Sanctions passed by congress and sent to the POTUS still not signed.
29
Thank you Robert Mueller for exposing some of the most active Russian players in the effort to undermine our democracy. At least we have a start in making america aware of the massive breach in our election process.
Meanwhile, Mr President, you must still prove that you are not colluding.
Impose the sanctions which were overwhelming passed by Congress against Russia.
Prove to the american people that those many meetings with Russian operatives by your staff (Flynn, Manafort, Don Jr., Kushner, Papadopolous, Gates) to discuss lifting sanctions were just innocent chit chat.
Congress: All future votes must be cast by paper ballot. We must assume all electronic ballots can be altered.
14
The Russians took advantage of the weaknesses we ourselves have created . Someone comes into your house and creates havoc because you let them. A house divided, without order and discipline leaves itself exposed. It self destructs. Mr. Trump's election is as much the fault of the Democratic the Republican leadership. Of course the Russians take us for fools!
27
The Russian campaign of disinformation and propaganda would not have been so effective had people not been so willing to believe it.
What will Trumpy do when, in 2020, Putin decides to support his opponent? Then his rhetoric will change. All he can do now is, as usual, make it about himself - sending blathering, idiotic tweets about “no collusion”. As they say, he doth protest too much.
8
Unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign.
This sentence doesn’t describe collusion, but stupidity.
The options are Trump and his best and brightest are either a criminal organization or a bunch of dumb people running the country. Neither choice is very attractive.
12
Imagine, 13 Russians convinced tens of thousands Hillary voters to change their vote to Trump. Shows how weak the Hillary vote really was, and how stupid her voters were. And this all happened when Obama was President, Obama knew about it and did nothing to stop it because he thought Hillary would win.
8
Rick Scott signed “more pro-gun bills into law — in one term — than any other Governor in Florida history.” That is what Governor Scott said about himself in 2014. Marco Rubio is a hungry recipient of NRA funds-over 3 million dollars. President Trump received over 31 million dollars from the NRA in the last election. Why are people blaming Christopher Wray? Keep your thoughts and prayers for the mentally ill. Guns kill-period.
17
I wouldn't call this "fake news," but I'd hesitate to call it "real" news.
Governments (including, or should I say, especially, ours) have been doing this sort of thing in other countries for decades. It's classic KGB (or, uh, CIA) stuff, and if we didn't predict it and prepare for it, or if we, let's say, paved the path for it by creating modern "social media," then I think we've only ourselves to blame.
This appears to have been a well considered, well executed foreign propaganda program, which was very effective, and against which we are now shaking our puny fists, well after the fact.
I congratulate the Russian Federation on a round well played, and have to wonder why the US, collectively and to a large extent individually, are such a bunch of complete idiots that we would blissfully allow this to happen, and continue to fight about it even now, rather than work together to protect ourselves next time.
12
The Times is pushing the federal propaganda.
If some Russians in the U.S. were expressing views on social media, do what? There are millions of people "expressing views."
As others have said here, If the American people are so ignorant to just accept the social media junk, and it's filled with it, then that is the problem, not the Russians trying to influence us. The Republicans no doubt spent more money trying to influence us than the Russians did. Who did we believe or want to believe. If there were millions and millions of people so tired, confused, disoriented, jobless, ignorant and depressed with life in America, then they will believe anything and that is the problem, not the Russians.
6
Thanks God for Trump! Evidently, his presidency is the only thing that forced Americans to wake up. They were all complacently sleeping under president Obama.
4
Interesting and misleading how the New York Times reports the indictment against the 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies for allegedly interfering with the 2016 Presidential campaign. As the title of the article implies the Russians were aiding then-candidate Donald J. Trump. But the Russian campaign of disinformation was also targeted to aid Bernie Sanders in his campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton. In presenting the indictment, Assistant AG Rosenstein stated that Russians did not affect the outcome of the election and that no Americans were involved. In reality, the indictment is symbolic, as these individuals will never see justice, and besides, as far as I am concerned if they worked against Hillary Rodham Clinton then more power to them, they did our nation a favor. Furthermore, if Americans are that gullible to fall for their propaganda, their fake news, then the real indictment should be against the American people for stupidity. Thank you.
6
Lock him up. Confiscate all his ill-gotten gain, along with that of the Trump dynasty - children and, especially, Kushner.
12
I knew it. An army of 13 can take out the entire nation of fat, intelligent, and 250 million Americans. Probably, God too was with the anti abortionists and a contributing factor in Hillary's loss. So unfair. Time we banned guns, Facebook, and Twitter to keep us safe. Unless, Trump is willing to start World War 3, on these 13 threats to our National Security, we're never going to be safe. Accept that fact. North Korea and China know this and thus enjoy a blissful interference free existence. China shows us the advantages of banning international social media and keeping it's citizens safe by playing only the National Anthem all day, and only verified good citizens of China can post on Social Media. Democrats, along with George Soros, please take notes for the next election in 2020. The far-far Bernie left stands the best chance to defeat right wing Trump. Time for the Red Star to adorn our FBI, NSA, and replace the US flag. Democrat America beckons to the Socialist Left. God bless.
2
Wow, is there even one of these Russian inspired hits on Hillary and our government's legitimacy Trump DIDN'T try to pretend HE invented?
4
I dont understand. Does not George Soros do the same thing and the NYT does not care? Did not the old Soviet Union do this as a matter of course? Do not advertisers on Google do this all the time with floating adds on my browser? This indictment seems embarrassing to me. Even if all true what real effect did it have? Many of the examples (of manipulation) described were at political (Trump) rallies that were ALREADY HAPPENING!!.
What next? Do we ban (all) billboards? All tv commercials? --are they not attempting to alter my thinking?
I feel this indictment is a lot of thing--heck I could have told you the Russians are up to no good at least sometimes--aint that their job?
13 Russians! after all tis time what a complete waste of time and money
6
So this has been going on since 2014. About same time that Obama was listening in on German Angela Merkel. Who is on first?
6
My husband is taking the "Great Decisions 1918 Foreign Policy Association" Class, which is taught yearly throughout the country. It is based on the book put out by the Foreign Policy Association each year. This from page 25:
"The Clinton administration claimed to see Yeltsin as the only alternative to a communist backlash. In early 1996, when Yeltsin had just 6% support in the polls, the U. S. government brokered a major International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Russia in order to reinforce his financial and political standing at home. In addition (unofficially but with the agreement of the Yeltson administration) the U. S. sent four of Clinton's former campaign advisers from Arkansas days to Moscow to help with Yeltsin's reelection campaign. Both governments kept the news of U. S. involvement in the election secret until after Yeltsin was safely returned to power in July. The U.S. government was thus instrumental in helping to manage a campaign characterized by, for instance, massive corruption, cooptation of the media by the state, the invention of "false flag" candidates to draw votes away from the communist opposition candidate, and a successful cover-up of the actual condition of Yeltsin's health, especially the heart attack he suffered just before the decisive second round of the election." Where was the outrage then?
5
I look forward to the day when the next indictment list from the Mueller team shall be headlined by Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and Donald Jr. at least. I have a wonderful Chianti ready to be uncorked.
9
Murdoch's "Wall Street Journal" published an editorial a few month ago calling for the termination of the Mueller investigation. Maybe Murdoch is working for Putin.
11
Facebook was fully funded by Russians, so I think we need to stick a probe up someone's backdoor.
See something, do something, FBI! And I have faith they will.
1
So, is the next step to protect our Democracy the eventual prohibiting of citizens of any foreign country to post their opinions to Facebook, Twitter, NYT, Wapo or any US media? This will include people from countries like Canada, Israel, UK, France, Saudi Arabia etc., which I see all the time, or will it be just Russia?
2
Americans are learning for the first time how galling and infuriating it is to have a foreign power meddle in your elections. That's an experience they now share with the 81 countries in whose elections the U.S. intervened between 1946 and 2000--around two-thirds of them covertly--according to a study by Dov Levin, published in the International Studies Quarterly in 2016. The Soviet Union, or later, Russia, was a distant second with 36 foreign interventions (the study examined 938 elections during the period).
What most Americans fail to appreciate is that in the eyes of Russians, the U.S. and its NATO allies have been waging economic warfare against their country since it intervened to protect both Ukraine's ethnic Russian population from neo-Nazi and nationalist militias, and Russia's major Black Sea naval base in Crimea, after a U.S.-supported right-wing coup in Kiev in 2014 (again, as Russians see it). The West calls its attempt to cripple Russia's economy "sanctions," but to Russians that is mere euphemism for naked aggression against them, redolent of the Cold War.
Now Russia has struck back, and it's somewhat dismaying to see how few Americans have begun to grasp the geopolitical context in which it's happening. But it's not surprising: what drives the rest of the world crazy isn't that the U.S. is just like everyone else, but that it (still) pretends it isn't.
8
Rod Rosenstein said in regards to Russian meddling in our election “We must not allow them to succeed.” Words more suited for a president leading a nation against a hostile adversary.
5
That the Russians also attacked Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz should give Republican Congress members second thoughts about just letting the Russians get away with this. Do they want their careers derailed if they don’t support Russia sufficiently?
7
Meanwhile, have you heard of Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt? Or how about America’s Rough Riders?
1
Interesting that all of this would never have been unearthed had Hillary won the election.
1
So Mueller expanded the scope of his investigation. Must have Hillary and company very, very nervous.
1
Trump supporters MeToo claiming collusion is not treason because Russia is not our enemy.
But Trump's White House released a report voting Russia as the reason we need to build new nuclear weapons, including new tactical nuclear weapons. In his State of the Union speech, Trump focused on North Korea, but his official excuse is Russia.
Trump's "Nuclear Posture Review, focuses intensely on Russia. It describes Mr. Putin as forcing America’s hand to rebuild the nuclear force, as has a series of other documents produced by Mr. Trump’s National Security Council and his Pentagon.
The report contains a sharp warning about a new Russian-made autonomous nuclear torpedo that — while not in violation of the terms of the treaty, known as New Start — appears designed to cross the Pacific undetected and release a deadly cloud of radioactivity that would leave large parts of the West Coast uninhabitable."
-NY Times 2/4/18
So don't believe propagandists who tell you that Russia is not the enemy. Trump claims they are an existential threat to the USA. They are also directly attacking our electoral system. If Trump wittingly engaged in collusion with Russia's hostile intelligence service that would be treason. If he didn't know he is too stupid to be president.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
2
It is finally becoming apparent that Trump did not actually collude with the Russians. Yes, he and his coworkers met with Russians. Yes, he gloated when informed that the Russians had dirt on Clinton. But Clinton was also seeking dirt on Trump.
The NY Times and other national newspapers have focused on this nonissue for months. Yes, it is still possible that through trickery, Trump will be induced to lie before the special prosecutor, paving the way for political impeachment hearings. But it is far less destructive to democracy to remove Trump by voting him out of office.
Where the NY Times goes astray is in not fully discussing the reasons for Clintons defeat.
Yes, the Podesta emails showed she told donors she supported open borders.
But the real reason Trump won was because he spoke out against illegal immigration.
While illegal immigration benefits the wealthy, it has had a devastating effect on poor America. Many Americans die early because they have no insurance for health care. Many poor have no jobs or inadequate jobs. Liberals have deserted the American poor on these issues.
Instead they champion the poor of Mexico and Guatemala.
The real problem, population growth, is never discussed.
The Immigration Reform Act of 1986 was supposed to stop illegal immigration. But liberals defy the law by declaring certain cities sanctuary cities.
US population has grown by 34.6 percent since 1986, driven by immigration not fertility, and that impoverishes the poor.
4
In the United States the people always ask why after a heinous event. Will the DOJ or the NYT look for that answer in this event? Why did the Russian government or Russian actors want to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we support them)?
Wasn't there verified reports of Russian money funneled to the Clinton Foundation and to Bill for his speaking engagements? One would think that the Russian government would want an experienced politician like Hillary to be president of the US.
1
From the article,
"Facebook revealed that the firm had paid more than $100,000 for politically themed ads, including ones promoting “Down With Hillary” rallies."
Certainly, the Times could have added some value to this article, by telling us how much Hillary spent at the NY Times alone, during the election.
My proposition, is that $100,000 was a meaningless advertising spend in the 2016 election - if that's all "Russia" could come up with, they are certainly are no threat to our electoral process.
4
Don't believe the Trump lie about not running for POTUS before 2016.
Back in July 2013, Trump told the National Review that he was “looking” to run because the country was being “stupidly and foolishly led.” He added that his business and economic reputation could help the United States take on China and put the U.S. back on top. Trump also told Reuters, in January, that running for president is something he “would certainly look at” because he is “unhappy with the way things are going in America.”
6
The truly terrifying aspect of this is that a foreign adversary so effectively identified and borrowed into the cracks and fissures of our nation and society. Like a swarm of termites they ate to the core. Russia orchestrated the mechanism by which we can and are destroying our nation. We are polarized on so many issues, violence is erupting in our streets, schools, and churches. Only we can save ourselves.
3
"Unwitting", maybe; however, they were walking around with For Sale signs on their foreheads and openly asking for dirt. "Russia, if you're listening..."
That Trump's unwitting victims are now on threads suggesting that it's really Clinton who's the traitor for hiring a firm to do opposition research that hired a former intelligence officer from an allied country, who found material that sounds a lot like what Mueller is finding, is beyond irony.
3
We're doing poorly in the Olympics and we are doing poorly in outsmarting political Russians. Nothing left for America.
2
I REALLY like item 99 in this indictment as it echos the cost of doing this kind of business. A few Tea Pot Blowners fled to Paris, and forfeited their no bid leased profits to US rather than face the consequences of bribing a US Cabinet member.
Tea Pot Dome USED to be the worst political scandal in US history.
1
And true to form, Mr. Trump tweets only about himself and his campaign. I guess 36 pages of the double spaced indictment is too much reading for him because he sure failed to mention of how appalled he is to learn that the Russians stole American identities and opened American bank and PayPal accounts using those stolen identities. This 4-times-bankruptcy-guy has failed at his job on so many levels, I really don't understand why he hasn't been fired yet.
7
Most Americans are thankful for the work of the Special Counsel in trying to bring these Russian saboteurs to justice. Why not you, Mr. President?
8
Dispel the lie that Trump wasn't running in 2014.
Back in July 2013, Trump told the National Review that he was “looking” to run because the country was being “stupidly and foolishly led.” He added that his business and economic reputation could help the United States take on China and put the U.S. back on top. Trump also told Reuters, in January, that running for president is something he “would certainly look at” because he is “unhappy with the way things are going in America.”
2
Will Mueller share anything he learned about Russia and other nations elections like France or Germany. Will those countries move to punish Russia?
1
Should the Obama administration have been surprised about Putin's counter action to Obama's meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs? (See the Victoria Nuland recording on you tube)
If the U.S. is going to stage coups and birth Western friendly governments in former Soviet states, it should expect a reaction from Putin's Russia.
For Putin, U.S. efforts to remove the Russian friendly elected government in Ukraine was a 'bridge too far'. What happened in 2016 is a consequence of those actions.
3
So, it appears that the problem is that they are Russians, and that the same stunts by the Clinton campaign are just fine.
OK, I get it now.
2
Ha! If the Russians really wanted to foment discord in our country, instead of tongue-in-cheek 'attacks' related to political players which most people laughed off (e.g., Jesus vs. demon Hillary, the buffed up superhero Bernie), they could have pressed the really HOT button issue of gun control. Why didn't they if that was their motive?
Speaking of gun control, why did the JROTC play such an important role in the school kids' lives and deaths in Florida? Yes, that ROTC - military indoctrination, I mean training, as in guns.
I'm sorry, but the theory of this case may sound rational but only until you get around to giving it a second thought.
2
Best case scenario for the Democrats:
Trump and his team are cleared.
Worst case: Hillary and Obama are indicted.
Now what was it about the long arc of history?
1
Imagine… talk about collusions gone the way of Rob Rosenstein latest announcement; you’re left wondering about a ‘deep state’’ where bureaucratese is whispered in the dank dark hallways of our Nations Capital by disgruntled political servants their bureaucratic appointees and their politically correct friends.
Imagine… if that’s not enough cause for concern, your left wondering about the sad antics of esteemed executives with the F.B.I. dropping a ball on an investigation that may have prevented the seventeen deaths and numinous causalities at a Florida High School.
Imagine… if that’s not enough to turn your stomach, your left wondering about secular antics and the continuing attacks on any and all religious disciples by our liberal friends. Talk about collusions, conspiracies and tolerance gone the way of utter contempt and absolute hatred for any and all not adhering to the currish cult of liberal dreamers.
I had already guessed that a lot of those campaign tweets had to come from Russians, because American men don't tend to call womem sweetie, dear or dishrag when attacking feminism. American men tend not to be explicit or open misogynists. Now I wonder what percentage of online misogyny during the campaign came from Russia. I have to wonder about Russian women and why they put up with men who despise them that much.
1
I guess our Rust Belt voters must have been "Brainwashed" by the Russians. Yep.... can't be that the Clintons' gutting our mid-western manufacturing employment left a residue of political unrest.... Nope …it's the Russians.
How surprising that a foreign country would be trying to influence American elections. I think we may have a few in the Mid-East also making “influencing” our elections a priority. … Let’s broaden this inquiry to ALL nations attempting to influence our elections… and tie-in their success rate…can you say 14 years of endless mid-east wars. I wonder where that incentive comes from….?
