He is being blackmailed by Putin.
13
There is a deeper truth here. The Russian meddling was abhorrent but the Russian money spent was like one tenth of one percent of all funds involved in the campaign.Who really benefitted from Russian influence? The Democrats, beginning with Bill Clinton's $500,000 speech to a Russian bank and millions donated to the Clinton Foundation at the time Hillary as Secretary of State OK'd sale of 20 percent of US Uranium to the Russians. Oh, and who provided tons of false information for the "Trump dossier" paid for by the Democrats? The same evil Russians. Where is progressive outrage about all this? No where.
1
And I guess Bill was colluding with the Russians to undermine his wife's campaign? Right.
1
Trump isn’t going to do anything about Russia because he is owned by Putin and the oligarchs.
8
He already has:
"...Trump ... should come out openly with his knowledge and extent of cooperation with Russia about the whole murky affair..."
Haven't you heard? Trump denies there was any collusion. Maybe he's lying and maybe he's not. That's what Mueller was appointed to find out. For several months now, he's had several top aides of Trump who've "flipped" and about whom Trump has said very bad things: Flynn, Bannon, Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulos. If any of them has some song to sing, it's time for him to sing it. One has to assume that this thought has occurred to Mueller too. Yet no "singing." I'm starting to wonder why.
1
It sounds like you have an insider's perspective on what information has been gathered and what avenues of inquiry are still open or nearing completion and are able to reasonably question why no full announcement of findings has been made yet.
get away with what exactly? the kind of destabilization of civil society in so many other countries that the CIA has been guilty of? big deal...let people have their eyes and ears open, and there won't be any chance of russian 'penetration'...
2
The editorial board keeps tiptoeing around this one. It isn't "mysterious resistance". The most likely explanation here is that the POTUS is compromised. Call it like it is.
12
When I read this editorial, worded as it is to tiptoe around ("mysterious resistance"?) that which is painfully and frighteningly obvious to Mueller's team, the intelligence community, and now more than half the nation's citizens, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. For the sake of the country, I beg you stop the effort at remotely normalizing this administration. NYT doesn't have to accuse anyone before proof (which I now have zero doubt is already known by Mueller and imminently forthcoming) to be more forceful in its commentary. It is time, past time, for the still-responsible media in this country to call for Trump to step down to save this country from the ordeal of a constitutional crisis. And the voters must summon the will to take stock of their representatives' complicity in this outrageous situation, as well as their continuing tolerance of the murder of our children, and vote them out of office in November. We know what must be done, a solid majority of us anyway, and we must do it, or bear our share of the responsibility for the demise of our nation. Hyperbole? Not in the least.
39
Excellent commentary, thank you
There's an element in all of this that we're quietly overlooking. Trump is inappropriately leveraging the indictment as proof of vindication. The indictment says no such thing. Actually, Mueller appears to have gone out of his way to avoid making any statement about outcomes. Furthermore, Rosenstein's public comments underscore the fact that these charges are not the main event. Mueller is simply establishing a predicate. In order to file charges against collusion, there needs to be a crime to collude against. Here we have the F.B.I. establishing that crime with admissible evidence.
In Trump's public statement though, he quietly acknowledged what the White House has heretofore consistently denied. There was in fact Russian interference. The turn around was subtle and almost easy to miss. Trump's narrative on Russian election meddling has suddenly changed. We've gone from "It wasn't there" to "We had nothing to do with it." That's an encouraging development. I still hold realistic expectations about Trump's willingness to respond. The chance of US retaliatory action hovers somewhere around a number infinitely approaching zero. However, score one point for team USA.
If anything, Trump's absent Russian response is slowly becoming the biggest elephant in the room. His reaction thus far has been to draw attention to himself in order to mask his continued inaction on Russia. That strategy can't last forever. Trump will have a tougher time dodging now. Score another point.
33
Better to light one candle than curse the darkness. Here is one candle: legislate now to remove hackable machines out of the election process. Require hand counting of PAPER check-the-box (no chads) ballots by HUMANS. Faster tabulation is not better. It's just easier and quicker, like far too many things in this device-in-hand world.
46
Good suggestions but it takes money. Georgia has no paper trail and its election machines have been hacked. But legislators just voted to not replace the system due to money. The federal government would have to help with funding but no way would Trump and the GOP do this. They like Russian cyberattacks.
1
What does America do with the knowledge that the sitting president is in the White House after winning less than the majority of the total vote, AND that many of the votes he did win may well be to the result of the Russian hack of our election?
What do we do with the knowledge that, at best, the President's team were unwitting dupes in a Russian gambit?
What does it say about the GOP and trump that our main adversary, when looking to disrupt American democracy and weaken the country, chose trump as the vehicle of sabotage?
Most important: Will the President now publicly acknowledge that it was not due to his sales prowess alone that he won, and that he and the rest of the GOP must now act to protect the country?
26
Hi John,
When you claim Many of the votes he won were compliments of the Russians, how many do you mean? One year into his Presidency, folks refuse to understand how he took down political royalty. Hillary is a flawed candidate and equally as corrupt as Trump. The Democrats need to move on and begin to plan their retaking of the White House. One year down and three to go with NO viable candidate on the horizon. I agree, we need to secure tech to ensure voters aren't swayed but having NO one teed up for a 2020 run has to keep you up at night. Let's stop digging on Russia and cover the hole up...bigger issues are ahead.
The President will resist your entreaties, but I wager that Karen McDougal's handwritten statement will finally do him in by making it impossible for him to deny the validity of Christopher Steele's assertions. He has no true friends in Russia.
5
The real problem is America's refusal to stop foreign powers and state sponsored hackers from breaching our systems--we have already experienced 'profound national security" threats for the past ten years plus, but we've done little or nothing about it. Let's review, shall we?
1)US government voter data breach 2015 /2. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): 76 Million Affected (October 2009) /3. U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs: 26.5 Million Affected (May 2006) /4. U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM): 21.5 Million (June 2015) /. Virginia Department of Health Professions: 8.3 Million Affected (May 2009) /6. Office of the Texas Attorney General: 6.5 Million Affected (April 2012) /7. Georgia Secretary of State Office: 6.2 Million Affected (November 2015) /8. Tricare: 4.9 Million Affected (September 2011) /9. South Carolina Department of Revenue: 3.6 Million Affected (October 2012) /10. State of Texas: 3.5 Million Affected (April 2011). All these and many, many more.
Note that ALL these breaches/hacks occurred under Obama and nothing was done. Why? Complex answers. Easy to talk about, difficult to prevent.
3
The fact is that the digital arm of the Trump campaign shared office space with Cambridge Analytica, which the director of their campaign described as the brain of their operation and had representatives of Facebook, Google and YouTube working directly with them.
Cambridge Analytica, who performed a similar role for the Brexit campaign, should form the next focus of the Mueller investigation.
18
Until we know fully the depth of Trump's financial ties to Russia, nothing will change. Do you really think Trump will bite the hands that feed him?
Not only must Trump now denounce Russia and support the investigation, he must also release his tax returns so we can follow his money. Why hasn't Congress insisted on this? Whose side is Congress on, ours or theirs?
14
The last time Paul Ryan spoke the truth, he was caught on a live-mic saying, "Putin owns Trump".
And until Trump is removed from office, Putin owns all of us.
54
Actually, Ryan does.
Right on target, Burkett.
Mr. Trump is far too conflicted about Russia. His own tweets, interviews, & newspaper reports in the past several years confirm his many ties to Moscow. It's stunning he's claimed vindication. He doesn't realize Twitter is a-buzz finding contemporaneous documentation:
As a speaker at the 2011 CPAC conference, Trump said he'd make the decision to run for president by June (2011). His trademark registration for MAGA was dated Nov. 9, 2012.
Early in 2013, his lawyer Michael Cohen implied to the NY Post Trump would run for president. Not long after, Russia bid for the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant.
Concurrently, a Forbes interview revealed Trump's letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. And the pageant took place. Compromising information was likely being compiled at that time, as the Steele Dossier suggested.
After Trump left Moscow following the beauty pageant, a Russian woman named Alferova Yulya, advisor to Minister of Economic Development/Russian Federation, sent a tweet to Trump-- "I'm sure @realDonaldTrump will be great president! We'll support you from Russia! America needs ambitious leader."
Trump's tweet of 9/28/14 reads "I wonder if I run for president, will the haters and losers vote for me knowing that I will make America great again."
Finally, it can be gleaned the Trump Organization kept in touch with Russian real estate developers & others --as Moscow began infiltrating social media to influence the U.S. election against Hillary Clinton.
18
Just to be clear, the Russians are doing this stuff now, except more and better.
The Russians are meddling in the 2018 elections yesterday, today and will tomorrow. Why wouldn't they? Why would they ever stop? It worked so well And it is not like the Republicans will ever do anything to stop it. The Republicans not only barely acknowledge this is going on, they are actively working to undermine the FBI and all our national security in Congress. Fox News is cheerfully carrying Putin's water. The US is burning in front of our eyes, and Trump, the GOP, Fox News, Conservatives and Red States (for whom traitors to the US are held up as their greatest heroes) are cheerily throwing gasoline on the blaze cheering "Make America Great Again".
11
It's obvious: Mr. Trump is compromised. He cannot challenge or oppose the Russians, or even break character and admit they are an ongoing threat to America, because they control him. To paraphrase Joe Scarborough, who has been repeating this like a mantra lately: 'We don't know what Vlad Putin has on Donald Trump, but someday, we will.'
21
It may be that we have several Russian moles in government and Trump may be one. We may also assume that Nunes may be one.
23
How much more evidence does Trump need to enforce the Russia sanctions? Oh right, direct orders from Putin not to enforce them.
17
The implications of inaction here are staggering. Will the Russians be able to hack into other computer systems, such as those of the defense or justice departments? Will they be able to fabricate emails in addition to revealing confidential communications? With these capabilities, could they start a war?
5
And Mueller did this with no leaks!
I personally think there was not any collusion directly with Trump but let us see about money laundering and tax fraud involving Russians and Trump.
5
Sometimes if you just repeat something over and over and over, people will assume it must be true. Here's a good example:
"On the contrary, [Trump] has done a series of things (i.e. ... meeting Putin in secrecy...)"
Many Americans probably believe this is true, possibly most of them. Maybe it is true, but let's not forget that there's never been a shred of evidence -- or even an allegation by Mueller, Comey, or any other responsible official -- that it's true.
Yet if you just keep repeating something over and over and over, pretty soon many people will believe it's true.
1
What is true is that without the Russians you’d have President Clinton.
At the granular level, Russian operatives interfered with my specific vote and prevented it from being recorded.
I have physical, documentary evidence of that fact, including a letter from my Registrar confirming that my vote was not recorded.
I doubt very much I was the only one.
It was premature of some people to claim that "nothing was done to the hacked voter rolls." Do you know that at least in some states voter rolls use bar codes? It is overly simplistic to say those systems were breached "but nothing changed." In my case, I followed up and tracked my vote. It was not recorded.
Yesterday, Instagram, a US brand with some cachet in the world, chose to side with Putin & the KGB/FSB in suppressing accounts that Navalny used to expose a bombshell about Deripaska's huddle with the Kremlin "grey cardinal" Prikhodko (a senior Kremlin official since Yeltsin). That was a shocking corporate decision that basically abandons the US side to help our enemies. Deripaska, like Trump, spends a lot of time in the company of courtesans that he apparently forgets also have brains, personalities & opinions. Now some of his bedmates are speaking out as witnesses.
The party is over. Time to pay your debts to society.
1
This just in: Pot calls kettle black.
Before participating in the elite media's hysterical jingoism in support of the indictments of 13 Russians for (stupid) non-violent election intervention, there are some facts of which one should be aware. Here's a main one.
From Wikipedia:
"The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been involved in Italian politics since the end of World War II. The CIA intervened in the 1948 general election and would go on to provide covert aid until the early 1960s."
The US intervention in the 1948 election took many forms. The most threatening was anchoring US warships in Italian harbors, a clear threat to invade Italy.
By contrast, in 2016, the Russians are alleged to have slithered on to our media to tell self-serving lies. Can you imagine that ? Horrors! How will we Snowflakes survive ?
A real threat, a justification for war, in fact, would have been for the Russian Navy to anchor in the harbors of New York, Boston, Charleston, Seattle, San Francisco, etc, and announce that if the wrong side won the election, Russian troops might invade.
That is, it would have led to a WWIII crisis, had the Russians mimicked US actions in our intervention in Italy's 1948 election.
Russians have never made a hostile entrance into US waters.
However, the Russian fleet did pay a friendly visit to New York in 1863, supporting the Union in the Civil War. This may well have prevented the British from allying with the Confederacy.
Trump supporters continue to tie themselves into knots to rationalize Russia and Trump's behavior. Even in the face face of this most recent information you try to brush it under the rug by citing past CIA behavior. Astounding. You just can't face the truth, can you?
1
How to drive the GOP out of government and also crazy as a by product.
Elect all Democrats to the House and Senate in the elections in November 2018.
Create legislation that will nullify the 2016 election result for the Office of the Presidency.
This action will be based on collusion and treasonous behavior on the part of a cast of characters yet to be revealed and established by prosecution.
Eliminate the Electoral College as an out-of-date entity that has outlived its usefulness.
Award to Hillary Clinton the Office of the Presidency as she was the winner based on the actual numerical vote itself.
Her qualifications and experience are far superior to those of the current incumbent in the Office of the Presidency.
Justice will be served.
Trump will be served with the dismissal papers he so richly deserves.
The country as a whole can then Sleep Well at Night (SWAN) and the nuclear football will be in far safer hands ...... at last.
The freedom loving world will SWAN also and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we have come to our senses and have established ourselves to be a viable, reliable, and valid society - ready to be a good leader once again.
Sanity prevails.
28
Leave aside the Russia for a just a moment and think about how easy it is to sow discord in any society. Arguably Russia exploited what was already evident and present in the America of today. Russia didn't make the bomb or even light the fuse - it just added a spark . . .
6
Stop letting the Russians get away with it, Mr. Trump? Please, he is working for the Russians. How about, stop letting the Russians get away with it Mr. Ryan?