1
If the operation didn't change the course of the election, why bother with propaganda at all? Of course, the election results were both influenced and changed. Hillary would have won without this propaganda effort and the chicanery and illegality of the Trumps. And the American people and the Russian people both lost as all trust in democracy, the legitimacy of government, and leadership that isn't a lie machine is lost. I think we should not only vote the Repulsive Party out in 2018; we deserve new elections now.
4
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.
9
One has to wonder why their is no mention of the thousands of dollars the Chinese provided to support the election of William Clinton as President.
Big deal.
The real story of this election is those millions of people who were bused in to vote illegally in....New Hampshire.
Because, as we all know, there is a long history of political corruption in those big cities. It's been going on for decades, and it's high time we put a stop to this. In....New Hampshire.
1
This probably is only the beginning. This is the Russian side and there is, also, the Trump side to Mueller's probe. The debate as to whether Russia was involved in our elections should be over. There was no 400 lb. person doing this while sitting on the edge of his bed. The nation should unite against Russian interference in our election process. This starts with the imposition of sanctions already passed by Congress, signed by Trump, but not yet operational. It also should include the stilling of the loud but small, divisive voices over the question. The "little pip squeaks" who from their tiny soap boxes in Congress elevated by Fox News should be red with shame! Thank God for Mueller!
1
Lets see, first it was Collusion with the Russians, then Obstruction of Justice followed by the latest news about Bad Russian Actors. Next they'll say that Trump won because of hanging chaff.
I didnt vote for either Trump or Hillary but based on what we now know has been going on with the "Deep State" and letting HIllary ride for things the rest of us would be behind bars for, I am truly afraid for our Democracy.
Trump won, get over it people.
Up until the eve of the election this news outlet and most other MSM were giving the election to Clinton based on polls. How could the media have gotten it so wrong? So is this over exaggeration of the influence of Russia used to try to justify the media error and to Clinton's donor base ?
Is there any doubt that after the 13 indictments were laid out in great detail, that Mueller will be able to find out who the hackers of DNC e-mails were and who they had contact with...i believe Americans were involved, i am just not sure they were aware they were dealing with Russians.
I'm not sure I would call what Don Jr. did "unwitting" so I'm guessing he's going to be in a lot of trouble.
1
my 2 cents
1. We can expect the indited Russians to learn from the 37 page indictment how to clean up there act and get to the next level in this cyber battle.
2. In it now incumbent on us (our congress) to careful legislation that will protect our election system form this kind of thing.
Do people on Facebook vote?
Americans should vote on line. Seems like that is where all the action is!
1
The real indictment here is of the American electorate.
2
"massive fraud" -- "to foment political discord" -- "multi-pronged, well financed and relentless" -- "to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy"
This article is more about Donald Trump's campaign than it is about Russian interference.
Wait a minute. We haven't heard from the esteemed Devin Nunes yet. Since he's already displayed such integrity, honesty, decency, patriotism and a willingness to be open minded, I don't think we can jump to conclusions here until we get his input.
Perhaps he can write another opinion memo so we all have a better understanding about how this is all Hillary and the Democrats fault.
I'm certain Nunes is in touch with his Russian bosses so he knows exactly what to say.
1
"Divide and conquer" - strategy used by Julius Caesar on the battlefield. Today we have it in the media - the war between right and left. And Putin is apparently a student of Julius Caesar.
So the President didn't legitimately win the election: well, let's correct the results.
This indictment is outside of the scope of the mueller mandate ( investigat collision), it vindicate Trump, direct investigation into area where USA doesn’t have jurisdiction and could last forever.
In my opinion ...from this moment going forward with the information laid out for the American people iwithn the Mueller indictment every act of denial by the president and his staff that a foreign power attacked on our homeland, the lack of executing the sanctions law he signed, the lack of action to protect us from further attacks constitute ongoing acts of treason on the part of the president. He is sworn to protect us from foreign attacks. Every minute that passes before the next election makes us more vulnerable. The president knows this and is willfully acting against the interests of the United Sates. A federal prosecutor needs to bring an indictment of treason.
5
Mueller needed to add Putin to the list. He's the one that authorized the meddling. Nothing goes on in Russia without Putin's knowledge and his authorization, even murdering his own people, like opponents, enemies, adversaries.
2
I wonder what would have happened if it were Hillary who was accused of colluding with a foreign power to win the election. Would the FBI and the special counsel pursue those allegations as fiercely as they have gone after DT? And, would Hillary call the allegations "A Right Wing Conspiracy" to go after her to delegitimize her presidency? Bill Clinton DID lie, he did try to cover up the affairs he had, and he got impeached. It seems as if the democrats forget that even after BC was accused of misconduct, and was impeached, they defended BC! (I remember the gathering of the democrats on the Hill to defend BC after the impeachment). Is this a double standard? Is DT guilty of what he's been accused of? In the public's mind, and the mainstream media, that seems to be the case. Whatever happen with 'innocent until proven guilty?'
The real villain is Mr Pinedo who committed identity fraud. No collusion I hope this is the end of this distraction and instead focus on the social implication of automation on jobs and inequality
Thank God Bob Mueller is out to save the Republic.
Finally, there's an adult in charge, as opposed to the infants in Silicon Valley who helped create this mess with their apolitical/profits first values and a man in the White House who wants to tear down our institutions and be an autocrat.
4
Isn’t this an act of war? Don’t we need to retaliate? Doesn’t the Moscow power grid need to go down for an hour or so?
1
I'm having a bit of a problem understanding the mechanics of this:
"In November, they staged two rallies in New York on the same day. One had the theme, “Show your support for President-Elect Trump.” The other was called, “Trump is NOT my President.”
How exactly did 'the Russians' based outside the United States manage to 'stage rallies' , like this?
I mean tweeting and retweeting is one thing (you can certainly do it remotely), but staging a rally?
1
"...our sacred endeavors in this world of ours, where, like faint glimmers of light in the dark, we have emerged for a moment from the nothingness of dark unconsciousness of material existence. We must make good the demands of reason and create a life worthy of ourselves and of the goals we only dimly perceive." - Andrei Sakharov. Read by Elena Bonner Sakharov. "Peace, Progress and Human Rights".
So when do we charge the CEO and CTO of fakebook, google and twitter and they related companies with being coconspirators.
When Twitter already admitted 5,000 plus account open to this group and Facebook took money for ad's to the thousand of fake account on their site. TO this day fakebook half hearted efforts to fix this fall why short of any reform.
Didn't anyone at fakebook thing about taking money from russian for ads during our election, I guess not, since we can't count of these companies to fix their problem it time the US govt, put tighter control on all 3 companies as a treat to our country
Based on my training and degree partly in electoral behavior, I think I can say with certainty this continued barrage of mud always picking up on themes Hillary Clinton considered (wrongly) improper mudslinging of lies, she hoped the public would recognize as the filth it was, won her the popular vote by almost 3 percent of the votes cast would resonate across the country where, unfortunately the average voter bought the nonsense.
She should be locked up - Trump said so, for having a private e-mail server at home, whatever that means”. And she really didn’t answer what happened to the 3,000 e-mails she erased, whatever they were.”
“
“And Trump says smart people don’t pay income taxes or show their returns, count me in with him.
1
Interesting article. But hadn't the Russians tried to interfere with every presidential election since WWII? I should think they had. Regarding the 2016 election, some months ago I looked up a few relevant facts.
1) Mrs. Clinton announced her candidacy in April 2015.
2) In May 2015, Pew did the first poll of Mrs. Clinton. Since there was no opponent yet for the general, Pew did a simple favorable/unfavorable poll. Mrs. Clinton polled a 46% unfavorable number.
3) According to election returns, Mr. Trump received 46.1% of the vote.
By all means get the Russians and stop them from doing this again. But some must realize that Mrs. Clinton was the Russians best tool.
6
With an absence of critical thinking resident in the minds of many in the U.S. and a social media sector void of tangible civic and social responsibility, manipulation of political opinion and propagation of propaganda feast on an unwitting US public. What to do?
If I were a social media company, I'd be very, very worried.
1
Both the House and Senate voted to sanction Russia due to their cyber warfare attack on our 2016 election. Trump has refused to initiate the sanction.
To all Trump supporters: defend this.
6
Trump: "The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!”
I know this little comment is to be lost among thousands but I have to say that upon receiving credible news of direct and concerted foreign interference of at least one US election the President's reaction is "See, not me. I had nothing to do with it" rather than anger and reacting in defense of the nation.
Why?
11
The indictment states that the initial intended goal of Russia was to sow discord and bring down our democracy.
Trump has now taken up the mantle of Putin in creating more divisions between us and destroying our democracy.
. He’s a national disgrace and would love nothing more than to have all the powers of a dictatorship.
9
Let's not lose sight that the issues have evolved. From the earliest stages, this was mainly about how the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. Absent credible evidence, it is now that Russians meddled in our election. Not good, but a shift from the original.
Those who dislike this President still hope for a collusion charge of some sort, even if the colluders didn't know they were colluding which seems to contradict the meaning of collusion.
Where common ground may be found is preventing and guarding against foreign meddling in our elections going forward. Perhaps we should stop doing the same, e.g., Obama's meddling in Israel's elections a few years back.
Finally, the President's main reactions have come because of the early charges that his campaign colluded with the Russians. He has denied that charge but overstated his defense to include no Russian involvement. Russians are involved and no matter who is in power they will seek to undermine our systems. Hopefully, as a nation a majority of citizens will refuse to run with unfounded charges until evidence is produced. However, the political climate and partisans are not so inclined.
So just who is being manipulated by or colluding (new definitions) with the Russians? Could it include some who say "not my President?"
2
The Russians must be kicking themselves after spending several years and millions of dollars on such an elaborate, thorough and sophisticated disinformation campaign in support of Trump, and all to absolutely no effect.
2
Drip, drip, drip. The clock is running down. The American people are coming for you Trump and your crime family. Thanks to Mr. Muller and your team of patriots.
6
Putin declared war on America and the battle front is our cyber space which needs to be secured. Our social media, at the very least, should identify the source of ALL ads or news placed through their outlets. The Senate Intel Committee made this request, and they refused. They need to be ordered to do this and in the name of our national security.
Despite all the lies and propaganda from Trump, the GOP, Fox news and Trump supporters the truth is now out there, and since all the states have different voting mechanisms, many seriously outdated, we should go to paper ballots for our U.S. elections in November. Putin hackers viewed voter registration files in 21 states back in 2016.
We need defense money for cyber security as this is the new world we live in. A world of 'disinformation attacks' and overall cyber warfare from foreign and domestic enemies of America. We need a cyber security agency or department either under DOD or our intelligence community. A DOD audit revealed $800M they cannot account for. This money or additional monies awarded under this budget should go to cyber defense.
1
So even if there was no active collusion, which we still don’t know, the indictments support what we DO know and have known, which is that Donald Trump is not much more than a tool/stooge/puppet of the Russians. So much for being, like, really smart.
7
There are many people both domestic and foreign that would like to "influence" the American elections. For one thing we would like to see less lawyers in U.S. government which should be of the people, by the people and for the people not Of the lawyers, By the lawyers and For the lawyers. U.S. has something called a legal caste as all branches of government are dominated and run by lawyers. Late American newspaper publisher Edward W. Scripps wrote "If there is such a thing as true freedom and democracy then the road to that goal lies over and through the ruin and annihilation of the legal caste."
2
This is shattering news, although we all suspected the outcome. Trump has obstructed the investigation by referring to Mueller’s work as a “witch hunt.” And now we see that the Russians backed Bernie Sanders too. Was there really a wave of democratic support for Bernie, or were those voters played? Bringing down Clinton was the goal and the Russians were successful. The least that our fake president can do is acknowledge that America was and still is being attacked.
6
One would expect a president to immediately announce some deeper exploration to keep our elections sacred and protect our democracy. Rather than act on the charges of the indictment seriously, Trump, as usual, sees things only in his own mirror. . . .he feels vindicated. It never seems to be about the country that he is supposedly leading. . . it's always about him
3
If the Russians were so effective why didn't Sanders win the primary?
2
Perhaps most important of all, Mueller has effectively closed the door against his being fired...this is no longer (just) a process against Donald Trump, it is an enquiry and action aimed at saving American democracy.
4
The Russians spread lies and falsehoods much the same as trump spreads lies and falsehoods about the Mueller investigation, the FBI and the Justice Department to serve his own purposes . Will he be indicted ?
2
This Russian campaign started in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea and before Trump entered the election scene in June 2015. It also was designed to help socialist Bernie Sanders. This is less about Trump than Cold War reignited by ex-KGB dictator Putin through disinformation campaigns designed to weaken our unity as Americans. If one reads these comments, the Russians have done a good job.
Just last night I read through dozens of twitter storms stating (not accusing) the FBI fumbled the Nik Cruz leads, because it was too busy "conducting the fake Russia witch hunt against Trump." One of the people peddling the tweets was Gateway Pundit's very own "White House Correspondent" (actually grasp the absurdity), a Yale educated, 20-something preppy. Is it any wonder that tens of thousands of Americans believed tweets by "GOP Tennessee"in 2016? Filling the void left by a defunct serious national news program during prime time TV, not 5 pm, not 10 pm, Twitter has taken the Number 1 "news" spot for gullible minds, with its relentlessly ugly, hateful and dangerous messages that make no distinction between truth or fiction. The Russians knew it's Trump's propaganda organ of choice and therefore adopted by his followers, those good American folks who three years ago probably didn't know what Twitter was. In France, similar attempts by Russian bots to destabilize Emmanuel Macron on the eve of election day failed miserably. In the U.S., It's too late to turn back. The damage hysterical Fox News and Twitter have done to real journalism, the dissemination of facts and civil discourse in the U.S. is irreversible.
4
I am not a religious person but I pray for the lives and safety of Mueller, Rosenstein and their staffs who are trying to restore America's true principles by exposing the lies, duplicity and, yes, treasonous behavior of our so-called President and his enablers, as well as the corruption of our democratic process by foreign countries to whom our Republican "leaders" are voluntarily blind. I await further revelations with a mix of dread and joy.
3
Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele put forth a considerable campaign to influence the 2016 U.S. election as well, via Senator McCain, the FBI, the DOJ and the media, yet no evidence has been presented so far that validates their conclusions.
Why hasn't Mr. Steele, a British citizen, been charged with crimes as well? His 'research' relies on unnamed Russian sources...which may very well have come from Russian intelligence people.
3
If it was possible, I'd love to nominate Robert Mueller for the Medal of Freedom award for service to his country above and beyond the call of duty.
If I thought Senator Blumenthal was a legal genius, I now have to add Robert Mueller to those I believe are the U.S.'s finest legal minds.
Now for all time, Trump cannot deny the Russian meddling is a "hoax" or a conspiracy "by the Dems."
But, let's all thank Gates too. It cannot be coincidence that Gates who served Trump when Manafort was on Trump's campaign hot shot list and later is believed to have been the one who suggested Trump fire Comey to save Flynn's job.
Gates is singing like a canary now. If Trump thought forcing his campaign and cabinet to take those loyalty oaths to him and not their country first would mean they'd never rat him out, he must really be stupid.
Who on earth is going to go to prison for Trump?
The entire premise of Putin in Russian elections has always been to silence media, take control of law enforcement and make Russian elections nothing more than an exercise in fruition.
The more Trump denies he and Putin ever met before the meeting in 2017, the more just the opposite is proven. Why? Because every strategy Trump uses is right out of Putin's strategic playbook, up to and including, rigging elections to make them null and void and to deter voters from voting...the precise thing Putin does.
In August 2016 President Obama wanted to disclose the CIA finding of Russian meddling. Leaders of the intelligence community briefed House and Senate leaders, but Mitch McConnell threatened to rebuke the Obama administration if the information was released to the public. I will never forget the news footage from Russia showing Russian officials having a champagne toast to Trump's victory on election night.
4
Perhaps in the spirit of Olympic competition we should take this election training lesson the Russians have taught us to improve our own. Let’s show them we have our heads and don’t need steroids to get stronger.
Even if Trump and his gang didn’t directly work with Russia they legitimized their absurd assertions by bots and trolls dnd took focus away from Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party to defend themselves.
Unless the definition of affecting the outcome of the election is so narrow to Jean meddling with the voting machines, then this election was manipulated and Trump is not a legitimate president. Especially when we realize that with all that Trump lost the popular vote and won the electoral college by a very narrow margin in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
"The indictment that unveiled a sophisticated network designed to subvert the 2016 election and to support the Trump campaign."
You should of added to that statement: and the Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein campaign.
The Russians were sure (just like everyone else) that Clinton was going to be elected and wanted to sow discord. They sure succeeded.
1
Just as al qaeda used our own aircraft to attack the World Trade Center, the Russians used our own social media companies to attack and undermine our democracy.
We need a strong intelligence community and national leadership to protect us from our enemies who are closer than we think.
1
There is much hue and cry for social media like Facebook and Instagram to stop use of their Internet products by 'fake' users, such as Russian operatives. The creators of these products thought they were doing a great thing by allowing so many people to interact with each other. They didn't envision criminal use of such fine things - idealistic, at best.
The unintended consequence of their creations is that they made it easier for nefarious users to reach a much bigger audience. No one yet has figured out how to stop the criminal use. 'Big data' is waved around but has so far proved useless in this regard. The creations are out of control as if the programs have a mind of their own. Maybe they DO!
Yes, we need to put a stop to this. Social media has failed to fix itself. Why? Because for all the smarts it took to create the vectors, no one knows HOW to fix it. The result predicted in the 1966 book 'Colossus' is upon us.
1
It appears that the Russians had their system up and running during the Republican Primary debates. Did they interfere with this also? Trump was the only Republican candidate that praised Putin.
2
This is how you build an airtight case.