Meticulously documented evidence in an indictment of a breathtakingly audacious Russian plot to undermine American democracy, yet Trump won’t execute the sanctions overwhelmingly passed by Congress to punish Russia for just that. That is a grave constitutional violation - a failure by the president to “take care” to faithfully execute a law to protect our democracy. Put aside everything else, this is an impeachable offense. Why are you and House Republicans letting the Russians get away with it Paul Ryan - that’s the question that needs to be asked and answered.
54
The special counsel has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives with ties to Vladimir Putin launched a massive, concerted, and effective attack on the most fundamental aspect of American democracy, and Donald Trump's only reaction is "I had nothing to do with it!" As Harry Potter's friend Ron Weasley might say, Trump really has to sort out his priorities.
22
If he stops "letting Russia get away with it," the Russian oligarchs, mobsters and Putin allies who've funded him since the banks wised up will abandon him and then expose him, since he'll obviously be useless to them very shortly. Trump is so fatally and deeply compromised. It's only a matter of time.
25
It's like preaching to a crocodile to become a vegetarian. Putin owns Trump. Besides, a wannabe dictator Trump envies his mentor, a well-established dictator Putin. The democracy in this country has only one chance left: November 2018. We must VOTE and we must WIN - for our children and grandchildren, for this country, and for the world.
32
Donald Trump swore to protect the constitution of the United States. That document includes the conduct of free and fair elections. If Trump continues to sit on his hands while a hostile foreign power tries to sabotage our elections, he is grossly negligent in his duties as president.
A blue congress will know what to do about that. Let's make sure that happens. We must save the nation from this menace.
19
Yes, and put his hand on the bible and swore to defend our country against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
1
How can anyone say that the Russian meddling "had no effect on the outcome of the election"? Think about the narrowness of the outcome. Clinton won the popular vote. Think about the mob mentality that was stirred up against Clinton and against journalists and minorities, which was promulgated by these Russian fake entities. Think about the wave of support this mentality put underneath Republican extremism. I'm also aware of a number of very liberal-minded commentators who scolded some of us for paying more attention to Russian hacking than to Clinton's alleged malfeasance. They believed the focus on Russian hacking was residual paranoia from the Cold War, now emerging anew from US Intelligence agencies and being lapped up by "mainstream media". Such was the effectiveness of the anti-Clinton campaign as to induce a blind eye to the signs that the Russian subversion was real. One of the reasons Trump could never admit it was real was that to do so questioned the validity of his election victory. But that doesn't tell us why he keeps bending over backwards to please Putin.
9
The nerve of the Russians ... meddling in our pristine elections. We don't need anyone to teach us how to fix elections. We've always been world class specialists in that field by restricting effective electoral participation to two corporate parties, keeping third parties off the ballot, making sure that large portions of the population are so alienated that they don't vote, allowing rich individuals and corporations to give unlimited amounts of money to favored candidates, and allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be spend on lying attack ads. We Americans don't need any help from Putin in fixing our elections. So he should just butt out, and let your system work as it is supposed to, electing the best candidates money can buy.
8
The only impassioned remarks Trump makes about Russian interference is with his repeated claim that there was 'no collusion.' Trump has, variously, insisted on Putin's innocence, said who knows, or told us to move on. Trump's only emphatic tone is about his own culpability, not any outrage about the meddling - and by now, it's clear just how much he has tried to obfuscate.
Trump was a traitor when he and his team tried to use Russia for a supposed bombshell about Hillary Clinton, and Trump is a traitor now for encouraging further Russian mischief with our governance.
12
As long as it's working for the GOP, neither they nor Trump are going to complain.
11
Telling the truth has never meant much to Mr. Trump. So why would anyone think he will now even as it becomes clearer everyday Russia spent millions to influence our 2016 elections. He is always moving the goal posts from nothing to see here to now this proves there was no collusion. I thought he swore as president to protect America against all attacks both foreign and domestic. Mr. Trump is failing at both. Trump will never enforce sanctions on Russia nor will he do anything to upset Putin; which makes you wonder why.
14
Most politicians have one overriding interest...staying in office/getting re-elected. Big stories break...like this one on Russian interference ...or another senseless shooting at a school kills 17, and we think..."Well, something is going to have to be done now; this cannot be ignored."
And then we see we were wrong. Nothing happens. Why? Because the politicians who can do something believe that they do not have to anything because not that many people really care that much. And then they will cross their fingers at the next election, and pray voters will have forgotten or forgiven. And all too often, those prayers are answered.
Is their any remedy for this cycle? There is. It is the simple act of contacting your representatives by letter, phone or email and telling them that you demand action and if they don't comply you will not only vote against them, but actively work in support of their opponent. And then you convince your friends, relatives and colleagues to do the same...and tell them they must convince everyone they know to do the same. If 1/20 of the population took the time to contact their representatives and demand action, it would happen.
But alas, it won't happen.
Too many citizens believe our only real obligation as a good citizen is to go and vote in each election. It is not. That produces what we have now.
Our obligation is to INFORM our 'representatives' as to what the will of the people is to then DEMAND that the will of the people is then done.
11
How about once we stop focusing on the source of these cyber attacks we make a concerted effort to innoculate against future attacks by simply educating ourselves (particularly our children) against false claims and emotional attempts to sway our opinions? These disruptions would have no effect if we just ignored them or, even better, just turned off our obsessions with social media from time to time. These cyber attacks would have no effect if we weren't stupid enough to believe them.
2
Of course it's not fake news; it never was. Trump's entire strategy has been to "Let the Russians get away with it." Trump will never do anything against the Russians; he's repeatedly shielded them, because in shielding them, he's shielding himself. Trump repeatedly and publicly asked the Russians for help against his political opponent in the US presidential election; he certainly got it. At least 150 million Americans saw social media posts which were Russian pro-Trump disinformation (in plain English, lies and fakes) and which were covertly placed by Russia before the election. Trump's son, Don Jr., met with Russian operatives repeatedly, including at Trump Tower with Trump's campaign manager and Trump's son-in-law, and then Trump dictated a statement to his son, which his son released, which was nothing but a pack of lies about what actually happened at that meeting. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein, in announcing the indictments of the Russian operatives himself, showed his full backing, and that of the U.S. Department of Justice, for Special Counsel Robert Mueller III and for Mueller's investigation into a well-funded and incredibly well coordinated attack on America, America's electoral process, and American democracy by Russia and Russian intelligence operatives. These Russian operatives are directly connected to Vladimir Putin. It's time for everyone to quit denying what happened here. Trump stopping Russia is as likely as Putin turning himself in.
12
President Trump appears desperate to manufacture his own reality; as if the more he repeats "No Collusion!" the more receptive the public will become to the idea, and the whole "Russia thing" will eventually disappear.
It will not. There is much more to be revealed, including financial revelations, and none of it bodes well for Donald J. Trump. That is why Mr. Trump behaves like a cornered animal.
6
Nothing will be change or be done as long as Trump supporters deny the reality of what has occurred. Trump welcomed unlawful Russian intervention during the campaign while subsequently denying such intervention as a hoax, and people cheer. I understand this may be an elitist (and defeatist) sentiment, but I cannot escape the nagging and ongoing belief that our electorate is too ignorant and amoral to sustain an effective government. Democracy is dependent upon people having some ability to parse facts from fiction, respect the process, and maintain a mainstream moral compass. There is no mainstream anymore. There is no ethical backbone to our political system. Politics is characterized more and more by a rabid frothing hostility based on ignorance and bigotry among people who simply want their side to “win” even if it is based on a web of lies disseminated by a long standing foreign enemy. I’m not sure where we go from here.
6
The US has been doing the same thing for years to install leaders sympathetic to its imperialist foreign policy. It even directly worked to make sure that Yeltsin was elected - who chose Putin to replace him.
What's good for the geese...
1
Trump will never confront the Russians, much less punish them in any meaningful or effective way for, two reasons: 1) to do so would require at least a tacit acknowledgement that their interference could mean that he did not win the election on his own merits. 2) it seems more and more likely that the Russians have something that they can use to hurt him and/or his family.
We have a president who is unwilling and unable to stand up to the Russians and it may well be our worst national security nightmare!
7
It takes at least two to make a scam: the con and the conned. Of course with the magic of modern media one con can con many many suckers.
I saw many "Lock Her Up" signs in the front yards of nice American homes. And I had to wonder: how stupid do you have to be to go along with that? And how do you get that way?
An easy clue is provided by simply turning on the TV. It doesn't have to be about anything political. Commercials, of which the usual American will have seen thousands before getting to Kindergarten. Commercials are petty callous manipulation and training for passively submitting to it and liking it. Lovin' it. 'Cause you deserve a break. Over and over again and again. Training to be a patsy. It will get worse because the means for skeptical, sometimes rational, sometimes intuitive or artistic or religious, opposition are getting weaker.
9
Of course, Trump has to be careful, otherwise Putin is likely to foreclose on the White House, evict the occupants, and change the locks. (Best case scenario; Putin refunds the cleaning deposit.)
1
It seems that the Russians were doing the same things our political campaign machines do, lying, name calling, stirring up distrust and hatred, fabricating conspiracies, and making every effort to shield voters from the facts. Kind of a fifth column FOX News and right wing AM talk radio. I would think that such significant campaign activity generated outside of, and independent of the the Trump campaign would be noticed by the Trump campaign staff, and the Clinton campaign staff.
To be effective the Russians, who seem to be quite shrewd at this kind of stuff, would know the need to harmonize their efforts with Trump's. Otherwise they could be t-boning each other at every intersection.
Looks can be deceiving, but it looks to me like the the Russians campaign and the Trump campaign operated in close coordination, a team.
6
Sherm makes valid points. To the one about effectiveness of the Russian campaign, I'll add that by my lights the Russian propaganda is rather ham-handed and would not have borne fruit had the ground not been prepared by three decades of AM radio and Fox, and now Breitbart, InfoWars, and a host of others. But let's not forget, as Paul Krugman pointed out yesterday, that "professional centrists" who stroke their chins and say, "well, he said, but she said" have helped legitimize bad political behavior. A sitting Texas governor insinuated a physical threat against a Fed Reserve chair, another called out the Nat'l Guard to keep tabs on a U.S. military exercise, a leading presidential candidate and sitting senator claimed that President Obama was consciously trying to undermine the U.S. economy and its security. These incendiary and patently ridiculous assertions came not from yahoos but office holders, yet our commentariat let them pass with little condemnation. During the run-up to the election, some educated acquaintances of mine talked about the "tough choice" they had voting. When I asked why it was tough, they'd repeat long-debunked conspiracy theories about the Clintons. The hucksters on the right are culpable, but so are the "he-said-she-said-gosh-I'm-just-so-fair-minded-and-balanced-professional-centrists."
2
Simply put, Trump’s current unwillingness to enforce sanctions against Putin IS collusion with the Russians.
368
With Mueller's indictments of the Russians today, we are seeing the beginning of the special prosecutor moving to checkmate against Donald Trump. Most importantly, Mueller established today what the Russians did as being illegal and charged them with the appropriate crimes. That lays the foundation for charging those who colluded with this Russian meddling as being criminals as well. We should no longer hear the Trump sycophants trumpeting that collusion isn't a crime. Patience will reward all of us with seeing Donald Trump in a jumpsuit, in federal prison awaiting the death sentence imposed on him for treason. Already we know that the Russians did, in fact, meddle in our last election with the purpose of electing Trump President and denying Clinton this victory. We also know that many of Trump's campaign members, including his son, attempted to participate in those illegal activities. We are getting close to the end of this national nightmare.
7
To my non-American eyes, this display of patriotic indignation is ridiculous. Two points:
(1) If the US acts like a global bully, constantly trying to overthrow regimes that do not bow to its wishes, it is bound to get its nose bloodied from time to time. As Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton reduced Libya to chaos, helped to start the war in Syria, and encouraged anti-Russian forces to seize power unconstitutionally in the Ukraine. Not surprisingly, Russia intervened to protect its interests there, and the fighting continues. Should we be surprised that Russia did not want a reckless war-hawk like Mrs. Clinton in the White House?
(2) Blaming Trump's election on 13 Russians and a network of trolls is as absurd as any Trump tweet. Corporate interests have a stranglehold on US politics, and their role is profoundly undemocratic. The gun lobby has given Americans an epidemic of mass shootings; the insurance lobby, a dismal healthcare system; Wall Street lobbyists, a financial system that worsens inequality; and the arms lobby (together with the military), an unending series of disastrous wars. The influence of the lobbies is amplified by the corporate media, which created Donald Trump. Seen in this light, his election was due not to Russian interference but to the decades-long strengthening of the political power of corporations and billionaires. The strident scapegoating of Russia is merely a distraction from the real, domestically generated crisis of American democracy.
12
Poor Hillary. Fighting for her party's nomination she had to endure months and months of Bernie Sander's wild accusation that she'd effectively been bought off by Wall Street, an accusation that was echoed ad infinitum by indignant social media commenters around the nation and on this very board who were so certain of Bernie's superior moral rectitude at the same time as more and more convinced that Hillary was some kind of villain - and all it orchestrated out of some factory outside of Moscow.
3
1. Of course, members of Team Dumb committed crimes. They thought they were being clever and, honestly, I suspect they didn’t even know they were breaking laws.
2. If taking out Facebook ads can threaten American democracy, the problem lies with our democracy. More specifically, with an electorate so ignorant and disempowered that we believe whatever shows up in our daily animal “feed”.
1
My wife has wondered aloud a few times ”when will his supporters wake up and realize...?” I respond that they will not wake up, there will not be any realizations. There was no reality in November 2016, none in November 2017 and not likely in 2020. The alternative facts are so easily adjusted, reshaped to suit the moment and adjusted to guide the momentum. Trump will not stop using the word hoax because his reality is furthest from the foundations of rational thought, the earliest departure from terra firma. A recent assessment of the presidents health was said to have confirmed his cognizance and set aside concern for his mental well-being. His capacity is not diminished simply because it has never been any different.
2
The Russia thing only matters because Fox News proved that conservatives will believe anything with a paranoid slant and with a hateful ethnocentric bias. The Russian thing however was likely effective because of historic KGB knowledge regarding population control and influence propaganda. Essentially in Russia, the KGB established that nothing is as it appears and that there are always deeper, underlying meaning, cause or untold connection. Everything in Russia has a front, agenda or scam. The average citizen in Russia believes that everything is under control and little if anything matters except avoiding notice. The KGB also has very deep knowledge and skill regarding collective mindsets and geographic awareness and cultural controls especially regarding ordinary workers and big law enforcement agencies like the FBI. They clearly affected rumor and innuendo and singlehanded caused the late investigation regarding Mrs. Clinton by the FBI. They had zero doubt that they could win this thing for Trump.