Yesterday’s indictments settle the question on whether Russia wanted Donald to win. They did. It also sent a message to the “unwitting” pawns of the Trump Campaign that it would be in their best interest to come forward and tell Mr. Mueller’s team everything they know if they want a chance to stay out of prison. Finally, it’s setting the stage for a new round of indictments, most likely criminal charges for money laundering, obstruction of justice and maybe even treason, against Donald and those in his inner circle.
Well done, Mr. Mueller.
2
How could a message delivered on that scale, carefully targeted, for instance the Hillary is Satan ad Ill bet was targeted directly to Charismatic Evangelical Christians, and an organization like the Church of Christ, Christian, begun as a pure hate group now run by people buying their impossible (according to the Christian Bible) line, not effect not choice of candidate, but turnout where roughly a third of US citizens, (actually greater, for the census numbers I’m using do not take into account the percentage age below 18).
The problem is that states have made voting from home, weeks before Election Day too easy.
For those unable to vote due to physical disability, or people out of country or even a great distance from their registered polling place, I’m all for it. But ballots must be cast within a week of the election, delivered by a special service of the Post Office, at no cost to the voter.
And Election Day should be a a national holiday - no excuse not to vote.
WHY cut the time, as a campaigner working for NJ Gov.Jim Florio’s failed bid for office Vs GOP challenger Christie Whitman told me Florio would have won if the polls opened three days earlier, according to their daily polling.
He peaked too early, and a volatile electorate changed its mind over news and a final blitz by both candidates
What if a campaign held back a major news story until a couple of days before voting, sleazy but legal.
And a third of the public, in some states had voted absenyee
now will trump finally impose sanctions? finally?
2
From the food we eat to the cars we drive to the politicians we suffer, corporations, not the Russians run the show.
1
The headline does not match the facts - so far. The indictments allege that the Russians (their agents) worked to drive wedges into American society (as they have been doing since the 1950s) - supporting unusual candidates such as Trump and Sanders. To make it seem as though the Trump campaign was in collusion with the Russians is a complete overstatement, unsupported by the facts to date. If, in the end, it is shown that Trump campaign officials acted illegally, they should be prosecuted. If, in the end, it is shown that they acted unethically, they will join the current and recent national campaigns - filled with uber partisans that are unconcerned with the nation as a whole.
1
"The Russians stole the identities of American citizens, posed as political activists and used the flash points of immigration, religion and race to manipulate a campaign in which those issues were already particularly divisive, prosecutors said." - NYTimes
This means if I don't use a social media account regularly, I should shut it down. Otherwise I wouldn't know my account has been taken over by Russians or other hackers.
In 2012, Donald Trump copyrighted the "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" campaign slogan. In 2013 Trump held his Miss Universe Contest in Moscow where he met with Russian Oligarchs. In 2014, Russian operatives were deployed to the United States to commit crimes. Their goal was simple: Attack Trump's opponents, strengthen Clinton's opponents. In essence, steal the election for Trump.
5
And, how widespread is this activity in other countries and their recent elections? Germany, France, the UK? And, who is next? Yeah...it didn't begin and end with the USA, as crucial as that election was. Did it affect the outcome? Logic suggests it certainly did, though there is no way to prove that beyond a doubt. Will more heads roll? Yes.
Assuming these accusations are true, these Russians did a better job in the 2016 election than Hillary's highly paid campaign staff. She is probably thinking, "I should have hired these guys."
1
Let's stop fantasizing and let's behave like adults, when we take a non-partisan look at the picture, it is obvious that Trump's best ally was not the Russian meddling but the all mighty liberal media which had been giving Trump beaten at the start since he first entered the race, to the point that a couple of weeks before the election some media wrote that Hillary would win Texas and take the country in what could be a landslide.
Nobody but Michael Moore saw it coming. Liberal media had Clinton campaign let their guard slip. It is all of their own making. Russian or domestic trolls were not responsible for the outcome of the election, Democrats and liberal media arrogance was. So deplorable.
2
Americans need to think of this as a cyberwar. WAR against the United States. I hope people will participate by deleting the lies on social media and Fox news. Speaking of Fox, are they reporting this actual news of Russian meddling? What will Donald say today about this. No collusion he yells, or will their defense be that they were "unwittingly" participating in Russian interference?
Anyone still believing Donald's guilty-sounding protests is stuck in a cloud of Russian propaganda. And the Fox bubble. Republicans in Congress should be ashamed for not protecting us against a lying president who doesn't believe the head of all the intelligence agencies. Instead he attacks them.
Shame on the GOP
2
Trump on Twitter: “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!” This statement ought to tell everyone all they need to know about the man.... His deduction skills are seriously flawed or biased. And, that he's an uncompromising narcissist.
I would expect that our elected President would put the general welfare of the country before himself. Not so, Trump. His first, and only, reaction is self protection. Pathetic.
2
As with natural phenomena, politics is subject to its own form of gravity and the consequences that follow. The current situation has been like the snow or rain that gradually accumulate on the mountain but go unnoticed until a lethal overload breaks loose in an avalanche or a mudslide.
Exhilarated by electoral momentum, many in the GOP are running off the cliff, convinced they can fly. Better minds like John Boehner and Bob Corker have warned them, but walked away when they were resented and ignored for calling out the realities. But Gravity cannot be rigged.
I can't believe that the social media and technology companies using their AI could not have identified this and responded. Maybe they are better with helping advertisers than protecting citizens.
2
Just waiting for Trump's tweet "See, Putin himself wasn't indicted. He was truthful when he said he didn't meddle with our election. DJT vindicated yet again!"
Sanders should be asked if Trump still believes Russian interference into the election is a hoax. And if collusion is also a hoax, why are 4 of Trump's team cutting deals with Mueller to avoid jail time.
2
The Russians never could have imagined the 'Trump resistance', and how much it has assisted their efforts in undermining U.S. democracy. Now that we know there were senior level Justice Dept., FBI and Intelligence officials willing to assist Russian efforts to destabilize our government with their own manufactured witch hunt (the Steele dossier), it is clear these internal machinations helped Russia in their overall objective to cast doubt and sow discord on our electoral process. The American media has played along, for over a year now. Putin could not have wished for a better outcome.
I am not a big fan of facebook or other social media platforms, however, I am of the generation where I take most things with a "grain of salt". I would be interested to see some of the media that was unleashed to sway my vote.
Obama was quite aware of Russian meddling. At the end on his term Obama confiscated a Russian spy complex and expelled Russian diplomats, and warned the incoming administration about Flynn (and hopefully other aspectc of Russia's activities).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/oba...
Yes, in retrospect, the Obama administration almost certainly under-reacted to the threat, but their response (actually lack or response) was made based on the information and circumstances before them. .
But Trump has consistently denied the existence of Russia involvement.
3
Elections in Russia are a farce. Putin's doing the same thing to us and Trump's silence speaks volumes. Mueller is connecting the dots from Moscow to Washington and it's only a matter of time before Trump panics and eliminates Rosenstein and then Mueller. At that point, if the GOP continues to run interference for Trump, our nation's democratic republic will suffer its worst catastrophe in American history as the legitimacy of our election system will be vanquished.
3
This Russian-government backed effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 Election in favor of Donald Trump was successful. Vladimir Putin had a big say in our Presidential Election. The sooner U.S. voters realize this fact, the sooner we can elect representatives capable of doing something about it. The same is true for our gun problem. You'll notice the rush of GOP legislators out the door of Congress. I don't what we do about those living among us willing and gullible enough to believe the swill Fox and fiends spew forth on a daily basis.
4
An expertly leveraged, sophisticated, and very well funded (up to 1.25 million per month) political attack squad. Did they have the ability to sway 77,000 votes. It is this really something that confuses people or are people living in the reality they wish would exist?
3
Trump is right about one thing. The specter of Russian meddling does delegitimize his "election". Unfortunately, it is no mere specter. Trump knows because he let (or made, or helped) it happen.
If Trump worked with a U.S. adversary, Russia, to undermine our laws and institutions in order to install himself as president, he is a traitor. So is his little toady, Pence, who rode Trump's corrupted coat-tails into the No. 2 position, and so's the No. 3 man, Ryan, along with the majority of Republicans in Congress who've almost let the coup succeed on their watch.
5
I hate to shoot the messenger but I wonder if this would have been possible without social media. It feels like the negatives are so seriously whether it’s election meddling or school bullying that the positives are harder and harder to see.
First, I don't know if the Trump campaign conspired with Russians or not. Unless you are in the Trump campaign or the relevant Russians, or the Mueller investigation, you don't know either.
Second, when Rod Rosenstein says that this indictment makes no allegation of a witting conspiracy between Americans and Russians, the emphasis should rightly be on the word *this*. The indictment is agnostic on this point. The indictment also makes no allegation that there was no witting conspiracy.
Only Mueller knows what other information has been gathered and what future allegations/indictments are supported by the evidence. He is under no obligation to divulge everything at once. This process is ongoing.
If, at the end of the investigation, Mueller makes no allegation of witting conspiracy, I will accept that conclusion.
For those who assert that the Russian ads on social media could not possibly have affected the outcome of the election, it would logically follow that political ads do not affect outcomes of elections. I will wait now to see politicians wise up and refrain from wasting vast amounts of money on advertising. Let's see if that's what happens.
3
Good luck with Facebook taking any action when you identify a fake account.
If you identify a clearly fake account, flag it, and send the info to Facebook, they will email you back telling you that if you disagreed with something or found an offensive image, that you could simply block the account.
Even though the account’s existence violates Facebook’s Terms of Service, they invariably leave it up to do more damage.
Shouldn’t Facebook and Twitter be held to account for people using their platforms to damage our nation and other western democracies?
3
Isn't it very interesting that we haven't heard anything about the doings of the Kushner's for the past months? Are they laying low to avoid the spotlight, or are they trying to make arrangements for the kids when they have to "go away for a while"?
5
Mueller is painting Mr. Trump into a corner. When the financial ties between Trump and the Russian oligarchs comes to light, there will be no place for him left to hide.
I read in a comment below that Putin didn't favor one presidential candidate over the other, but only wanted to sow discord in the U.S. I can not agree with this because what would add to the discord - electing a crooked real estate developer and reality TV star with no government experience or education.
2
Doesn't the US meddle in other countries elections? Has the US assassinated other democratically elected leaders? Has the US supported known dictators if it suited our "interests"?
I'm not saying that these acts justify meddling in US elections, but don't we have bigger fish to fry?
Typical elections have a abysmal participation rate of 20% to 30%. Even for Presidential election, participation rates hover around a dismal 50%.
How about ending gerrymandering, voter suppression laws, limiting voting to a single day (and a working one at that), having an electoral college system that makes voting impactful in only 5-10 swing states, or allowing misleading political ads funded by dark money?
Wouldn't focusing on health care, mental health, education, gun control, infrastructure, etc be far more beneficial for the average American?
All of this focus on Russian intrigue....its too much given very real issues that face Americans on the daily
1
Ok so if I understand this correctly, Russians pretended to be Americans and got on social media and said nasty things about Hillary and the Democrats. I agree, that's not very nice, but I don't see why it's a terrible, earth-shattering crime.
What if they'd done the same thing, but said nice, flattering things about HRC and the Democrats? Would it still be a crime? If not, why not? It would still, under these parameters, be "influencing" our elections.
What if they had said nasty things about Trump and the Republicans? Would there still be this uproar?
I am not being snarky, this is an actual question.
1
What went missing in 2016 elections is educated citizenry. Folks made up their minds and voted as they pleased. What influenced their decision is source of their news.
As Barrack Obama pointed out he wouldn't have voted himself if he were to subscribe to fox news.
Here in USA, news is screened, edited and prepackaged to suit the mindset of viewership. So much world news goes missing if we're to rely solely main stream news channels, unless it's a catastrophy.
Educated citizenry gets its news from credible sources. Democracy relies fearless and truthful press.
3
This is a good start. I'm very happy that Mueller is still investigating whether Trump colluded with the Russians. When he does find proof, maybe we can shame Trump into quitting. Congress will never impeach him.
1
I have been commenting for many years that America was transitioning from an evolving democracy to a plutocratic kleptocracy. I had postulated that America's future did not lie with Canada, Japan, Korea, Western Europe or the other Western Democracies but with Russia. The GOP's natural ally is with the theocracy and kleptocracy that is Putin's Russia. The theatre that is now Washington is more Samuel Beckett and the theatre of the absurd than it is real governance and fact based legislation.
When the only real news that might come out of the executive or the legislature is an acknowledgement of true facts we are well into 1984.
2
If it is possible that the Russian campaign to support Donald Trump for president could have swayed 73,000 votes, then it is possible that the Russians helped elect him.
We can never be sure they made a difference, but we can never be sure they did not. We now can be fairly sure that they tried hard to support Trump because he could serve the Russian interests better than Hillary Clinton and that Trump's election defied predictions. Since then Trump has worked hard to do favor Russian interests.
And of course, we are all waiting to see what was said when Trump sought out Putin for a conversation in which no one else was present except Putin's interpreter.
1
One thing that seems to be forgotten in all this is the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. If the Russians or anyone else want to speak their mind or express their opinion, whether on Facebook or Twitter or anywhere else, its still a free country, and they can do so. So can everyone else. That's what democracy is all about.
Trump's reaction to these arrests is so predictable and typical: absolutely no concern about tampering with an election. His main concern is how it makes him look. His disinterest in the security of our elections should be setting off alarm bells in Congress. Creating distrust in the credibility of our elections and cynicism in the electorate is all part of the Russian scheme, and Trump helps in this by ignoring the threat and concentrating on his own image. Unfit for office hardly describes it.
3
This information war is hostile but I think it is also personal, capricious and even ridiculous - Putin is a former KGB/Intelligence guy who craves the "control" he had in the "good ole" Cold War days. Putin is crazy, just like Trump.
I continue to worry about money laundering and what I suspect are Trump's violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. After all, he has done business in Kazakhstan among many other suspicious dealings.
2
Of course, facilitating Trump's election are the millions of American voters who cannot make a rational decision and have to have someone or something outside them (i.e Fox News, evangelical ministers) do their thinking for them. The Russians knew that 30% or more of the U.S. electorate would believe that nonsense and exploited it. It doesn't give the Russians a pass, but doesn't bode well for the future of democracy in this country.
1
Firing Mueller now that he has uncovered CERTAIN and INDIVIDUAL cases of Russian election interference and fraud would be a clear sign that Trump is guilty of obstructing justice. Mueller's investigation, after all, was created to inquire into Russian interference. This is a MUCH BIGGER first step than it at first appears.
1
The U.S. does far worse in other countries to influence elections. The problem is the news media in this country that dwells on nonsense rather than real news and the electorate that is incapable of telling fact from fiction and unsophisticated enough not to care.
If you read BBC and other sources this report states the Russians went after Clinton and Cruz but helped Sanders and Trump. They also helped BLM They wanted to discredit the people they thought would win. They also wanted to sow discontent.
1
For those of us who supported Hillary during the brutal 2016 primary campaign, the most discouraging part of the indictment was the confirmation of the suspicion, voiced by many of us in real time, that the Russians had taken an active role in the primaries supporting Bernie Sanders.
Arguably, by depressing Democratic turnout and/or pushing voters toward Jill Stein, the actions by the Russians may have had a decisive impact on the election result. As we know, as with Ralph Nader in 2000, Stein's vote total in PA, MI and WI exceeded Clinton's margin of defeat in each of those states.
The key date in the indictment is February 2016. It was at this point that the Russians turned from a campaign of general election disruption to the specific endorsement of Trump and Sanders in the primaries and the targeting of Clinton, Cruz and Rubio.
It was also at this point, even here in the NYT comment pages, that we Hillary supporters began to notice an ominous change in the tone of the Sanders campaign. Many of us pointed out in real time that there was an orchestrated tone and repetitiveness to the comments that signaled that outside forces were engaged in the Sanders campaign (not just Russians, but GOP operatives as well).
This activity culminated in the destructive opening night of the DNC convention when Sanders supporters openly booed Hillary and began "lock her up" chants. In retrospect, this had Russian fingerprints all over it.
Hillary never really recovered from this.
3
I've been voting since 1960, and I sensed something very different about the viciousness of the campaign against Hillary Clinton, but had no idea what it really was until Mr. Trump and some of his people began making flattering comments about Putin. It just seemed so odd. The idea that Russia hated Clinton so much---or feared her more likely, I thought would sway voters toward her. I still cannot understand when an appreciable number of Americans were so taken in by a government that hates the United States, hates our freedom, hates our constitution so bitterly. I hope Mr. Mueller is permitted to proceed with this most important work--whether or not Trump was party to what happened, or just a benefitted bystander--we must uncover the facts and act decisively to stop this incursion.
1
Some things I see:
1. The Russians tried to influence our election through internet social media.
2. The Russians wanted to sow discord in the country.
Some things I don't see:
1. This influenced voters. A lot of commenters, professional and amateur, are making this conclusion. I don't see it. The vast majority of people already have their mind made up and will look to reinforce their conclusions through the media they consume.
2. This is the reason why Trump won. Some people are making this argument. I don't see it. They also want to use this argument to delegitimize the president. I believe this is the reason Trump does nothing about it. If he did, his critics would point to it and say "See! Even the president doesn't think that he is legitimate."
1
Trump's refusal to acknowledge -- much less take action against -- Russia's attack on our democracy is essentially an open agreement to allow Russia to weaken our country's institutions and deceive and mislead the American voter. This certainty seems to meet the definition of collusion. The only thing that's missing is the secrecy.