2
American white nationalism, Hillary incompetence, and Putin meddling gave Trump the Presidency. He will be unable to keep the woeful First Woman Nominee around, but he certainly will want to hang onto the other two. Here is a challenging thought to liberal orthodoxy. In order to protect American democracy, why not seal off the Internet the way China does.
If you expect Trump to lift a finger to do anything you are kidding yourself. I believe the Mueller investigation will eventually tell us why. In the meantime, we owe it to the men and woman of our Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies to DO THEIR JOBS!
4
Well, that finally settles the question of where all those weird, conspiratorial postings by conservative social media friends came from during the 2016 election. I saw so much of that stuff, shared with so much gusto that it wouldn't surprise me at all that the Russians influenced the election.
6
Vladimir Putin spent his early, formative years as an officer in the KGB, and has never looked back. The list of his foes -politicians, investigative journalists, and former business associates who have met untimely deaths in Russia or abroad is almost endless. The Russian sponsored land grab in Ukraine, which included the downing of a commercial airliner, was ruthless and and a clear indication of how Putin plans to “Make Russia Great Again.” The latest revelations of the Kremlin backed plan to destabilize the 2016 presidential election should be terrifying for any American who’s even half listening.
The Trump family’s occult business dealings with Russian oligarchs and Trump’s own unbridled megalomania explain why Trump refuses to recognize the Russian threat and praises Putin. That Trump’s unconditional, dumbed down deplorables and Fox News have largely treated this story as fake news is also unsurprising. But that the Cabinet and the GOP Congress are working overtime to discredit Mueller and his investigation is nothing if not treasonous.
I’ll say one thing for Vladimir Putin, I think he really, really loves Russia - or at least his autocratic version of it, whereas Trump clearly doesn’t give a hoot about America. Donald Trump loves only himself. Period!
6
If there is any message that is coming acrosss loud and clear; it's that we don't have the luxury of waiting for the White House to take any steps in addressing what the Russians have gotten away with so far.
Why Mr. Trump has chosen his path is moot.
What maters most is the effect it is having, not only on the political, but on the moral fabric of this nation.
And there's nothing"fake" about that.
1
It takes at least two to make a scam: the con and the conned. Of course with the magic of modern media one con can con many many suckers.
I saw many "Lock Her Up" signs in the front yards of nice American homes. And I had: how stupid do you have to be to go along with that? And how do you get that way?
An easy clue is provided by simply turning on the TV. It doesn't have to be about anything political. Commercials, of which the usual American will have seen thousands before getting to Kindergarten. Commercials are petty callous manipulation and training for passively submitting to it and liking it. Lovin' it. 'Cause you deserve a break. Over and over again and again. Training to be a patsy. It will get worse because the means for skeptical, sometimes rational, sometimes intuitive or artistic, opposition are getting weaker.
1
If the president's main role is to defend the people of these United States, should it not be considered treason when he remains loudly silent, and not speak up condemning such an interference about the proven invasive meddling of Russia in the 2016 elections? What's going on Mr Trump? Why so willfully blind, an deaf, and morally inept?
4
Trump tweets today that Russia's "anti-US campaign {had started] long before I announced that I would run for President" and puts forth the meme that he is elated by Mr. Mueller's indictment which he says exonerates him of charges of collusion with the Russians. However, he fails to mention that he was paid 20 million dollars in 2013 from a Russian oligarch Putin insider as a "fee" to put on the Miss Universe pageant at the Agalarov family's complex outside Moscow. At the time, Trump's top executive with the patent was reported to have told Emin Agalarov that the Trump organization had alot of debts, and could use the money Moscow could provide. The next year, 2014, US intelligence officials begin to obtain information that the Russians were involved in attempting to influence the upcoming 2016 US Presidential election. Was this just isolated coincidental bad behavior by the Russians, as Trump would still have us believe? I think not. Moscow is not Vegas, and apparently what happened in Moscow did not stay in Moscow. Bravo, Mr. Mueller, you are an American patriot. Thanks for your service.
8
Trump isn't going to implement the newest sanctions against Russia or do anything that makes Putin mad because Putin owns him and is blackmailing him. Another reason he won't do anything about Russian interference in our elections is because he wants Putin to continue doing it. After all, Putin did it to favor Trump and he's continuing to do it to favor Trump. It's about time Trump was called out for what he is--a traitor--and about time he's prosecuted as one.
5
One well-regarded political writer is calling Trump a traitor because he is doing the bidding of Putin and Russia in order to destroy our democracy. I firmly believe that and think that nothing will bring Trump to impose sanctions on Russia, criticize Russia nor do anything to protect the 2018 elections from being compromised by Russia.
Everyone is dancing around the truth and too afraid to acknowledge it. I'm not.
1
If wealth and power are your lifetime goals, then I guess Trump could call it a day. But, that's not how the fever of greed works: it never stops.
I'm glad many entities and countries are not vocally clear about Russia's attack on modern, democratic societies. Putin is a demagogue, billionaire (I remember one ex-associate saying he thought Putin was the richest man in the world) that is very much like Trump. To them, all life is centered on their personal wealth and power, and they've been very effective following that dream, so far. But now, time seems to be up for Trump first, then Putin.
I'm so glad to see the net around Trump tightening. We get to see what eventually happens to avarice in the end-game. This guy is going to pop, which is really not a humane thing, but the best thing about it is we have to both face our worst behaviors and inclinations and also watch karma real-time. He, like other bullies leading modern countries, is facing judgment day. Times up.
Hopefully these bad actors will be silenced and sidelined by history. And we the citizens of the world will finally, actually pick up the reins of society and government and create something worthy of this most special and wondrous planet, full of such good people deserving more.
2
I agree with all the sentiments of this editorial but do I fail to see any threat tho our elections. It is true that the Russians illegitimately and illegally assisted various points of view and certain groups. But those points of view and groups were already there in one form or another. There is no evidence that the election itself was altered by this misconduct. While I readily admit it is difficult to imagine what sort of evidence would prove this except for personal admissions, it is also a bit unconvincing to believe that many votes if any were cast because of these acts. If that is substantially true, however, our democracy rests on very thin reeds, if any at all.
1
In year two of this disastrous administration we don't expect Trump to defend or protect Americans; we've been shown too many times that this expectation is folly. What remains to be seen is whether the Republicans in Congress will do their jobs and take on the responsibility of stopping a hostile foreign power from further attacks. If they choose to protect Trump's personal stake in this, we know without a doubt that democracy is over and done with -- unless we vote them out in November. We have never had a more consequential election.
3
The lack of respect of this president for his country is nearly laughable. It is horrific and sad, but at the same time, up until today, I felt as so many do, that nothing was done to protect us in this down spirale, and then, Mr. Mueller came, today, and strangely tonight I feel saved because I believe that now, we all might be.