1
Thank you Mr. Mueller and your team for all your hours of work to save our democracy.
1
Let us ALL be, as the current slang says, WOKE. The stalemates in Congress and the legislature need to end. Our naivety whereby we value "enterprise" and profit and unfettered individualism over our longterm health and unity as a nation needs to end. Fast. We're unbalanced and turned out to make ourselves easy prey for a very, very real enemy.
2
Regarding the scope of the Special Counsel's investigation and his prosecutorial authority -- identity theft by Ricky Pinedo is equivalent to money laundering by the Trumps. These are prosecutable offenses found in the course of the main investigation. The prosecution and guilty plea by Pinedo sends a clear message about what is coming.
1
The most disturbing aspect of this story is the possibility that the sort of tactics the Russians were deploying might actually have some impact. We have too many voters in this country (on both sides of the political spectrum) who have difficulty distinguishing between a credible and non-credible news source (or would prefer not to) and are too willing to believe that what they read on "social media" is true.
I don't blame the social media companies - they're just giving their users what they want (and I certainly don't want Facebook or Twitter management to become the arbiters of "truth"). I blame an electorate that is, in too many cases, too lazy to do their job - to become an "informed" voter. And still, there are many folks who think the answer to improving our electoral outcomes is simply to get more people to the polls.
Perhaps this is far more serious than Trump simply not doing his job. At this juncture it is not farfetched to ask whether Trump accepted an offer (or solicited one) from the Russian government to assist in gaining control of the US government? If that is the case and Mr Mueller compiles compelling evidence in support, this country will be shaken to its very foundation.
1
I just went over to Breitbart "news", found their version of this article, and read the comments. Just as almost all comments here support the investigation, all comments there dismiss it as some political move, a joke. And strangely, but what now seems to be a common rallying point of the right, every other comment is someone still lambasting either Hillary or Obama for something or other. Two completely different worlds our country is living in. Russian interference appears to be even more true. I hope just a few percent of the Trump supporters will start to open their eyes.
2
These calls for Trump to exert some political leadership regarding the flagrant abuses to the foundations of our democracy are interesting, particularly in light of the fact that Trump and his thugs provided the primary support and incentive to carry out this elaborate criminal undertaking in the first place. As has been the case throughout much of the history of our country, the Republicans are the main beneficiaries of this kind of criminality. Why would they do anything to stop it?
My thought is that even the negative publicity stirred up by Muellers' inquiry keeps them front and center of american political consciousness, and supports their long term political objectives. Their lack of paying a price for their corruption is the real issue. Like the guy who drives the get-away car in a bank heist, they should be criminally prosecuted for their complicity.
I'd like to see some attention paid to this side of the 'facts'. If people faced jail time for this kind of contempt for our democratic institutions (as they surely should), they would think twice before they did it again.
In the first place, what does Mueller hope to gain by indicting citizens and residents of Russia? They are beyond the reach of the justice department of the United States. Second, if the US is too inept to protect itself from foreign hacking, that's our fault not theirs. Third, Democrats, at some point, have to recognize that whether or not hacking occurred, the facts are that the majority of American voters in the majority of states simply wanted a change after 8 years of leftist policies delivered under the Obama administration.
Attention Resistance.
You are being prepped for a big disappointment - "Some of the Russians were also in contact with “unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign."
Mr. Trump and his inner circle will not be accused or indicted. This is going the way of the Jill Stein recount, Hamilton electors, Steele Dossier, tabloid sex scandal accusations, etc., etc.
Just get used to the idea that you will have to win the 2020 election. By then, at least two more Supreme Court justices will have been replaced by Trump nominees, the tax cuts for individuals will be embedded with the public, regulatory agencies dismantled, and trade treaties renegotiated.
1
Tempting to become giddy over this. Tempering that, not because I shouldn’t count my chickens before they’re hatched, but look who’s next batter-up.
Where do entities like Alex Jones and Hannity, et al fit into this picture? It would seem getting Hannity and Limbaugh to hammer every Russian bit of disinfo ceaselessly over the television and radio for hours every day for years makes them some of the biggest supporters of the Russian effort. If Fox is a legitimate news organization, how could they be unwitting in their aid to the Russian cause?
1
The question that arises for me is this: How were these Russians able to sway the results of an election in the world’s “greatest country?” Weren’t their tactics available to any political group in the United States? More important, why was it that so many people fell for their tactics? Were they simply duped, or were the Russians tapping into some Americans’ fears and hatreds? Or both?
1
The takeaway here is that the Russians clearly think they benefit by having Republicans in power. They started their campaign before Trump was nominated.
Republicans, bad for democracy.
1
Couple of notes from someone who lived in the former Soviet Union:
--Congrats to Mueller and team for unraveling the mechanisms the Russians used. Intelligence, diligence, persistence are all necessary to do this.
--More indictments, related to information derived from Manafort, Flynn, Gates and Papandoupoulos, are likely to come. Yesterday's indictiments had zero to do with them.
--Hope that there is a very thorough search for aliases used by the 13 and that all names are entered into Interpol and customs entry points promptly. Ability to travel to NYC, London, Nice, etc., is a treasured benefit of connected Russians. Cutting it off is critical. I wish we could cut off access to our universities to their kids.
--One small wrong detail struck me wrong. The indictment indicates that the Russian spies refocused their efforts after having been told to focus on the purple states. Russian specialists in American elections are capable and would already know this.
--I want to see if there is any indictable activity in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Hillary campaign reps said after the election that there had been cleverly targeted social media messages there and they suspected Russians. Maybe Trump people, wittingly or unwittingly, facilitated Russian efforts there, as they did in Florida (per indictment)?
3
Russia, the former Soviet Union has been meddling in our elections for a very long time. For example:
Kennedy's message was simple. He proposed an unabashed quid pro quo. Kennedy would lend Andropov a hand in dealing with President Reagan. In return, the Soviet leader would lend the Democratic Party a hand in challenging Reagan in the 1984 presidential election.
From here:
https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan...
So what are the chances that DJT Jr is indicted for receiving assistance from a foreign govt to influence the election, and DJT for obstruction of justice when he tried to cover it up? Perhaps it’s the Trump kids to whom Putin has promised the spoils of Trump’s complicity?
1
Let's not forget, Trump is a self proclaimed very, very smart guy.
Trump is a guy who repeatedly, proudly tells even those who don't want to listen about his very, very successful show on TV that involved vetting "apprentices" and hiring and firing according to their abilities and accomplishments.
Trump is a guy who loves to proclaim his business prowess. A guy who revels in the power of his wealth, even to the extent of viewing women, any woman he wanted, as his.
Trump, whose properties were bought by Russian oligarchs and business propped up with their money, who brags about his business plans for Russia, and his association with Putin.
Trump is a guy who hired Paul Manafort, a known associate of Russian oligarchs, a man whose unethical and immoral involvement in documented, very real conspiracies abroad, were legend in DC. Paul Manafort who was nurtured in the company of Lee Atwater, student of Murray Chotiner and Richard Nixon. Paul Manafort who even his, legitimate, business associates avoided.
Only the very naïve believe this President's claim now that he wasn't involved.
11
JPV says, in an earlier comment, "I find it interesting that they continue to state so forcefully that the operation didn't change the outcome of the election. "
Notice Mr. Rosenstein said "THIS" indictment doesn't identify any Americans who worked with Russia to throw the election. I would bet my last dollar there are many more to come and it can't happen fast enough for me.
WE THE PEOPLE must DEMAND that they all be purged from OUR governments at all levels right now.
20
You make a good point njglea. Already Trump, Hannity et. al are saying that this proves "NO COLLUSION", but I think the fact he only says "THIS" indictment could mean there's more to come. They are building a solid foundation of case, one piece at a time.
Thanks for saying that as the bots are out in force to reinforce this lie for Trump.
Every American who believes in OUR democratically governed United States of America should get down right now and kiss the ground in thanks to Robert Mueller and his co-workers in OUR FBI and other investigative bodies.
Thanks to all of you hard-working people who are going to save OUR country from a hostile, treasonous, takeover by The Con Don and his International Mafia Robber Baron brethren.
Some people are trying to downplay these charges, saying that those charged will never be extradited from Russia. That is probably true. But, regardless of how the Robber Barons are trying to downplay it, the people named here will be on the International Law Enforcement radar and if they travel to one of our ally countries they can be arrested and sent to OUR U.S. for prosecution.
This is just the start, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank You Mr. Mueller et al! Please keep up the good work with great speed. WE THE PEOPLE are counting on you.
53
Well said! And yes, we should honor Robert Mueller III!
Just about everything I've read, seen and heard about this new investigation makes sense, but there is one matter that Mr. Rosenstein should explain: that whatever the Russians did or tried to do had no effect on the election's outcome. How does he know? How did he and/or the FBI measure? The inference is that somebody had a "control" group of voters and that they were completely isolated from what the Russians were doing and still voted the way the rest of the nation did ... perhaps somebody can explain...
36
The opposite is also true: how would anyone know if the interference DID have an effect on the outcome?
The truth is that this entire issue is highly speculative, both pro and con.
Mr. R has to say what he did. For one thing, it is not quantifiable, so it is easier to say "no effect". For another, he needs to placate Trump, at least for the present. The statement is meant to be tactical.
1
As is said in 12-step programs, more will be revealed.
Social media platforms and news outlets could and should require users to use their name - to be identifiable and accountable. Deb Sutherland
34
It could be seen as inconvenient, but perhaps we finally need to move toward a two-factor or two-step authentication system when posting comments or sharing tweets.
Dear Midwest Moderate, aka Deb Sutherland: Amen to your recommendation! From J. Hoffman aka Jim Hoffman. We should all take personal responsibility for our words and our actions.
Even to the average American (me), the activity of Russians was apparent in our online streams and social media. I needed to dig just a little bit to find links to Russians, but backtracing names, references and websites.
As the article quotes:
“I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people,” one of the Russians, Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, wrote as the operation was being unmasked.
Even though I could see this -- I didn't know what to do or whom to tell? There is no "internet police" and no "election police".
Why would the Russians ever stop this if they learned that Americans can't tell the difference?
43
If you - as you say - recognised the 'Russians' online presence, that also means that you wouldn't follow their lead, right? What about the rest of the population?
Remember- just because Russia acted does not mean that its leaders colluded with Trump. These are two very different things. If the latter is true then Trump is a traitor. If only the former is true then Trump did nothing wrong. So far, the evidence supports only the former.
17
Trump's refusal to acknowledge Russia's actions ("fake news"), much less doing anything about it, weakens our institutions, misleads voters and prevents fair elections. Trump's inaction is essentially an open agreement with Putin: as long as Russia's actions continue to help Trump's cause and damage his enemies there with be no consequences. The only element that is missing is secrecy. Other than that, this is the definition of collusion.
Trump and Benedict Arnold will belong in the same sentence if Mueller is left to do his job. If Mueller gets stopped for whatever reason, democracy in the US has been materially compromised.
The wrong is that his efforts to discredit the investigation and minimize Russian interference does nothing to help prevent future Russian hacking of our elections. This hacking is proven - whether it influenced his election is as yet unproven.
But Trumps failure to mobilize to prevent future interference is criminal.
Interesting that Trump's efforts to discredit the Mueller investigation precisely mirror those of the Russians to help him win the election: extensive use of the internet, particularly through tweets; blatantly political rallies to keep his base riled up and uninformed; continued personal attacks on Hillary Clinton; the sowing of deep discord among the American people.
64
Trump is an expert in two areas: lying and manipulation. It seems like the one book he did actually read is Orwell's "1984." He learned his "big brother lessons" all too well.
The biggest risk to our democracy right now is our legislators, in both houses, having a greater interest in their own party's re-elections than governing on the tough issues.
54
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.” Gotcha! 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.
29
The NYT, and other reputable media outlets, maintain my faith in American Democracy. It is a fractious Democracy, but it need not be hateful and divisive. We - Democrats and Republicans and Independents and everything in between - need to shake the cobwebs from our eyes and face the future, together.
23
Why can't those who bemoan H. Clinton's loss in the 2016 election just come to the realization that she was a lousy candidate. Trump was an almost equally unappetizing choice, but he won the election. The interference, as described in the indictment, was a non factor in the result of the election. Mueller had better come up with something considerably more tangible if he is to legitimize the paralysis his investigation has wrought on the current administration. Facebook ads don't cut it.
14
Hilary was a bad candidate, perhaps the only candidate that could lose to Trump.
A very important question these indictments reveal is, why would Russia do this ?
Just to show that they could is not a very satisfying answer.
What benefit would they derive from a Trump presidency vs. a Clinton one ?
Sanction relief ?
How might they ensure that benefit ?
Kompromat ?
The complete story has not yet been revealed which is why Mueller’s investigation needs to continue, despite the inconvenience to the Trump administration.
2
Mueller isn't even close to done. The Russians have had Trump in their pocket since the early 2000's. Mueller had to first prove Russian involvement, which he has now done, which makes firing him that much more difficult. It's chess not checkers.
2
So Russian interference is okay as long as it doesn't play a role?
You should read the indictment. Spies in this country, stolen identities, drop phones, and escape routes. And Trump doesn't care.
1
The irony is that those Americans who engage in hyper-partisan politics are doing the Russians work for them. Ideologically driven, self-righteous political ”Holy Warriors” of both the left and right have done far more to poison the discourse in this country and gum up the works of the government than the Russians could ever hope to achieve.
21
False equivalency: when one side is fighting against the proposition that its very existence is illegitimate, it is not equal to the other side that is fighting--through gerrymandering, voter suppression, Fox "news," white nationalism, Russian aid, et al--to annihilate the other side.
1
If you honestly believe that, then you haven't been paying attention.
1
Meanwhile, over at the Fox News website, the narrative regarding this story is: “Well, they organized anti-Trump rallies, too, so how could the Russians have helped Trump’s win?” And the comments section reveals that most (easily influenced) Trump voters don’t think this story holds any weight. Forget the fact that a foreign influence knowingly and purposefully sought to disrupt the democratic process. Trumpsters are living with cognitive dissonance, seeing evidence and denying its impact, and will look for any type of rationalization for what happened, other than the ovbvious: Russians attacked our elections with the purpose of aiding Trump’s win.
31
Unwitting or no not, Fox News is complicit in every way. Undermining the FBI is the current iteration.
With the purpose of sowing discord and confusion into our democratic process, which all real patriotic Americans should be gravely concerned with.
With all the emphasis on the presidential race, not much has been reported as to whether the Russians influenced Congressional races in 2014 and 2016. Since our national security officials have warned of Russian meddling in the 2018 election, when there is not a presidential election, it seems reasonable to suspect that Russia also sought to influence other races in 2014 and 2016. The best way we can fight the Russians is to stop our partisan bickering and come together as a country. As reported, the Russians have sought to exploit fault lines that already existed.
12
Clearly, Trump is the "bomb" that was dropped on the United States as part of Putin's very effective information warfare campaign. As this bomb releases its toxins, it affects more and more enablers and begins to serve its real purpose--to crumble the foundations of democratic law and order in our country. Mueller is really our only hope.
30
This seems like a lot of resources spent on a self evident phenomenon, the Russian’s meddle in our elections. Their efforts were not inspired by Trump but began before he entered the race. Not surprisingly our geo political foe at times seemed focused on helping the two least establishment candidates, Trump and Sanders. Though apparently the Russians did sponsor an anti Trump rally in NY. Obama’s lack of action on this in real time reveals his lack of concern about a phenomenon that the FBI cannot say even had an impact on the outcome. I would like to see the FBI start focusing more on stopping terrorist acts like the Boston bombing, where the Russians had actually warned them of the terrorist ties of the Sarnov Brothers. I would like to see the FBI work more on chasing down leads concerning school shootings, such as the tips the failed to develop in this weeks Florida school shooting.
6
I'm not sure that the United States has moral standing to object to a foreign nation's intelligence agents interfering with a sovereign country's electoral process.
22
At the highest level of international politics morals have little relevance. The practical takes precedence. The goal is self preservation. Real World.
You may have a valid argument but it’s very difficult to justify our “leader’s” lack of response to a foreign attack.
In the grand moral scale of things, we're still about five miles higher up than Vlad the Putin.
Of course the only real way to combat this whole sale thievery is to really vote and end Republican dominance. If we do not take back at least all of the congress later this year, I fear our formerly democratic republic os doomed to the dust bin of history.
20
Perhaps the questions of electoral interference and collusion with a hostile foreign power known to employ terrorism should be turned over to a military commission for determination since the vague possibility of treason does seem to exist.
6
Real question now is : who are the Republican leaders that will put behind the partisanship and stand up for their nation?
15
If the message is that Americans are so easily persuaded by cheesy posts on social media, then I sadly conclude that we are doomed, and our population really can't handle the responsibilities of citizenship in a democratic system. Hence the Trump administration and the ongoing catastrophe of the Republican agenda. Thanks again, Facebook, Twitter, and all social media, for accelerating our downfall.
19
Cutting our already-dismal education budget, not funding the EPA (allowing industrial toxins to effect the mental and physical health of our citizens), and cutting community health service all contribute to a increasing population incapable of critical thinking.
In reply to John: I think the root cause is deeper than social media. Try the gutting of your public education system and a lack of critical thinking in the electorate. Throw in reality TV for good measure.
Although 'collusion' has not been defined per se, but we all know what it is, the concept of conspiracy to commit a felony does exist. Mueller, being a lawyer himself knows full well that conspiracy plus treason for agreeing with a foreign power to subvert the democratic process (a felony) is THE way to go. In addition, Trump's financial dealings, deceptive business practice, will also be on the table. The question of vitiating the election declaring it null and void is a pressing matter.
8
The question now. Who is breathing a sigh of relief, and who is about to resign or go on the lam? Certainly not the Russians who might have to find a new set of quiet wiring banks. Not Putin. For some reason, Russians are not interested in an American Democracy with a Big or small D. So that leaves the Chinese who didn't know our security agencies could pinpoint hackers and poseurs so well. There is only one person thick and silly enough to develop a need to travel and this is not the obvious choice.
This story is slanted against Trump, as usual. Its timbre is that Trump is proven wrong, i.e. Russia did attempt to interfere in the election. But in another, more important sense, Trump is vindicated--he did not *collude* with the Russian interference. That was buried deep in the story, mentioned only because the reporter had to. Everyone who advanced the false narrative that Trump is a Russian agent owe him an apology.
11
Read the indictment. There are references to co-conspirators and individuals known and unknown to the Grand Jury, in addition to the named defendants. It's too early to vindicate anyone.
1
Well, reality does have a well known liberal bias. But, joking aside, this proves that Trump's claims that Russian interference were a "hoax" were false. So I think it is fair to say that the slant against Trump is well deserved. As for your other claim, that it "vindicates him" and that we "owe him an apology", the investigation isn't over. The only thing this proves is that Russia interfered, the rest of the case could fill in some of the blanks currently left unfilled.
Still though, did Trump ever apologize for claiming Obama wasn't born in the US? Or for any of the other hundreds to thousands of lies he's told since occupying the White House?
1
In response to Davis: Mr. Mueller has not concluded his investigation and these indictments by no means clear the Trump campaign of any collusion. Trump and his minions have not been found guilty of collusion...yet. And then there's the matter of Trump obstructing justice.
Settle in folks and enjoy the show...it's just getting started.
1
Historically, crime bosses are insulated from prosecutions by their minions who willingly lie or take the fall for their boss. At the end of the day, Trump will prove to be no different.
4
But then Giulliani and his buddy Bonanno showed us how RICO one can get attaching soldiers to their commanders. With the creation of RICO, Rudy took the mob down like Bonanno hoped he might. Getting even often brings a bad man to a good fight.
Everyone but Manafort has flipped, and he's got enormous problems of his own, so his career as state's witness looms. Who are these minions? And the heads of most crime families went to prison.
I have read the report. I am reading replies here in the comments. What I take away from reading both is that the Russians succeeded in dividing this country irreparably. Trump supporters will never concede that he, Trump. was the perfect candidate for the Russians to be certain their hated one, Hillary, was not elected.
Perhaps more disturbing, again reading both the report and these comments, is that the Russians messed with our minds. Their success was, and continues to be, the most alarming aspect of what they achieved.
For those commenters who echo the President's claims that he, his organization, his campaign, etc. were not named in this indictment and therefore there wasn't 'collusion,' it is important to point out that NOT naming any of them does not confer lack of evidence or innocence. It simply means they were not named.
20
@nola73
The operative word of the story is "unwittingly".. as in "Some of the Russians were also in contact with “unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign,” according to court papers."
This is the beginning of the end of the "collusion" narrative.
they were not named.....yet.
This is just the first shoe to drop. There is more to come.
Now, if Mr. Mueller could please do something about the Republican party and its attempts to rig our elections with voter suppression and gerrymandering. Toss the whole party into a front end loader, set for high agitation with a double rinse cycle and maybe, just maybe, we can move forward in this country as to opposed to moving back into the stone age.
16
Absent from this indictment and this article is any evidence that the Russian Government was in anyway involved with any of this. Who knows maybe a Russian Billionaire like a Soros or Koch was behind it. If it can be proven that the Russian Government was behind any of this we should close their Washington Embassy and send all their diplomats home. If I was a betting man I would bet that Putin knew all about this meddling business and approved it. What gets me is that all this was done during the Obama presidency and yet the Russians were able to pull it off without a peep until after the election. It makes me wonder were all our intelligence agencies asleep at the wheel at the time all this was going on?
4
Read the indictment. It will open your eyes.
One down, one to go. Collusion with the Trump campaign knowingl;y is off the table. On to obstruction of justice. I predict a zero there as well. Casual talk and loyalty questions do not reach the bar.
When Mr. Mueller is done, we need another Counsel to investigate the threat from within: a corrupt FBI at the highest level, and the paid for phony dossier bought by the Hillary campaign from none other than Russians as the source. And paid for knowingly.
5
Hedley: 60-70% of the dossier has been VERIFIED. rEPUBLICANS were the original buyers of the dossier.
I don't think you understand how prosecutors build a case.
In other words , you have decided on the outcome with out waiting for the investigation to be completed. I think you should wait. I would guess, more is coming.
Amazing. Hillary Clinton must be having a major "I told you so." moment right now. Whereas Trump believes this lets him off of accusations of collaborating with the Russians, Mueller's work actually demonstrates that the Trump team was part of something much larger than Trump.
Hillary was just the President Putin was afraid of and he operated a masterful spy network to stop her.
We are now all paying the price of being duped.
46
Except Hillary really didn't tell us so (except for an unexplained quip at one of the debates) and neither did Obama.
If a Republican administration was watching a foreign country attacking our electoral system in real time, they would have been instantly accusing opposition candidates of treason, but Democrats told the People nothing until after the election.
Once again Democrats bring cupcakes to a civil war.
This is NOT solely about Trump - but far more important.
Mueller and his FBI staff are uncovering incursions into our banking system, which means into the stock system out reals estate, and face it - the whole problem of extreme uncontrolled campaign contributions to "PACS." It is always the money which corrupts.
In this case, the process - a kind of totally uncontrolled capitalism - threatens the stability of our political system. The most frightening thins so far - the many failure of Republican lawmakers to perceive the existing and potential threats.
39
It's not a threat to them. It works for them. They've made their deal with the devil.
Vladimir Putin should be considered America’s public enemy #1 and following very closely Donald Trump#2
76
Trump has more power to harm us directly. Put him first.
After reading a handful of bizarre comments supporting the administration's non handling of this act of new wave warfare, I have to wonder if the system of hacking into our social media like the NYT is still going on?
63
Indict Putin.
27
No, the better thing to do is to implement sanctions against Russia! Not only by us, but with all of our Allies!
If life were fair Mueller will be awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize while Trump begins his lengthy prison term for treason.
91
Come On! while I love the work Robert has been doing, a Nobel Prize seems far-fetched.
1
lets not forget this was known by Obama and as usual did nothing but tell Putin to cut it out
14
Let's not forget that Obama tried to send a more powerful message in 2016, but Mitch McConnell, as part of the Gang of Eight, refused to agree.
You will notice that Obama is not mentioned in this, or any other, Mueller indictment.
Meanwhile, McConnell and Ryan, are still enabling Trump, and the guy occupying the White House has yet to take any action to address the Russians in future elections.
.... and Trump has yet to admit that the Russians were even involved. Did you forget the numerous 'hoax' and 'witch hunt' comments?
Trump should be impeached, if for no other reason than he has refused to address the Russians.
He did NOT want to create a debate about who really won. Instead, Putin provides the dividing element. O also knew we have to catch the bums if we want this to end well for US. But in Russia, the courts are useless, so I get your regrets.
Late 2015:
“Mr. Trump, I have Vladimir Putin on the line asking to speak with you.”
“Vladimir, calling ME???? Put him through!
“Vlad, how are you my friend?! Hey, I saw that picture of you bare chested on that mare...you know we’ve got a lot in common, you and me!”
“Why, yes, Donald, we do. In fact, I was calling you because someone reminded me that you were thinking of running for President back in 2012. Donald, my friend, I think you would make a GREAT president!”
“You really think so Vlad?!?!
“Absolutely, Donald! You should really think about throwing your hat in the ring in 2016. You and I will make the world great again.”
“Well, Vlad, let me give it some thought. Ok. I think it’s a great idea. And I love the ‘great’ world idea ‘cause everything I do is great! Can I count on your support?”
“Of course, Donald, of course”
And so it likely began.....
29
Much to do about nothing !!!
11
Your comment is understandable being that you aren't an American citizen. However, to Americans who love their country, we take it seriously when a foreign hostile power wages information war on our citizens. We will survive the Russian trolls and we will survive Trump, but in the meantime, these indictments are a litmus test for Trump and the GOP-controlled congress. Will they finally enact the sanctions against Russia that were signed into law? After all, this isn't a hoax anymore, right?
The tie that binds
Voices with Republican roots
Mueller
Richard Painter
Steve Schmidt
Nicole Wallace
And several more......
8
Thanks for reminding US many Republicans are disgusted with this, so I work hard not to misplace my anger upon those who support a Republic, vs those who would hand it over to Putin for a win.
TRUMP THE TRAITOR? Why do we Democrats play by some kind of gentlemanly rules of boxing? This is a street-fight! Call this clown Trump what he is. A TRAITOR!. Just imagine what the republicans would be saying is this were a Democrat accused of such TREASONOUS behavior. TRUMP THE TRAITOR!
78
What a TOTALrepudiation of the election-night idea of Hillary's, that some rascally Russians took her entitled election away! No GOPers, no White House people, NOTHING!
Van ones told us, as did Wolf's pathetic book, and now Mueller admits as much. There was never any Trunp-Russian deal making af any kind.
The only remaining question is whether Muekker will be used to finish the indictments phase of he Hillary-Podesta--Strzok-Rosenstein-McCabe crime spree that we actually have evidence of.
Comey himself put Hillary in the same prison bus with himself, with just his public comments. THEN there's the Uranium One bribery case.
And who were all these people really protecting? Barack Obama.
15
This indictment is focused on specific actors related to the Russian government and specifically cites unnamed Americans that may face indictment later.
Nothing in here indicts or exonerates Trump.
Lets wait for the other shoe to drop before we claim we know what happened.
Apparently you did not read the article.
13 Russians have been indicted and it cannot be proved that this did not change the election outcome.
Also-- this may only be a first step. Collusion of Trump administration and also Trump's obstruction of justice may be next.
Exhibit A: The unhinged rants of an American (presumably) who hasn’t and won’t turn of Fox News or Twitter bots manipulative lies and finger-pointing. Disturbing.
Twitter needs to be government regulated. No more bot accounts.
......and nothing will come of this. Nothing to see here. ....go back too sleep and rest assured all is well.
3
That reminds me of something Uncle Cromwell liked to say...
"I could not...by things that are not, bring to naught things that are."
He means Putin won the election for Trump as not even Trump wanted it.
The trap to snare the orange rat has been assembled.
37
That is the problem with this partisan witch hunt. It is nothing more than an attempted trap, and has uncovered nothing other than what we have known about disruption within Soviet Union/Russia for decades. All at taxpayer expense. You Brits may be OK with having your pockets picked like that, but I would have preferred Mueller either read his history books, or watch the show The Americans before playing fast and loose with so many hard earned American taxpayer dollars to tell us what we already know. That side has been spying on us, messing with us, attempting to disrupt us for decades, and will continue to do so for decades to come. Ditto on our side towards them. DUH.
There is no collusion. Just the typical goings-ons that will continue to go on, and even more so because technology makes it easier for these disruptions to occur. The phony wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth is HILARIOUS. NO COLLUSION. Not necessary. America is fed up with governmental business as usual. Drain the inept, inefficient, ineffective swamp that thinks wasting taxpayer dollars is smart.
3
Are you even reading the reports? The indictment states that no Americans were knowing collaborators in this, and that includes Trump.
2
it seems the everywhere the liberals continue to see things that aren't there. isn't that symptomatic of psychosis? next thing you know they'll be screaming and talking to themselves as they walk down the sidewalk.
9
Quiet flows the Don ... right down the drain.
18
The Americans who fell for all this are the problem.
"Hillary is a satan"? Seriously?? & on ridiculous Facebook, that's how Virginians, etc decide who to vote for??
Not only is "a satan" absurd, it sounds like something Bin Laden would post. Clearly planted hokum some sort, & it's grammatically not even colloquially American English, too obvious to even bother tagging with 'propaganda alert'.
Americans know very well how to sabotage a foreign government, & "Hillary is a satan" ain't it.
Consider Operation Ajax, where the CIA got rid of Iran's Mossadeq in 1953 over oil:
"In August 2013 ... the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) admitted that it was in charge of both the planning and the execution of the coup, including the bribing of Iranian politicians, security and army high-ranking officials, as well as pro-coup propaganda. The CIA is quoted acknowledging the coup was carried out "under CIA direction" and "as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government"
(wiki).
As we know, ultimately this meddling caused the reaction to the installed Shah, & an excuse for the USA to start yet another foreign forever-war.
In any case, its the Americans who would believe planted posts on facebook that are the problem.
If we can't filter out adolescent pranks & mischief by troublemakers on social media, we can't be trusted to elect presidents who control the most apocalyptically destructive firepower ever invented.
30
Yes, we should learn from disasters like Iran that doing this kind of thing to other countries mostly backfires, and more importantly as you point out, the search for truth is not something you do through belief.
The search for truth requires rigorous application of the scientific method, knowing what you don't know, using primary sources to get closer to facts, a disciplined avoidance of choosing hypotheses because they are emotionally satisfying, and instead keeping all of the possibilities alive in your mind until actual facts rule them out.
Maybe this should wake up people who think that only some people should go to college and learn about how to do real research, and realize that a sophisticated nation needs a sophisticated electorate, not leaving a large percentage of the country vulnerable to emotional manipulation by media corporations and those (like Trump) who manipulate the media.
Democracy requires a highly educated citizenry to survive.
2
Forget collusion, this is straight up treason by Trump for refusing to defend America against this attack by a foreign power! Impeach now!
63
The Hoax lives....at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
42
When are we indicting Soros?
13
Not son enough. No one is a billion dollars worth of productive. You get a billion dollars through fraud.
Indict all of the billionaires now.
Where is evidence that will hold up in court that will incriminate Donald Trump for collusion with the Russians? The people who want to bring down Trump hail this as an important milestone in the Mueller investigation. What I see is an indictment of a bunch of foreign citizens who will never be taken into custody or even deposed. For placing fake Facebook ads. Really? This is the meat that will lead to the downfall of Donald Trump? I'm not impressed. I tell you what, though. They better finish what they started or there's going to be hell to pay. The future of the Democratic Party is now directly tied to the removal of Donald Trump from office.
11
It is an important development. Trump can no longer claim that the Russian investigation is fake news. It is real and I think the walls are closing around him.
Dennis: Do you really think that Mueller is FINISHED with his indictments? The indictments of these Russians are corollary, only. Wait.
This is indictment does not claim Trump was involved. That was not the point of this indictment. But this indictment does contradict Trump who said he believed Putin when he told him no interference happened.
But there is a mountain of other evidence that Trump is an asset of a hostile intelligence service (whether he knows it or not), from about twenty Trump appointees who had meetings with Russians then lied about it, to Trump asking a hostile intelligence service to hack US Government emails, to Trump's attacks on our Justice Department, FBI, Judiciary, the separation of powers, including calls for personal loyalty from government officials who swear to uphold and protect the constitution, not loyalty to a particular president, who is just a citizen in an office that is far more important than the man. Trump also destaffed the state department and is alienating our traditional allies.
There are quids and there are quos. If Muller finds a pro to connect them, we are facing the worst crisis since the civil war.
If the shoe were on the other foot, Republicans would have been calling for a hanging since before the election. Republicans need to decide whether they really want to risk their political futures on a pathological liar who uses Russian banks.
Do you really want to go the way of the King, Confederates, Nazis, Soviets, and other vanquished enemies of the US who Trump's base worship?
Donald Trump: "The Russians were just coffee boys...."
16
Multiple Russians Using fake American credentials to promote Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton....
The only question now is: Why?
12
Putin has convinced the Russians that the West is corrupt and the enemy of Russia. Both Obama and Hillary knew this and Obama called Putin out. Normally, Putin just arranges to assassinate domestic enemies, but can't do so easily with foreigners. Thus comparing the two election outcomes, Trump would be the lesser of two evils. And besides, there is a financial connection between Trump and Russia.
1
Trump is easier to manipulate to serve Russia's interests.
1
Trump and the republicans are mere pawns in putin and russia’s chess game
19
Nah, some of those California Repulicans seem AWFULLY worried abut their relations. Enough to try to make the evidence of Carter Page's brokerage of the Rosneft shares go away...that's massive slush funding territory.
High crimes and misdemeanors.
12
Go Bob Go!
20
Americans had better wake-up while there's still a dmocratic republic. Never had the Presidency sunk so low as in the hands of this psycopath and his GOP enablers. What is needed for you to see what's happening? Vladimir Putin did it all without launching a single missile!
29
But prosecutors use such indictments to name and shame operatives, making it harder for them to work undetected in the future.
-----------------
So, it's all about naming and shaming, huh?
What makes Mueller think that the Russian operatives have any shame?
He just indicted several ham sandwiches. LOL.
8
If Congress had integrity they would declare the election of 2016 nulled and voided! Donald was a stooge, is a puppet for Putin. He has refused to implement the sanctions against Russia that congress voted for!
We should ALL be outraged that Russians plotted, interfered with, and thwarted our election and democracy!!
The CIA, FBI and NSA must retaliate against Russia! They have attacked us!
Meanwhile, Republicans just shrug! They are traitors!
21
Time to put America First into play.... Trump only cares about his self-interest.