This corruption of our electoral system is like a bad B movie from the days of the Cold War with the Soviets.After World War ll it was obvious that the Russians were going to carve up territory in Europe to their advantage.We were wary of them and their army.Have we forgotten that Kruschev put missiles in Cuba?The Russians are no longer threatening us with missiles and subs but are using our own social media to threaten us and our elections.We need the same vigilance now that they have invaded our media and use the caution about their spies that we did during the Cold War.
1
One of their aims may well be not merely to influence the outcome of a particular election, but to subvert the credibility of the democratic process more generally. As at least one previous commenter has said, if the outcome in the midterms in a "purple" state is close but tips Republican, we may have trouble believing or accepting it. The impact of such a loss of faith in the whole process is even more corrosive than the outcome of a given election, even one as catastrophic as the one we're dealing with now.
Not that the process has been particularly credible to date, given gerrymandering, voter supression and other dirty tactics practiced primarily by the Republican Party.
2
Mueller did all this without any leaks.
Not so sure Trump directly colluded with Russia but think Trump may be involved with tax evasion and money laundering via Russia.
Because trump is a very unbalanced and vain person who really just thinks about himself and wants to win at any cost he will never punish Russia or truly admit they helped him win. If he admits it and punishes Russia he will have to admit to himself he is not the great one he imagines and he can not do that. He will allow Russia to continue to attack this country to satisfy his own ego.
2
Trump had the double endorsement of the Republican Party and the Russians, the latter of which brought him advantages that the former could not officially, legally support. In fact the Republicans have brought him little except for a collective sense of "turned-head."
2
It is time for everyone to realize that Russian exploited the hyper-partisan political climate. Russians not exacerbated the social divisions, they also almost succeeded in damaging institutions. Trump was a manifestation of the ugly underbelly of American politics. What I fear most is that we may find that Mr. Steele might be an unwitting participant as well in the Russian plans to damage electoral politics. Everyone, including the Times, may have fallen for the most vile of the Kompromat.
There is absolutely nothing "mysterious" about Trump's resistance to admitting to Russian interference in our elections. The obvious has been right in our faces from the beginning. The Russians have so much "compromat" on Trump, and he lives in anxiety and fear. He knows they could destroy him - psychologically and financially - and expose the real "fraud," Mr. Trump, himself. I keep thinking about the Wizard of Oz. The Russians have the ability to pull back that curtain and reveal the pathetic and powerless man Trump really is. So, we can wait and hope that Trump will take this attack seriously, but nothing is going to happen to prevent the Russians from doing it again and again. Certainly, Trump will do nothing. I doubt he was even listening when he put his hand on the Bible and swore to protect and defend us. Standing there in the wind and the rain, he was probably worrying about his hair.
1
Despite the utter destruction, it's in both Trump's and the GOP's political interest to do nothing. Looking forward, one has to only ask the question: What have they done so far-really?
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One way to counter Russian meddling in democratic elections is for the State Department to use US soft power to push back against authoritarian regimes like Russia, China, Turkey and the Philippines.
But Trump and Tillerson have energetically emasculated the State Department. I wonder why.
Trump's authoritarian sympathies are no secret. But what is less well known is that Tillerson, while CEO of Exxon, found the State Department a bit of a nuisance when he was doing shady oil deals with African dictators.
1
The Americans elected a president who not only does not defend the country's interest and democracy but also tries to tear down our institutions--especially the FBI. All the more reasons for us to suspect Trump's connection with the Russians. If not, why doesn't he release his tax returns? When is the GOP leadership going to take action? What are McConnell and Ryan waiting for?
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Donald Trump is beyond redemption. He and his vice president need to be shown the door, now. Today's indictments slam the door on the administration's utter falsehoods that there wss no Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. For Vladimir Putin, Trump and Pence are the Abbott and Costello of American politics. They are the gift that keeps on giving. We need a clean break from their hyperpartisanship and mendacity. Republicans may now be in the majority in both houses of Congress, but that's not likely to last, and especially now that they may rightly be perceived as the intended beneficiaries of the Russian cyber attacks. Any sane Republican strategist would be trying to cut a deal now, rather than risk losing it all come November. But that's not likely to happen because to do that they would have to be the kind of Republicans that their party was before the Reagan Administration. Today's Republican Party is all about power, requisites, and preserving their electoral majorities by whatever means necessary. Not a good sign for Congress to do its Constitutional duty right now; but give it another two to three months and that may change.
Today's indictments may not end up in criminal convictions of those accused, but they will knock down the wall of denial that Republicans have erected around themselves. After today, it's every man for himself. Ironically, Republicans' panic may yet accomplish what appeal to principle could not.
3
Lyndon B. Johnson won his first election to the US House in 1937, soundly defeating a well liked incumbant, by stuffing ballot boxes.
Mayor Richard J. Daley and his "Democratic Machine" controlled Chicago by enabling deceased people to vote multiple times. Mr. Daley supplied the winning margin for JFK in 1960. That was real election fraud.
In the 2016 election, there was absolutely no evidence that Russian operatives or anyone else interfered in the vote count the way LBJ and Daley did. Conversely, there is good evidence that he Russian government did try to discredit the American electoral system by sowing disinformation (aka "fake news") in various media.
But disinformation is very different from ballot box stuffing: disinformation is noise but ballot box stuffing is fraud. Noise is ubiquitous at election time and comes from many disparate sources. It is the job of the voters to sort out what is noise and what is real in deciding how to cast their ballots. In 2016, the American people chose the President, not the Russians.
Russian operatives should not be sowing disinformation in the USA because doing so taints the American political process. For that reason, we must try to stop them from doing so in the future. Indicting them is symbolic only. It is otherwise meaningless.
In 1960, Eisenhower encouraged Nixon to demand a recount, but Nixon declined. Nixon had class. The NY Times and its readers need to get some class, accept the election result, and stop bellyaching.
I myself wonder what the Russians will do next. After all they have been feeding money to Trump for years. Trump was their big investment. Is something more nefarious to come?
1
How about an article telling congress to stop letting Trump get away with systematically tearing apart our government?
I don’t get it.
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@Javaforce
Sorry. But yy now, you should "get it".... Or haven't you realized that this Republican Congress is little more than an extension of Donald Trump?
1
Trump has a problem, he is incapable of telling the truth, even when it would serve him better. Because he cannot tell the truth, when he says "no collusion" it could only be a lie.
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So, we know Trump will do nothing as he is financially beholden to the Russians (allegedly, for now).
What is the excuse of the Republicans?
That they expect to be the beneficiaries of the Russian largesse? That Russia will support them in order to bolster Trump?
Let’s call it for what it is. Republicans will ignore an attack on America as long as it benefits them personally (their tax cuts, their re-election...).
America: Let’s rally together for our country and throw the GOP bums out in 2018!
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As the Times has repeatedly pointed out, an indictment is written by a prosecutor and rubber-stamped by the grand jury. Moreover, Mueller may have gone quicker than usual, because the charges will never be tested in court. By naming all the charged parties, Mueller warned them that if they ever come to the US they will be arrested.
The indictments are just pieces of paper with some prosecutor's statement of what happened. I have never seen the Times take the bare allegations of a prosecutor and rubber stamp them --like a subservient grand jury. The proper reaction is to send a clear message to Mueller that bare indictments like this are grossly unfair and improper and are an abuse of the system.