Trump, his son, and his campaign are clearly colluding with putin and the russians, even now. Everything trump says and did proves it. His son met the russians to get dirt on hillary clinton, on his behalf. He has tried to discredit all the evidence against him and tried to dismiss it as fake news. He fired comey and is trying to fire mueller. The russians know trump is an idiot and unfit to be president, and that they can do a lot of damage to america by using him. With trumps and the gop’s horrible policies, including the tax and deficit mess they are creating, the russians are well on the way towards destroying america
20
The Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, called the indictment “fake news.”
5
the US is truly a funny (haha and peculiar) country. Immigration, religion and race "divisive" LOL. Of course ! It's part of the American history even during colonial time under the British crown. What a big deal gosh ! Mr Mueller will soon discover that the moon is shining at night ? If 13 guys have been posting memes on the social media duplicating exactly what Republicans and many others have been saying during years and decades, this is a "tragedy" and has mysteriously "derailed" the elections ? In a global world Mr Mueller and his supporters would like to bring back ... "the wall" ? Or a State-run unique news agency to provide the US media with a Soviet-like type of "informations" ? The present dream of the French president Macron. So yes Mr Mueller is "protecting the 2018 elections from Russian manipulation" as reader wrote with a patriotic lyric tone. But he won't protect the US elections from 100% American fake news, from CNN-ABC-CBS-Fox-MSNBC etc. numerous biases, from the usual political campaign 100% American attacks of all kinds, from false #metoo allegations, from ... from ... Basically it's not a Mueller investigation that will help any US citizen to act with a much higher level of concern. That being said ,this new surge of ugly "nativism" (so-called) among liberals in America goes well in fact with the surge of xenophobia stirred by the Trump campaign and by the present president. a French citizen oops ...
5
Keep going, please....
5
According to Blum, America has been involved in regime change , since the 40's, some say earlier, and we think 13 troll bosses in Russia changed an election , 13 with petty cash versus billions of media bucks? No, the people are sick of the choices, period.Here is what we did, we need more than 13 troll bosses to wreck havoc, we have muchmore coming in the future:
China 1949 to early 1960s
Albania 1949-53
East Germany 1950s
Iran 1953 *
Guatemala 1954 *
Costa Rica mid-1950s
Syria 1956-7
Egypt 1957
Indonesia 1957-8
British Guiana 1953-64 *
Iraq 1963 *
North Vietnam 1945-73
Cambodia 1955-70 *
Laos 1958 *, 1959 *, 1960 *
Ecuador 1960-63 *
Congo 1960 *
France 1965
Brazil 1962-64 *
Dominican Republic 1963 *
Cuba 1959 to present
Bolivia 1964 *
Indonesia 1965 *
Ghana 1966 *
Chile 1964-73 *
Greece 1967 *
Costa Rica 1970-71
Bolivia 1971 *
Australia 1973-75 *
Angola 1975, 1980s
Zaire 1975
Portugal 1974-76 *
Jamaica 1976-80 *
Seychelles 1979-81
Chad 1981-82 *
Grenada 1983 *
South Yemen 1982-84
Suriname 1982-84
Fiji 1987 *
Libya 1980s
Nicaragua 1981-90 *
Panama 1989 *
Bulgaria 1990 *
Albania 1991 *
Iraq 1991
Afghanistan 1980s *
Somalia 1993
Yugoslavia 1999-2000 *
Ecuador 2000 *
Afghanistan 2001 *
Venezuela 2002 *
Iraq 2003 *
Haiti 2004 *
Somalia 2007 to present
Libya 2011*
Syria 2012
9
So instead of "collusion" the Russians played Trump and his crony's for fools, yeah that's better eh! Now they are at it again working to disrupt the 2018 midterms and play Trump & Co. some more. After all its all about him in Trump world. Putin would have done the same for anyone running against Clinton, that Trump's campaign was such an easy mark is more a reflection of Trump himself then his value to the Russian leadership. Sad!
10
What a brilliant move by Chess Master Mueller: by indicting all these Bad Guys with Russian names, he's set himself up as The American in this reality show; and cast Trump as the shady mobster working with Boris Badanov and Natasha.
Now Trump CAN'T fire Mueller OR Rosenstein - because that would prove he's with the Rooskies.
Trump must be fuming as never before - since all his baby-sitters and handlers are the ones who told him not to fire Mueller.
But firing Mueller was Trump's only chance.
And now it's too late. Trump should've nipped Mueller in the bud.
Trump could have survived firing Mueller the same way he survives paying off porn stars and not revealing his taxes: in Trumpworld, survival is the only value. What people "think" means nothing. Every day he's not in jail is a bonus to crooks like The Donald.
Firing Mueller would have caused a firestorm - but since there's no actual legal remedy for punishing a president, Trump would have been able to ride it out by the skin of his teeth - like he does every other con he's ever pulled, from having his lawyer pay off his porn star all the way back to his phony blonde roots.
But now it's too late. Now, the more he opposes Mueller, the more he climbs into bed with Boris and Natasha.
Mueller, with his quiet integrity & discipline, is the personification of all that Trump fears: Truth, Justice and The American Way.
And he's got a chin just like Dudley Dooright.
26
This indictment is the beginning.
The release of Trump’s tax return is the middle.
The end? Trump being literally dragged out of the White House as there is no chance this scoundrel in wig and make up will go quietly. The FBI must have had infinite scenarios on a white board on how to remove Putin’s slave out of Washington.
12
How about Israel and Saudi Arabia? How about the US? We dont interfere in elections?
3
We shoot missiles and drop bombs, too. Does that mean we should not defend against them when they're shot at us?
The elephant in the room is Trump.
5
Can he condemn the NSA too? WMD's? NRA's operations in Brazil? Lobbies? EXXON mob rule in the third world? Grafting? Lies about climate change? Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia? fomenting Yemen? WOE-WOE What a shambles the USA short-termist foreign policy is, blindly flip flopping around the planet and causing mayhem. America needs a foreign policy constitution, it's politicians are currently always out of it's depth. An Oxford chap in Italy.
4
So it’s president Trumpski after all. It makes me furious to see how how we were used by Putin, who clearly directed this. There’s a sucker born every day and we walked right into it. 3 more years till we can wipe our shoes clean and get our great country back!
11
Perhaps we should consider changing our shoes before then?
The info that is the most interesting to me is that Russia wanted either Trump or Bernie in the WH. What does this say about Bernie and his main followers? Hopefully the extreme hate that his main followers continue to spew against Hillary will stop and that this group will reflect on how they were manipulated as much as the core of Trump's supporters.
13
It's interesting that the Russians went for Bernie and Trump. Bernie's followers also said "if not Bernie then Trump." The Russians sure know a lot about Americans and lack of critical thinking. The only thing Bernie and Trump got in common is they are anti trade deals like NAFTA and TPP. But Trump wants to spend more money on weapons and modernize the nuclear armaments. Bernie is more of a pacifist. Trump wants to spend money to help the military industrial complex but not to confront Russia in any war but to intimidate Iran and North Korea.
3
This is it? You've got to be kidding me. Oh My God, Russian internet trolls indicted. Our elections are under attack. Never mind that the NYC election board admitted illegal activity when it purged voter rolls. Never mind that the Clinton campaign colluded with the DNC to rig the primaries, or paid a law firm to hire fusion One to collude with what they thought were Russian government officials to get dirt on their opponent. Forget the constant voter suppression, dark money, and gerrymandering perpetrated on our election system by our own politicians. Our democracy is under attack for sure, but by us. This is the result of Mueller's year long investigation and all the intelligence agencies proof? Internet trolls from Russia? Give me a break, pathetic.
15
No, that's not it. It's a step in the right direction.
It will he "it" when Mueller says the investigation is over.
1
Mueller served an appetizer and here you are thinking the meal is over.
Wrong. This isn't even the first shot, it's merely the sound of Mueller loading and locking a round in the chamber. When he first pulls the trigger, trust me, we'll all hear it loud and clear.
I hope that Mueller is reading the NYTimes to see all the support he has for his investigation. The majority of the American people want to get rid of the Russian interference with our democracy. Our country's life is at stake. I certainly hope all the corruption that has taken place by this White House will be exposed and that there will be serious consequences to pay for all of it.
17
It should be noted that there is no claim in the indictment that the New York Times was complicit despite the many times Trump excoriated the "Times" and called it "fake news". The fake, or fraud if you will, is Trump whom we now know is either a witting or unwitting dupe of the Russians. Either was does not flatter the man.
2
These are Mickey Mouse charges for laughable crimes.
I’ll stand by for Mr Mueller to indict that ham sandwich next.
7
Most of this started before President Trump was a candidate and President Obama’s staff in various departments knew it was going on and did nothing—and rightly so—this is tripe. Who looks at social media and decides how to vote? The millennials (those who might be influenced) overwhelming voted for Clinton and so the Russians had no influence—this is dribble. Sorry Democrats but your narrative is going nowhere. If there is anything to this it is Putin’s hatred of Clinton because of what he thought she did to him—which has nothing to do with President Trump.
12
I see so many weird comments posted here, that, dismiss this and belittle it. This is actually very significant and the people who replied never read the indictment. A very set of specific laws were broken and that’s what matters. For the election, voter like myself who stayed home because we didn’t want to vote now have to take the blame for that monster in the White House, and,more indictments will make it crystal clear to everyone what really happened.
4
Did not know this was a Democratic investigation.
Because young people actually know how to use the internet and be skeptical of information from it, as opposed to certain other age demographics... Don't believe me? Look at what your age 40+ uncles, parents, and grandparents are posting and sharing, straight garbage most of the time.
Is it just me or does anyone else feel that when you get past the headline grabbing words like "sophisticated operation" and "indictment" and "wire fraud" what you're left with is that 13 people unaffiliated with the Trump campaign posted some fake stuff on Facebook and YouTube and, as all the intelligence agencies have pointed out, it had no impact on the election.
Is that it?
16
Stupid people ask every time "Is that it?"
NO. That is not it. It is a step. More to come.
It will he "it" when Mueller announces he's wrapping up his investigation.
No, it's not just you. It's everyone who can't read an indictment and has no idea how prosecutions work.
Trump's continuing knee jerk response to any Mueller announcement is to tweet, "Seem no Russian collusion." Donald offers no explanation how he can definitely make that statement even after so many associated with his campaign have been indicted, have done improper actions or, in the sleaziest of Nixonian responses as did AG Sessions offer... say "I don't recall.": All this is beyond mere coincidence,
Trump's attacks on the F.B.I as being wholesale biased paint a guilty man trying to smear the prosecution rather than having confidence of his innocence. His quickness to release the nothingburger Nunes memo, when the DOJ recommended against it, while denying to release a Democratic memo is suspicious. Trump's casual ability to lie regularly without remorse is a damning personal trait. Trump's failure to sanction Russia after Congress voted 517 to 5 in favor of sanctions is damning.
While Trump supporters continue to swallow the Fox Entertainment propoganda that Trump is innocent and Mueller's investigation is unfairly political, they too are Americans.
How do they ignore so many dots that are in such close order that they are a line pointing to Trump? Sadly Trump supporters, like Nixon's supporters, will believe their candidate until he is indicted, impeached or resigns.
Time will tell but it's looking more like Trump's campaign actively worked with Russians or turned a blind eye to their efforts to help him get elected.
If true, Trump's a treasonous traitor.
7
Minutes to Midnight.
Tick. Tick.
Boom.
(NOT) (SAD)
1
You guys in the press need to seek some help—maybe get on some methadone or Suboxone perhaps—for your Russia addiction. Because y'all just can't quit this dead Russia story that's going nowhere, that I'm sick of always seeing on my television screen & in the press instead of focusing on the real issues American voters care about which aren't being covered. Stop it. Please. Put down the Russia glass pipe and cover real newsworthy events.
I can't believe that after a year & a half of all this digging into the Trump campaign (some of which was gathered dubiously from spying & wiretapping campaign officials based on a fraudulent dossier), on top of all the enemies Trump has made in Washington, you believe there's actually something to be found here. Trust me, we would've known about it by now if anything was actually there. Instead, we've had nothing but 13 months of breathless reporting followed by retractions and apologies from you guys in the media over bogus stories about Russian collusion. Because out here in the rest of America, no one—even my most hardcore liberal friends—actually believes Donald Trump cheated his way to the White House by hacking the election. We weren't trapped in those NYC & Washington DC bubbles like you were. We saw firsthand the momentum this guy was generating back in 2015-16, and we were especially concerned about the low enthusiasm among Democrats. So stop with the wall-to-wall Russia stories. Nothing will come out of it. It's a dud.
13
I am just so disgusted that they posed as members of groups such as Black Lives Matter. How dare they.
What atrocious people to turn such a heart wrenching black activist movement born out of police gunning down innocent motorists (I mean we all saw the coverage of it) into a less credible thing. It is beyond abhorrent. And I am white.
4
Wow!!! Russians at the gate. Everyone knows they have never meddled in anything.
6
This article does not explain what the indictments are based on, specifically. Is this a political or a legal indictment? Are foreigners not allowed to voice their preferences in US elections? I understand they lied about their identity, but is there a rule about IDing yourself on Facebook? In public? And isn’t that what Citizen’s United is all about? Free speech? Is the FBI coming after Canadians like myself who comment in the NYT?
8
All indictments are legal indictments, in this country we don't use political ones. They're based on law, specifically violations thereof.
2
Read the indictment. It includesthe specific violations.
Did Putin pay Sean Hannity directly or indirectly?
8
See, Murdoch TRIED to win Putin's affection by making massive outdoor billboard love letters for him, but the competition literally shot him out of the country. Do not get between a Russian and his paypal. So, Murdoch decided to send China all his data. Still hurts his wife sold him out to get in bed with Blair.
The stain on the Trump presidency can never be erased. With the recent indictment by the Special Counsel, history will record the facts. Even if nothing ever comes down showing direct conspiracy by or compromise of the president and/or associates, actions, words, and inactions by the president will likely be used to question his loyalty to the Oath of Office and to this nation for many decades to come.
History will also record Congress failing in its duty to serve as a check on the Executive and not acting in the best interests of this country. Specifically in the House, weak leadership will be highlighted for permitting the president to ignore sanctions laws against Russians and for allowing its own committees to serve as personal protectors of the president rather than as objective entities to protect this nation and democratic institutions.
6
One reader recommended actually reading the indictment, which I also recommend:
"Maybe the NYT will print the entire indictment tomorrow as a public service..."
The NYT's original article included a link to the actual indictment. Though that link has been deleted (I'd already downloaded it), it's not hard to find the indictment online through some other source.
6
How much tax payer money has now been wasted on this whole thing? Just to find out that some Russians tried to influence gullible Americans with fake news? How is that any different than what George Soros does every day? What a big nothing burger.
11
First off, I need to say this, Clinton lost the election herself by DELETING 30,000 emails, by having a private server (in a back room in NJ & pay-to-play), by allowing one of her staff to send copies of her emails to her family Laptop.....By smashing Phones with hammers. The American people are not stupid, a lot of them knew that just some of these things she would not get votes.
Donald Trump survived 15 other Republican Candidates with a THEME the resonated with the American people. That does not sound like Russian theme but I'm not excusing the Russians. They spend 15 Million dollars "Infecting" our election, we need to STOP THIS ASAP or democracy will be lost forever. Trump is a 71 year old guy trying to REBUILD America and WE the People need to "ok Mr. TRUMP HOW can I help" We need to come together as Americans. True Americans, One America
9
From the text: "Whether any of that violated federal law is the weightiest question facing Mr. Mueller, and Friday’s indictment did not answer it."
When proof of a crime is offered, I will applaud mightily. Until then, this is just more Clintonista dead-ender propaganda.
8
Remarkable for anyone to not see the value of indicting foreign conspirators intent on undermining American confidence in democracy. The fact the United States indicts then regardless of their being here or not plants the flag. The message is clear. Further, the Special Prosecutor must pursue anything illegal that comes up in the course of his investigation. This isn’t finished. Reactive uninformed unknowing-replies mean nothing. Thara social media jive. Mueller works in the real world kids. Facts before opinions. This is a process. Mueller is among the finest protectors of the United States and the U.S. Constitution. Be it criminal collusion that is unveiled, obstruction of justice, emoluments clause violations of the U.S. Constitution, money laundering, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, aiding enemies of the United States, Crimes Against The United States, Treason or anything else.
9
The Russians are still doing this stuff now. They are not planning to mess with the next election, they never left. Why wouldn't they? It worked GREAT. The GOP Congress refuses to do anything. Trump is Putin's lap dog.
And the GOP is busy undermining he FBI.
Putin is having the time of his life. Fox News, the NRA, and the whole GOP and all the Red States are clearly on Putin's side.
8
How many wheels is this...that are coming off?
3
Mueller better have access to 24/7 bodyguards and food tasters. Really.
5
Trump continues to protest.....'there was no collusion'....perhaps he
protests too much....when there is much more to discover.
4
So these same Russians helped organize a "Not My President" rally? Now that doesn't really fit the narrative... Partipation in that event seems, in retrospect, a little absurd.
6
The people charged yesterday are accused of supporting Trump and Sanders. They are also accused of organizing anti Trump and pro Hillary demonstrations. Main stream media have been cheerleaders for the Obama administration working with the Clinton campaign and its surrogates and apparatchiks to spy upon Trump and his campaign. This culminated with the use of the "novella" compiled by foreigner Christopher Steele using his Russian contacts and Clinton contacts (supposedly the likes of Sydney Blumenthal) to get FISA warrants on people associated with Trump and his campaign. Since Steele was a "foreigner attempting to influence a federal campaign" should he be charged by Mueller also? So, at 2PM on a Friday afternoon the Mueller operation indicted some Russians, arrested no one, and obfuscated the fact the accused worked to help Trump and Sanders, and also worked to help Clinton and hurt Trump (read the indictment, folks). Still, no one arrested for the fact the Obama administration worked with the Clinton campaign to spy upon Trump and his campaign.
7
Trump is at the point where the scent of treason is wafting through the air, Either he commits to defending this nation against all enemies as he swore on inauguration day or he faces the wrath of a nation that is beginning to doubt his legitimacy to be president.
One more twitter about hoaxes or fake news and we will need to brace ourselves for a war on this presidency,
People are beginning to say that enough is enough, I was very proud of those at the Florida rally for those kids who were murdered in school,,,,they showed as they chanted no more guns that they were prepared to stand up to the deaf and dumb president and his party,
5
Freeze all Russian assets within territorial US. We did that to Iran in 80’s for much lessor infractions, didn’t we ?
7
The Russians were very successful but the real blame goes to Trump and all the right wing haters that lapped up the discord and made the country the United Hates of America
6
The desperate attempts by those who willingly believed the Fake News agenda linking Trump to colluding with Russia continues with the remarkably stupid comments still trying to tie Trump with Russian operatives. Incredibly dense people who need to once more read Rosenstein's statement that "NO Americans are linked to these allegations."
8
I believe this to be a strategic move by Mr. Mueller in order to kill all talk of ending the investigation. Anybody in the White House or Congress that calls for that now could be in real trouble.
The suspicion and outright hatred ("...better dead than red...") of the 50's is still in the mind of normal Americans. Recent acts on the world stage (Crimea) haven't improved that notion towards the USSR, Russia or Communism.
Therefor a person calling for Mueller to "just go away" now could be marked as a "Commie" and "Russia lover" among other things. This gives Mueller the time to really nail down the case against the American counterparts of the operation. Because, at some point, "unwitting" won't work anymore and it's going to be prison time for some Americans.
Maybe this also was a trial ballon and he's watching who's buying tickets to Tierra del Fuego right now :-) Anyway: I don't expect a quick resolution, not now after he has delivered the bacon. Now he "just" has to kill the bear...
7
Why isn't Putin himself indicted? I can't think of any more powerful message than to label him publicly and globally as the criminal he is! Putin deserves no more access to the world stage than does his stooge Donald Trump.
5
Patience, we will connect him to this and indict him, eventually.
Trump was never critical of Putin and Russia throughout his campaign and after now as President. He was critical of China, every country in Europe, Japan, Australia, and others, but never Russia. There's only one conclusion you can come to...he is compromised very heavily by the Russians and they will expose him if he doesn't do their bidding. We have for all intents and purposes, a Russian agent in the WH. You can't explain this any other way.
10
So meaningless indictments are supposed to be meaningful? These people will never be tried in a US court or anywhere for that matter. This demonstrates the meaninglessness and wastefulness of Lurch's, aka Mueller, faux Russian investigation. BTW, maybe Israel should indict obama for his meddling in their last election for Prime Minister.
6
One massive hoax that wasted a lot of time and taxpayer money.
10
Why why why why would russia want Trump in the white house???
seems to me that that is the most important question....
1
Good Job Mr Muller! Keep up the good work. You are my only hope for the country I love.
6
Can we hope that, in the light of this indictment, Mr. Trump and his ilk will stop mouthing the sickening refrain that the Russian meddling in the 2016 election was “fake news”?
True, the special counsel and his team of investigators have not yet made any accusation that President Trump or his associates were knowingly part of the conspiracy. But then, the indictment does not address the hacking of Democratic email systems or whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct the F.B.I. investigation into Russian interference. The crux of Trump’s criminal liability lies there. Let’s wait for the Mueller team to complete the investigation. Let’s wait for the team to reveal the extensive evidence of contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign it has gathered. Remember the political dirt on Mrs. Clinton the Russian contact offered Mr. Trump’s son?
We will soon find out what is real source of Trump’s repeated complaint that he was the victim of a rigged political system is. Follow the money that poured into anti-Clinton advertisements and wait until the cooperating witnesses who have already pleaded guilty complete their testimony. Proving the Trump team’s involvement in illegal practices will be only a short step away.
It's only a question of time before more witnesses come forward to plead guilty and cooperated with the investigation.
4
Mueller is too ignorant to notice all of the political activists on college campuses who are not US citizens. His investigation is a joke without indicting them. I read about them all of the time. Check out the USC paper, they are proud to tell you of their activism, some even work in the government offices of US Reoresentatives.
2
A political move. No way that case will be done in the next year or so. No way Mueller can possibly be fired without adding another obstruction charge. Brilliant for a conservative real Republican. Congress should kiss his feet, especially the Freedom Caucus. He may be saving their party.
Hillary Clinton lost in 3 states by the margin of votes that were cast for Jill Stein.
I want to know why Jill Stein was sitting at that table in Moscow with Mike Flynn as the special guest of Vladimir Putin. Was Jill Stein acting as a Russian agent?
Anyone who read Stein's platform or saw her interviewed during the 2016 campaign saw she knew little about the issues and was in no way qualified to be president.
9
Zuckerberg of Facebook should be indicted for being an accomplice to the many, many illegal activities that his company blindly allows every millisecond of every day. Why is he exempt from the law? He accepts money for the task as well. Shameful and irresponsible, a disgrace to the country. He should be shut down and imprisoned for life.
3
Given that the election was decided by 77,000 votes in a few states, and that Americans are glued to Facebook on their phones all day, it seems to me highly likely that the Russian campaign could indeed have changed enough minds to determine the outcome.
The margin by which Trump won the electoral vote is .0006%.
6
Because so many of the efforts made by the Russians resemble the absurd digital ad mentioned in this article, which says "“Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is,” I believe Trump's assertion that those efforts had no significant effect on the results of the election.
2
The cat is out of the bag and it turned out to be a mouse! What comes next?
Are the editors of The Economist and The Guardian going to be indicted next? They are British papers and they too have written extensively on the election.
And I, a US voter, can testify that they tried to influence me (smile).
5
Odd that the headline didn’t mention helping Bernie. Or the anti trump rally.
3
Pretty soon Donald . They’ll get you too.
4
Is President Trump the only U.S. president who has been so blatantly and badly fooled by a Russian President??
1
Who can be sure that any of these comments, or anything else on the web, wasn't authored by the intelligence service of a foreign enemy? Until we figure out how to keep uninvited guests from entering the wide-open electronic door into America's living rooms, America remains vulnerable.
4
In Michigan, a key state, Trump won by 10,000 votes. It’s no longer credible to say that Russia did not affect the Presidential election in favor of Trump. To prove it will take another level of voting analysis which will not be rocket science. Correlation analysis—a basic statistical tool can demonstrate it—and any high school kid with a graphing calculator can do it.
Trump may not have solicited Russian help but there’s no denying he got it.
Once again, a Republican wing of the Supreme Court has affected an American election—first with in “Bush/Gore” and again in “Citizen’s United.” It’s “Citizen’s United” which allowed all the “faceless” unsolicited ads.
7
I wonder how Fox will downplay this.
"They were registered democrats!"
1
Now why would Russia want Trump to win the election? Hmmmmmm. Can it be because for SOME reason he will do their bidding, like not instituting the Russian sanctions approved by Congress. Or by employing Russian stooges like Paul Manafort and Carter Page. It sure seems like Putin, the ex-KGB officer, has got himself a puppet in the WH.
3
Russians! You indicted Russians? Why not Martians? They're as easily accessible as Russians! Unless you can produce a direct link to Trump, what's the point?
4
I just cannot believe how stupid and easily manipulated some Americans are. They cannot understand the concept of how protest votes and not voting affect an election. They live their lives on social media as if real life does not exist. Is this the same country that had the McCarthy hearings??? I guess Communism is no big thing now
4
I do wish the NYT would go back to their comment boards during the election, and check out some of the posters. It wasn't just Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram that was duped into becoming nearly free Russian electioneering for Trump. Not saying every pro Trump comment was done by a Russian, but plenty of them seemed to have been cut and pasted from some pre-written script, and then re-posted on the Washington Post comment boards.
4
In summary, there was NO COLLUSION between Trump and Russia, which debunks what the mainstream media has been reporting for over a year -
8
The investigation has not yet concluded and you (or anyone else for that matter outside of Mueller's team) knows what those who have testified under oath have said and there's more to come from those now doing deals to limit their own exposure. Keep watching FOX news and stay ignorant happy in the fact that they won't even report what's going down.
3
Jim: your premise is faulty and a red herring. Simply because this indictment is against Russian nationals who acted independently without the knowing support of Trump’s surrogates does not automatically mean or prove in any way that the Trump campaign was not otherwise or elsewhere acting in concert with separate “tentacles” of Putin’s efforts to undermine our nation. Trump, Jr.’s meeting in the Trump Tower with Putin’s representatives, Trump’s deep financial ties to Russian oligarchs, and other suspicious dealings bear full investigation. Let the facts and evidence show the truth. Only then can patriotic Americans be assured that we don’t have someone beholden to Putin running our country.
3
That wasn’t really the summary, this is just about a specific set of charges against a specific group of people. But this also shows why it’s important for the investigation to continue. If we really value our country we should value the steps that this investigation is taking to protect it and to protect our right to run elections uninhibited by covert foreign interference.
What a bunch of dupes the Trump, Sanders and Stein voters were. They were so easily duped by misinformation like some school kids believing the worst about a class mate that has no basis in fact. It is appalling that many adults in this Country are no further along in judging people than they were at age 16. I doubt any of this can be fixed when folks are so willing to believe lies about people they don’t like or know. It continues on today with the immigration and DACA battles. What a sad statement on our adult population.
9
How do you know they were duped? How can you prove that as fact?
And, when will some prosecutor have the guts to go after Facebook’s Zuckerberg and other top execs there? Conspiracy, R.i.c.o., the list of potential charges is long.
9
Instead of talking about himself again (no collusion) Trump should applaud this outcome and condemn Russian interference in our elections no matter when it started. His complete absence of leadership is so tiresome and unpatriotic.
17
But some were for Bernie Sanders and some were against Trump, a demonstration outside of Trump Tower when elected. Seems like a nice anti-Trump headline. What a waste of millions from the US taxpayers for this, nothing that transformed any votes and started in 2014 on Obama's watch. Nothing will happen to any of these individuals. Linked a few Facebook, Paypal and YouTube accounts after one year. People probably think the United States doesn't try to influence any elections in the world, spending way more money and causing much pain, homelessness and loss of life, where is some real reporting of the world we live in today?
3
Robert Mueller is doing his job quietly, wisely, and efficiently. Shame that we can't say the same about our president, who will continue to scream NO COLLUSION well after he's removed from office.
12
Donald Trump acts
1) in fear of Russia
2) in service to Russia
The Russians have declared war on us. Donald Trump thinks only about himself.
worst.president.in.history.
Thank you, Robert Mueller, for protecting our democracy.
13
Mr Mueller and his team just confirmed what President Obama knew in 2016. In a New York Times article on December 16, 2016, the Times reported that President Obama had seen President Putin in China and told him "Cut that out" referring to the election hacking.
Our own InTel chiefs have also testified to this. Now we have indictments. Will they stop? I doubt it without sanctions. And soon. The Primaries for the Midterm elections are only a few months away.
6
The indictment says Russia began its work to disrupt our election in 2014. Trump says that vindicates him because he didn’t enter the campaign until 2015.
When you consider the fact Trump held his Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013 (after being paid $20 million—way more than usual), meeting with many of Putin’s buddies, the timeline presented in the indictment convinces me that Trump did conspire.
2013 he goes to Moscow. 2014 the Russians set up the infrastructure needed to interfere with our elections. 2015, after the preparations have been made, Trump suddenly enters the campaign.
Coincidence after coincidence followed. Roger Stone and Giuliani seemed to know beforehand when something “big” was coming involving hacked emails. Trump encouraged it on the trail. Trump’s sons and campaign align their message to the fake Russians propaganda. “Lock her up.”
Trump’s son Don Jr. lied about meeting Russians in 2016 to get dirt on Clinton. Trump refuses to ever say anything negative about Putin. He and his cabinet meet with them without the usual translators and note takers in the room. Trumps refused to implement congressional sanctions. For an innocent man, he and his family and friends sure act guilty. Now let’s also talk about 100 people in our White House who FAILED security clearance. What do Trump supporters need? To be hit in the head by Putin before he moves into 1600?
11
I can only say I waited patiently for results in this investigation. The FBI has suffered countless accusations about their impartiality and credibility in the last few months. Mr. Mueller's investigation has done a lot to restore that credibility. It proves that the FBI can conduct a thorough and results driven investigation that protects a sacred element of being American, our democracy. Thank you Mr. Mueller not only have you restored my faith in the FBI, but you've taken steps to safeguard our elections from those that want to undermine it.
5
Mueller’s indictments of the 13 Russians for election meddling should make it crystal clear that we are engaged in a cyberwar. Neither a border wall nor additions to our nuclear arsenal are going to keep our democratic institutions safe. Trump has been spoiling for a war, and he’s got one now, though not the one he wanted. How foolish would he look on a grandstand, waving to a grand display of armaments as the marching bands pass by. The real might and heroism in this war will come from our intelligence agencies whom Trump has relentlessly smeared.
5
I do wonder why the article does not mention that the Russians also helped Bernie Sanders the same way that they helped Trump, and for the same reason. They were both the underdogs and they wanted to disrupt the elections.
It also not not mention that after Trump got elected that they were the ones behind organizing the "He's not Our President" protests. All this report showed was that Russia was doing whatever it could could sow discord in the US, and they have succeeded.
1
The anti-Trump protest was a red herring coming, as you said, after the election.
Their goal was to get him elected and, yes, they succeeded.
For anyone who thinks on 13 Russians were the only one indicted today....
A 14th, who was an American, was also indicted today. Actually, he was indicted two weeks ago, but it was announced today.
You should read the indictment. It refers to numerous Americans, some known to the grand jury and some not known. These potential co-conspirators are being investigated.
This is not a final report by any any means. It's simply the next set of indictments. Mueller is not saying there is no evidence of collusion - simply that i's not addressed in the indictment of 13 Russians.
BTW, it looks like Rick Gates has turned on Manafort.
Mueller is just get warmed up.
7
Mueller indicts 13 people who live in Russia (I picture them jumping on a plane right now to fly here for the trial), who reportedly spent $100k on fake Facebook and Twitter accounts. Wow. The Clinton campaign spent more than 10 times that just on the foreign agent Steele dossier.
This is embarrassingly ridiculous. The democrats who are screaming about redemption look like fools.
5
"The C.I.A. has conducted such operations [manipulating elections overseas] for decades". That's pretty much all that can be said about this "outrageous scandal".
3
The Russians have only opened our Pandora's box of the racism and greed that is, sadly, our history as Americans. The fault is with ourselves, and I fear it will be a few more generations before, if ever, it will be the better world we dreamed. Since it goes without saying that the 13 bad players will never see the inside of a courtroom, will we be willing to give up our access to "social media", and who will moderate that?
1
Somebody please explain to me how a bevy of at least 15 Trump surrogates could become “unwitting” participants in a hostile foreign government’s plot to rip asunder their own country’s democracy?
Really. I’m at a loss here.
1
Gee, I wonder why the Russians preferred Mr. Trump to Sec. Clinton? Could it be because he'd be a better president? "Better" from their point-of-view, perhaps.
2
Saying that the outcome of the election was not affected is preposterous but wise.
Of course it was affected to some degree.
How could it not?
If Trump feels vindicated here, then Mueller will have a little more breathing room to complete his task.
3
While we are waiting for Congress to act: A .Russian interference B. Mass shootings C. Climate change . If the gun control problem is used for a guide the seas will rise and Putin will run for office in 2030.
1
Our “so called President” is a disgrace . His inaction and silence in the wake of these revelations speak volumes.
We do not have a president . We have a spoiled child who lives in the White House that stands for nothing . I am happy that we have these indictments but depressed to think that the only thing Trump can say in light of this is “ no collusion “. He’s a very evil and self centered human being ( if he even qualifies as a human being ) .
5
Wow, indicting a handful of fake Russian actors who don't even live in the US. You will never hear about the fact that this indictment means nothing to them as the continue to live freely in Russia. Pure theatrics. Will Mueller demand that the FBI look at the DNC's Russian hacked server as part of his investigation? Let's all have a peak.
6
Reading the comments here depressed me more than the indictments which everyone should read.
Trump supporters are out in full force suggesting the inquiry and resulting indictments are a waste of time and money— as though the investigation is over. They suggest that Trump’s been vindicated because there’s no mention of “conspiracy.” The Justice Dept made it clear this wasn’t the end. And nowhere in that indictment was there any suggestion that the Trump campaign DID NOT conspire with the Russians.
However,the fact the they were able to so effectively pit us all against one another should frighten everyone in this country. I saw it happening on Twitter between Bernie and Clinton supporters. And that division continues.
All of you suggesting this investigation is a waste of time and that you don’t believe the Russians manipulated YOU, need to sit down and think about if you want to continue living in a country where you can say what you want and, for the most part, do what you want. That’s not the case in Putin’s Russia.
All you conservative gun lovers— Putin doesn’t allow Russians to own guns. And maybe the next election, he’ll decide to promote Democrats. Then, I suspect you’ll care
8
According to this article the CIA has conducted operations for decades in which they tried to interfere and influence the election results of foreign governments. And the fact is that there is little doubt that if the CIA had the opportunity to somehow have Putin defeated and ousted from power in favor of some incompetent leader they would jump at it.
Therefore this step of the US government to indict the Russians who played the exact game the CIA plays, with the exception that the completely outdid anything the CIA ever attempted to do, in other words they were successful where the CIA has always failed smacks of sore losing.