Don't hold your breath waiting for Trump to punish or even criticize Putin and Russia for interfering with our most fundamental and precious right: to vote in free and fair elections. There is not proof yet that Trump knowingly worked with Russia on their election interference but he certainly speaks and acts like he is hiding guilt. Hillary Clinton, during the debates called Trump "Putin's Puppet." It is beginning to look more and more like she was right.
2
Careful game of chess. A good check from Mueller. What can Trump do if he’s complicit? Just about all his pieces, from pawns to bishops to knights to Queen, already compromised. Mate will follow when ready and cooked. Trump will just throw the game out. Good parents Congress will do nothing.
It is clear Trump is profoundly compromised in some way. Mr. Mueller knows to follow the money. What’s up with that Russian oligarch paying him ~$60 million over what that property was worth? Hmm.
1
President Trump committed no collusion with Russia regarding our presidential elections. He has said this all along. Russia did not need his help they acted independently. They started back in 2014 and shouldn't President Obama have been concerned with this meddling since he was our leader at the time. Maybe if he had, we would not have needed the Mueller investigation which has cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
Thank you, Mr. Mueller. You are a true patriot. Persevere.
2
Even more worrisome than Russian meddling is the self-delusion that so many Trump supporters continue to wallow in, enabled by Fox and other hard right propaganda machines. The word “unwitting” is all that these dead-enders needed to rationalize and excuse some of the most reprehensible conduct most of us have ever witnessed emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sadly, the Russians can sit on their hands throughout the coming election cycle and many Americans will be just as ill-informed as in 2016.
3
It's very difficult for me to see Trump's behavior as anything but treasonous.
But of course I am not, thank heavens, a Republican congressman. Those people appear to be traitors themselves.
1
"...his mysterious resistance to acting against Russia and to focus on protecting his own country."
There cannot be any mystery in Trump's mind why he refuses to take action against Russia. Whatever leverage Putin has over Trump must be vile.
1
This president should be impeached on this Russian issue.
He's lied about it, his staff has lied about it. Now the intelligence agencies say Russians have and are interfering, and Bob Mueller has indicted many Russians.
And still, the President denies there has been Russian interference. This is the President against his own intelligence agencies.
1
I'm afraid the premise is naive. Trump is in on it. The Russians own him.
3
Has Trump finally reached his level of incompetence yet? He wants to make America great again but seems to side with the Russians and protect their interests and meddling. Trump lives in a bubble. When reality confronts him, not only does he fail to accept that reality, he hasn't a clue what to do with it.
Who you gonna blame this time?
With two guilty pleas in its possession, one from the former security advisor and another from the campaign advisor of Trump, and now the indictment of several Russian individuals and organisations, the Mueller investigation has nearly unmasked the Russian plot to delegitimise the US democratic process which Trump was not only aware of but also became the net beneficiary. Prudence demands that before it is too late or the Mueller inquiry inches closer to the Trump's involvement in the Russian meddling Trump as the oath bound head of the state should come out openly with his knowledge and extent of cooperation with Russia about the whole murky affair of sabotaging the election process, and help safeguard the US national integrity and its security.
47
Trump lets the Russians get away with it because Trump owes them hundreds of millions off dollars. He can't pay it back so he's doing them favors and handing the US over to them.
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That may be part of it. Another factor that I don't see discussed is that Trump fears Putin, not only for the potential financial impact but because Putin's enemies tend to end up dead. It may be that Trump fears for the safety of his family and himself. After all, Secret Service protection is not impermeable, despite the agency's expertise and professionalism. If his financial dealings with Russia are dubious and he has reason to fear for his safety, could Trump tell the Secret Service, FBI or any law enforcement agency with any degree of assurance that illegal financial activities may be exposed?
That's merely a question worth exploring, if for no other reason than the resistance of Trump against the fact of the Russian meddling and failure to enforce sanctions is irrational and unusual for an American president. While there is much about Trump that is irrational and unusual his posture is so militant that it defies reason that it can only raise suspiciouns.
2
Call me crazy, but where are Mitch and Paul on this one? Or, gee, maybe the entire Republican cadre in the House and Senate? Wait, I remember - they won, so they don't care.
3
Yes Linda, I agree and this says nothing about his slimy actions which are documented on "the dossier". He may be proud of his woman conquests, but being on the receiving of a golden shower doesn't play well with his base.
2
“Whoops, there it is!” Trump denied it, but others knew, including the 17 US intelligence agencies he accused of conducting a "witch hunt." Putin knew. The man Trump said he believed. Trump's denial was rooted in his ego, its outsized pettiness: Russian interference, he felt, would steal the thunder of his perfect storm--his improbable, unpredicted electoral upset, despite losing the popular vote.
Facebook finally admitted the worst kept secret of statecraft: the Russians used its platforms to influence political opinions and voter behavior, to tilt the election to Trump. Twitter, after being dragged screaming, discovered its 140 character platform was a powerful force for flipping an election reveling in meanness/name calling/blame—anything besides the public good. Obama knew. But he wavered.
The Russians spent money, millions monthly; they had an agenda. Suppress minority votes, contact grassroots leaders, spend thousands on ads, stage events, use tier 1 skills to conceal the bloody mess.
It's Mueller time! With details dating to 2014, his massive coordinated and well executed effort--fair play--is bringing justice and light—but it also reveals the stunning ignorance and petty fears of a megalomaniac who declared our defense of democracy was a "hoax." We know it was not a "anybody," or "a fat guy in a bed."
Even today, all he could say was “I'm not guilty.” Sad.
(Part 2 below.)
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(Part 2.)
Why? Why the constant denials of an obvious truth, why such a foolish lie? For the age-old temptations of money and power. The New Yorker's Adam Davidson details how Trump's flirtations with building in Georgia opened his eyes to new levels of wealth and corruption. Trump also saw the apparatus of government magnify private wealth with impunity. Having exploited bankruptcy, he saw the next step: Russian oligarchs operating with no fear of prosecution, facilitating deals in a corrupt paradise protected by political connections.
Davidson says Trump's involvement in Georgia (deals his lawyers declared off limits to Mueller) provided Trump with “points of contact.” He took money from a bank deeply involved in fraud and money laundering. He witnessed a financial culture built on his prevailing values: (1) “cynical opportunism,” blaming others while receiving corrupt benefits, and (2)“self dealing,” stacking assets so he benefited personally even if the projects failed. The carnage in Trump's vision reflects his own, as familiar as his steak and potatoes. He profits from corruption and collapse. The difference was, in Georgia/Russia, such deals were protected and enabled by the state.
He imported this model to the White House! It is his grand plan for America's government, his theory of power. It is a remarkable fit for cabinet actions in every sector, for the personal perks of state officials. Complete with the loyalty that corruption demands and built on lies.
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How do we know that Trump's denial of the evidence that Russia interfered in our elections in 2016 is the result of his "outsized ego"? We all know that he does have an ego which even leads to one of the Republican senators to claim that Trump could be the greatest American president to which Trump asked even greater than Washington and Lincoln? But is this a sufficient reason for the denial? Perhaps the ready assertion that it is his ego is only a red herring, a cause that masks the underlying reason. I suspect that one day the Special Prosecutor will come up with charges indicating that there was a more malignant reason for Trump's denial and support of the dictator and journalist killer Putin.
1
To all: thanks for reading, replies!
Harold: not his ego, but its "outsized pettiness." Loads of evidence/examples exist for his ego's fixation on petty things, some good, "beautiful" chocolate cake; some bad, some strange--his fear of exercise, his idea that it consumes your life (rather than increasing its vitality).
I cite another cause of his denial in Part 2. It sueveys the great work of Adam Davidson. Painstakingly, researched, with names and ties, interviews, and evidence across continents, he establishes the basis for the conclusions I outline in Part 2.
So I cite two conjoined, reinforcing reasons; one his persistent habitual pettiness (in contrast to his claims of greatness); two, his attraction to a vision of power that enables corruption and bunce (illegal windfalls).
No doubt, other reasons will be identified. With Trump, the list always gets longer!
3
"The Internet Research Agency alone had a staff of 80 and a monthly budget of $1.25 million. On the advice of a real, unnamed grass-roots activist from Texas, it had focused its efforts on swing states ...." Gosh, could that be Brad Parscale?
"In 2015 Jared Kushner hired Brad Parscale, a Texas-based digital guru who previously had done work for the Trump Organization. Parscale’s company raked in $91 million for work targeting states with paid advertisements, social media messages, and other cyber tools. The campaign was sophisticated and carried on in a vast scale, running as many as 50,000 Facebook ads a day to establish which ones resonated best with voters, reported Wired, and paying for 'dark posts' that are publicly INVISIBLE and show up in a voter's news feed," reported Newsweek. Russian-paid bloggers also released fake stories on social media dissing Secretary Clinton, downloaded voter rolls in key states, then unleashed millions of bots using email, Facebook, Twitter, political advertising tailored precisely to individual voters. Trump longtime consigliere Roger Stone (who worked with Paul Manafort to promote some of the world's thuggish dictators) boasted of being in contact with Guccifer; the Russian GRE organization thought to be behind the social media campaign. How did the Russians know how to target individual voters?
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-brad-parscale-russia-digital-guru-637322
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I believe the answer to your question is Cambridge Analytica, whose involvement came at the hands of Jared Kushner. Pretty soon, I hope, this entire criminal enterprise will fall down like a house of cards and most of its participants will be in jail - including Trump.
8
Good job. Keep it up.
1
Donald (Not a puppet) Trump will do nothing to protect our democracy, despite that being his job. So what happens at the midterm election if we have a lot of very close races in purple states that tip Republican? I know I will have a hard time believing those results. There were a number of very close races for the House of Delegates in Virginia this past November, and while the overall wave of wins by Democrats was a surprise, those close races tended to break toward the Republicans. I remember thinking at the time that somewhere in Russia a troll is saying, "Next time I hack the voter rolls, must be sure to delete even more registered Democrats." I hope I am wrong, but Trump's own constant harping that the election "was rigged" makes me think it was and will be. Rigged toward him, that is.
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We now see a well-funded and incredibly well coordinated attack on America by Russian intelligence operatives (directly connected to Vladimir Putin) who stole the identities of real Americans, flooded social media with lies, while running public rallies made to look like Americans rallies. Seeing how massive this Russian operation was and how Russian infiltration corrupted every part of the America electoral process, as well as infected American democracy itself, is terrifying. It is likely Americans would not know if Trump had his way and fired Rosentein and Mueller. I feel relief for the first time in nearly 2 years. I was beginning to think no one would ever be held accountable for damaging America, American democracy, and world stability. As detailed, a Russian operative emailed: "We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues...I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people." Trump can no longer pretend this is fake; the Russians infiltrated America, specifically trying to get him elected, so instead Trump now pretends that since no evidence was yet presented directly implicating him, he's innocent. It's patently untrue. As a patriotic American I give my greatest thanks to Rod Rosenstein and Robert S. Mueller III for protecting America when the current president is all too happy to let the Russians destroy it.
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I give special thanks to Rod Rosenstein, who, in my view just passed a test for a profile in courage by reading these charges himself in front of the press. Trump will hate him even more and be even more determined to try to ruin his reputation or to fire him. Unfortunately for Trump's base there would be no act on the part of Trump too vicious for them to swallow and to justify. Even, as Trump boasted himself, to shoot a man in broad daylight in New York City in front of witnesses. The most willing to believe of all of the base are his evangelical supporters who avidly follow Trump's spiritual growth. Is that an oxymoron or what.
10
@Harold Johnson
Just for the record. Donald Trump hates coming here to New York City for any reason whatsoever -- And he certainly wouldn't lose any votes.
1
Everyone seems to be using this news about the Russians to attack Donald Trump. Why? Everything points to the fact that he was right. He had nothing to do with the Russians.
Yet he and his campaign were surveilled and his guilt was assumed for almost 2 years now. Even today many people are commenting that Robert Mueller III is going to be indicting Donald Trump. For what?
The Russians do meddle in our affairs. They meddle in other countries' affairs. We do too, around the globe. They spy, as well, as do we. (Or is that a secret I'm not supposed to tell?) They always have. They always will.
But we need to deal with the Russians. They are no longer a superpower, but they have influence in Ukraine, Syria, and North Korea. We should be dealing with them about those important issues. Not worrying about 13 Russians in St. Petersburg placing Facebook ads and (like our Operation Earnest Voice) promoting propaganda. That's just noise.
6
The Russians campaign is am act of cyber warfare--intended to compromise the office of the Presidency and undermine the democratic institutions of the country. Wouldn't you say that's serious? If you've been following the news--Mr. Trump and his family, inner circle and appointees have numerous contacts with the Russian; why have they lied about them? Here's just one example: in early 2016 when Mr. Trump included Mr. Papadopoulos in his six-person foreign-policy team it was headed by then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, who later called himself a Trump campaign surrogate in Senate hearings. The current attorney general also claimed not to recall meetings he had with the Russians or their content. However, Mr. Papadopoulos claims he escalated invitations for Trump to meet with the Russians numerous times up the chain to his superiors. So it's not far-fetched to believe Sessions knew of these invitations and contacts as did others in Trump's inner circle. Moreover, U.S. Intel intercepts of conversations with Sessions and Russian ambassador Kislyak reveal Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters and policy issues important to Moscow. Here's another one: Trump recommended the lawyer representing the Russian Alpha Bank to head the FBI's Criminal Investigation Unit.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discusse...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/us/politics/brian-benczkowski-justice...
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And you expect Trump to "deal with the Russians"? He's not equipped to handle Putin. And he doesn't want to. Neither does the Republican Congress. It benefits both to blame Hillary and deflect to Democrats Your solution is nonsensical at best. Unfortunately, it it only assures that Putin's influence in America will remain and grow deeper.
6
Here's why: Because Donald Trump has no credibility. He has a well-documented history of telling blatant lies -- about Obama's citizenship, for example. And if he has nothing to hide, why doesn't he release his tax returns like every other recent president has done?
7
The NY Times righteously implores President Trump to focus on protecting his country.
I’m sure he would be happy to do that, and, of course, take credit for it, as long as it would align with his more important priorities.
And there is the rub: security of our nation is way down on the list - well below purging the State Department and the EPA of career diplomats and scientists, ridding law enforcement of anyone who is married to a Democrat, making fun of persons with disabilities and bullying immigrants, to name just a few.
Perhaps, at 71, he will have a Road to Damascus change of heart.
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