When two professional and world class intelligence agencies are playing the same game for decades and one of them manages to achieve a stunning success, the likes of which the other can only dream of, the professional thing to do is to acknowledge the success of their competitor. In fact had it been the CIA that had pulled off a similar thing in Russia and Russia responded with a meaningless indictment of the CIA agents or contractors, we in America would view the Russian action in this exact way. That the Russians are acting like sore losers.
2
are you for real? This does not make it acceptable. Yes the CIA interferes with elections just like the MI6 or the secret agency of Israel are powerful and dangerous. I realize this. But this is our election, its being exposed and yet our president seems to continue to help these dangerous guys. It is our freedom that is being attacked here. That is what I am concerned with at the moment. Not what is happening in Russia, where misinformation is an every day happening. Where people do not live free, where poverty is rampant. Where oppositions get murdered.
What is not to understand? The only alleged collusion involves Russians with other Russians. Americans are specifically exempted. That means Trump and the Trump campaign are not being indicted for anything unless other charges are brought up which is unknown at this time. The haters keep on hating, but so far they have come up with only a dry hole.
6
One of several thoughts that emerge from reading of the indictments;
A lot of people owe an apology to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
7
Not having social media accounts is a wonderful thing. No Facebook, no twitter, no instagram, no nothin'. But now we know our enemies are out to get us so those of you with accounts need to fight back. Meanwhile, where are our hackers? Where is Trump's tax returns? Why can't our freedom-loving computer jockeys clog up the Russian, Chinese, North Korean, etc. cyber attacks? If the Trump administration won't fight back, we must.
1
There is no doubt in my mind that our Constitution, especially the 1st and 2nd Amendments, are being used by both American corporate interests (think gun lobby) and Russian political interests to destroy our Democracy.
This process is being aided and abetted by all three branches of our federal government from the Citizens United ruling to the Congress and President's obstruction of the Russian investigation, and their abject failure to regulate assault firearms.
The conduit for this process is the willingly ignorant American Citizen, who are legion.
MB
3
Ever since citizens united we don't even know who many of the million $ contributors to Trumps elections were. I suspect there are US citizens perhaps who were part of approving Citizens united. They knew full well it would bring millionaires and billionaires to the GOP winning elections after elections. The democrats can not compete with off shore shell companies who can contribute to elections, under perhaps false names?
1
I am very bothered by the assumption that, when Trump has been impeached, Pence will then take office as President. If it can be demonstrated that Trump, by cheating, "stole" the election, then isn't Pence just as illegitimate as Trump? If something has been stolen, you give it back to the person from whom it was wrongly taken. That person was Hillary Clinton--NOT Mike Pence!
3
Of course it changed the outcome. They successfully (and falsely) painted Clinton as corrupt and unscrupulous.
4
Not quite yet a smoking gun but it is hard to believe the Russians could have set up such a sophisticated and complex scam without help from somebody in the RNC and possibly the Trump campaign itself. It appears a number of key Trump aides actually used materials provided by a Russian troll farm named in the indictment and forwarded those materials to users on social media. Manafort and Gates key Trump aides are under indictment. Trump Tower falling down rife with scandal and corruption.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Step by step, closer and closer.
Trump in Prison in 2020.
That would really make America great again.
2
These indictments firmly establish our election process was assaulted. Now that the crime has been established, any attempt to fire Mueller or Rosenstein becomes much more difficult for trump and his disciples.
2
Mueller is not finished with his investigation. He is negotiating with Trumps lawyers to meet with Trump. I hope he will also investigate Pence. Many of the GOP elected officials should also be investigated.
1
From the article: "Whether any of that violated federal law is the weightiest question facing Mr. Mueller, and Friday’s indictment did not answer it".
This indictment which holds that those Russians are guilty of committing a fraud upon the US government is ridiculous on its face from a legal viewpoint. And this is because fraud requires that the misrepresentation of facts must cause the victim an injury. And the government itself does not allege any injury as not only does it not claim that what the Russians did changed the outcome of the election, they say that have no idea if what the Russians did had any effect at all. So the indictment itself does not even allege that the US, which is the "victim" in this case, suffered any injury, which is the most basic and crucial element of fraud.
In addition fraud requires that there be a misrepresentation of facts that the victim relied on. Which again is ridiculous in this case since the victim here according to the government is the US itself. And the US did not rely on whatever it was that constituted a misrepresentation of facts,
The point here is that the government usually gets away with indicting people based on the most outrageous legal theories because they threaten the defendant that if he dares to challenge the charges and doesn't simply plead guilty he would get a sentence that is 10 times harsher.
However in this case where the government is not in the position where they can lock up the accused what we are left with is an indictment that is a complete and total joke from a legal standpoint. And an indictment that is a joke does nothing as far as sending a message.
3
You can’t make this intrigue up! The drama continues...
Just proves more investigations are necessary.
1
"...debate question leaking..."
I'd almost forgotten about that.
The commenter is referring to Donna Brazile's advance disclosure of debate questions to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Brazile was then the acting head of the DNC and a CNN TV commentator. She passed on two debate questions (even describing the first questioner and what she planned to wear that night), and bragged that she could get more.
Knowing a debate question in advance is useful only if you're participating in the debate. That meant to me that Hillary was made aware of those questions in advance. I now realize that's not necessarily so: Her campaign staffers may have planned to pass debate questions on to Hillary just before the debate. If that was the plan, though, Hillary's staffers were bad people, even if Hillary herself was not, and Hillary hired them.
Whether or not Hillary knew, Brazile must have had reason to believe those debate questions would be well-received. Would she have bothered to pass on the second question (much less brag that she could get more) if she'd been told, after passing on the first one: "Thanks, but I think Ms. Clinton will prefer to wait for the debate to hear the questions."
Bottom line, while Donna Brazile was obviously a sleaze-ball for passing on debate questions, either Clinton or her top staffers were also sleaze-balls for accepting them and not discouraging Brazile from getting more. In other words, maybe Trump is a bad dude, but was Hillary any better?
3
Aside from being hopeful that this will put to rest the debate over whether Russia tried to interfere with our election, President Trump seeing this as vindication may also be good news. It might lessen the odds that Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller will be fired so that the investigation can continue. As for action to protect our democracy being taken, I am much less hopeful.
I am also embarrassed and ashamed that we Americans can be so easily manipulated by Russian agents appealing to the darkest side of our natures. What does it say about us! They did not create the fear and hatred over immigration, race and religion. They merely took advantage of feelings that already existed.
4
Who is the "unidentified American" who advised them on battleground states and who did they work for? And why weren't they indicted? Very vague on this essential fact.
5
Perhaps it is not released as the investigation continues
All this amounts to is what is called, "propaganda." Which foreign governments, including our own, have been doing for centuries. It's just easier now with the use of social media. This doesn't show collusion whatsoever.
4
Where there is smoke, there’s usually fire.
Trumps a crook thru and thru.
And no one said it does show collusion.
And no one said the investigation is over, either.
1
Here’s one example where I’d like to see links to specific Facebook posts that illustrate each of the general claims in this article. I’m certain I would recognize many of the posts from the time that I spent on Facebook during the election.
3
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.
2
I would go one step forward. No gerrymandering accepted. All votes are counted, no more electoral college in the general election. And have another election as many other countries do when evidence of corruption is uncovered. Yes it caused money. But money better spend than this outdated billions on the wall this President wants to built instead of brining our country together.
After having identified the problem, and having found out what has happened, one of the next steps is to find a solution.
The time scales differ so much: fake news can be generated almost in an instant, whereas it can take years and a lot of effort to detect it. Maybe the internet can be split in two: one anonymous net in which all slander, defamation, whispering campaigns, dirty tricks, are possible, and anything goes, and another net in which the authenticity of all messages is continuously checkable by confirmation of the message and its sender.
There may be nothing new in the methods used by the Russian operatives. And we have gradually turned into a world where any unethical act is considered defendable by the statement "but I made money out of it".
2
However how to you check that each person is the real person. Perhaps the names were hacked as it was in this case.
$100,000 worth of ads against Hillary who won the popular vote by three million votes. Tens of millions of dollars worth of ads by the Trump campaign and Hillary won by 3 million votes. Democrats will be whining about this until the end of Trump's second term because they have no clue about what Americans want and need. At the same time, we'll all ignore the fact our own government spies on its own citizens.
4
In some ways, the Russian meddling is a major distraction from all the other messes we have: immigration, infrastructure, environment, energy, wars, etc. But, having Mueller indicting people gives us some hope that someone is on our side and is trying to give us back our democracy.
2
This indictment and the related publicity will make it
more difficult for Donald Trump to attempt to fire
Mr. Mueller.
2
Er, Mueller just proved no collusion...why would Trump fire the man who vindicated him from these absurd accusations?
2
If American citizens did the same election influencing things that the Russians are accused of, would any of it be illegal? Or even surprising?
We expect election campaigns (by and for US citizens) to do everything they can to influence voters. Misrepresentation, sowing confusion, and outright lying are standard tools, widely accepted and perfectly legal. US Politicians regularly employ thousands of people and spend hundreds of millions of dollars in these efforts.
I tend to believe Trump was not legitimately elected. But was a relatively small number of Russians with a relatively small budgets (mere millions, apparently according to Mueller) able to influence our national election using the same tools available to all campaigns? Yes it's illegal and wrong for foreigners to influence our elections. But is our election system really so much more susceptible to foreign mischief compared to domestic mischief? If so, is there anything we can do about it?
It’s tragic that the trump administration has no interest in preventing future Russian interference. Instead we have to rely on Mueller for this.
I love the spin that this is great news for Mr Trump because there is no evidence that he or his staff “colluded”. We live in strange times when the President wins with the support of a foreign adversary and this does not reflect badly on him.
Ignoring the fact that he publicly invited Russian interference during the campaign. Ignoring the fact that he has since promoted Russia’s innocence. Accepting that he knew nothing. Accepting all of that, then all America needs to worry about is:
A President and a presidential team so incredibly gullible that they unwittingly helped a foreign power.
A President that favours the word of America’s adversary ahead of the combined opinion of all America’s intelligence agencies.
A President that would possibly not be in power without Russian help (there is no way to know).
A President that an adversary demonstrably favoured over his opponent (one must ask why, and in most circumstances the connotations are not positive).
Even putting the best possible spin on this, on what planet is “This only shows that I have unbelievably bad judgement and my country’s adversaries like me better than my opponent, not that I am crooked” capable of being seen as good news?
4
This report is like abstract artwork - everyone can see what they want to see in it.
From my viewpoint, the bias that is apparent in the reporting of this indictment represents a greater threat to public opinion than any of the Russian-affiliated shenanigans the report mentions. The fact that there is ZERO perspective here (and in nearly all mainstream media articles on this matter) is troubling to me. Is the alleged propaganda just a minute fraction of the political information exchanged across American internet servers over that time? Apparently it didn't make a difference, in terms of the election outcome. But HOW insignificant was it - quantitatively? How does it compare to, say, China's or even OUR attempts at propaganda here and elsewhere? And how much money was involved in these particular activities? (1.25 million was reported in the Atlantic Monthly, but that was for the US.... and other nations.) How much does the CIA spend for similar endeavors? In short, is this a mole hill or a mountain? Also, I am troubled by the tendency here and elsewhere to infer causal connections without any support provided. Nefarious activities passing through Russian servers is, itself, not proof that the Kremlin actually directed it (like our CIA apparently does.) Wasn't there a fair amount of petty criminality, i.e. credit card theft, associated with these same sources? So, it still appears that neither the Russian government nor the Trump campaign were actively involved here.
2
This is a sub-category of a list of election meddling tactics that occurred in the past three presidential elections. Others include provoking violence at rallies; national parties pre-selecting their favored candidate in the primaries; last-minute revelations of sexual escapades from a candidate's past that would have been important to know during the primaries but was held in reserve to influence the election; fear-mongering within weeks or days of an election (recalling the unsubstantiated "War on Women" cry before the 2012 election); political strategists advancing and succeeding in the use of "identity politics" to divide voter groups against one another, with race, sex, religion and economic class as the primary "dividers" and the long-accepted strategy of rounding up indifferent voters through voter registration campaigns and van pools organized by a candidate's supporters. Rod Rosenstein feels the Russians promoted discord but there was plenty of officially promoted discord and manipulation in place for the Russians to exploit.
I'm all in favor of sanctioning the Russians but the real cure to me is focusing on re-uniting the people of the United States. Politicians (and their staff) need to re-discover their better natures. No politician who claims to represent this country should be permitted to divide us ever again. A candidate who cannot think of a positive, forward-looking message has no reason to run for office.
Absolutely!
"...we need 'background checks' before anyone is allowed to use these Social Media platforms to access billions of gullible people world wide."
And if we don't like what we find in those 'background checks,' those would-be social media posters shouldn't be allowed to post, or otherwise to communicate. Free speech is all well and good, but we need to know ahead of time what someone might say. After all, we need to protect all those "gullible people," and obviously that means deciding what they should hear and not hear.
2
So where is the evidence of the "collusion" between President Trump and the Russians.
So far the available evidence shows that the Clinton campaign, the DNC, and FBI colluded with the Russians through the fake dossier they bought from Christopher Steele, that was filled with Russian fairy tales. They attempted to subvert the 2016 election.
2
In February 2016, while delivering a victory speech following the Nevada caucuses, Donald Trump proclaimed his love for the various demographics that led him to victory.
As part of that list, he exclaimed, "I love the poorly educated."
Now we know why!
3
Why does it surprise anyone that Russia cheated? They've been doing it for years at the Olympics--and yet the rest of the world let's them get away with it. What ever happened to those sanctions Donald?
I think they should definitely now be investigating how illegal immigrants are influencing our elections. I bet that has a much larger affect of election outcomes than 13 Russians who announced on Social Media they backed Trump.
1
How many illegal immigrants actually voted ?
To accurately report the facts the indictment states the purpose was to disrupt the election and show discord. It did this by support Trump rallies and rallies against Trump. Please limit reporting to the facts and don't push an agenda.
3
The simple fact that since Trump stepped into office he has praised Putin and fought sanctions richly deserved against Russia by our former administration and new ones. Please do some reading on how Putin treats his people and how the Russians live, their elections . And also look into what happens to people who try to speak out against Putin. They are sometimes poisoned , and some are shot. So when you listen to Trump extol the virtues of Putin, and see him buddying up at meetings with him. - be afraid. I thank God everyday my grandparents came to this country , raised their family , and didn't stay under Russian rule. Do not sell our well earned freedoms so cheap.
2
President Trump did not need the Russians to help him win the presidential election. The people wanted him and not Hillary Clinton as their leader. Plain and simple. We can make up our own minds and we do not need any outsiders telling us how to vote. The haters of Donald Trump cannot accept that he was elected over Hillary Clinton. He was and he has been in office for over a year and will remain until the end of his term. Hopefully, he will be reelected if the country continues on this successful path we have been experiencing since his election.
2
"we can make up our own minds..." - excuse me, but what minds?
1
All of this was plainly visible years ago for anyone who spends some time in the net. For some of us it was also plainly visible that it was Russians. Perhaps not for Americans. They don't know them well enough. But I myself remember warning people of the Russians presence in the net several times. Why did you not listen. All of this would not have happened.
And as to this indictment : it's too little too late. I'm glad that these particular Russian operators have been caught. But Putin no doubt has hundreds of others. Trump has still not been linked to it all.
Nothing will change unless the Americans change their entire mindset from that of leisurely to vigilance.
How about the USA stop interfering in other countries and then doubledown on foreigners . Don't be a hypocrite and don't be stupid .
Now that people have actually been indicted, Trump is in heightened jeopardy if he does anything further to interfere with this investigation.
This should be a lesson to the US not to meddle in others elections. We have meddled in other countries elections to a far greater extent with far graver consequences. Some of our victims have yet to recover any form of democracy.
2
Can somebody please explain why the Russians would have wanted Trump to win since he is a free market capitalist when Russia has a background of being communist? Hillary's agenda would have been more in line with the Russians' line of thinking. Seems like they would have wanted Hillary to win. I just don't get it.
1
This is an interesting question. I will give it my own guess here: The issue is never really about the economic system, but the political system. Communisn, Putin, and Trump were/are all authoritarian, trying to impose their view of society onto others, rather than a system where the sociatal arrangements bubble up from the innermost social contracts. the latter is systemically messier but also more creative, besides allowing for more personal liberty. The potential instability caused by a freer society is what frightens authoritarians. Order, preferably with them at the top, most always prevail, regardless of ideology or economic system preferences.
Oligarch, look it up, Russia and China run on a version of capitalism now. Oligarchs rose out of the fall of communism in Russia and ended up with most of the wealth. Putin wants it to stay that way; if we’re smart we don’t.
Mr. Mueller is a true patriot and civil servant for quietly and methodically working to find the truth wherever it leads. What we are learning dwarfs Watergate and exposes the national security threat our electoral system faces. For Trump and the Republican-led Congress to do nothing now to help protect us would be tantamount to treason. Voting machine security, better social media safeguards and education of unwary Americans are essential. As to those commenters who shrug their shoulders because it is “only” thirteen indictments, where are your loyalties and how were your opinions formed? Think about it.
2
Republicans including Trump keep insisting Russian efforts did not affect the election outcome. How do they know this? Trump's combined margin of victory (~78,000) was extremely narrow in the three states that decided the election (WI, MI, PA).
With confirmation the Russians actively and aggressively meddled in our election (I guarantee we won't see Russians successfully fighting their indictments), it seems the burden should be on those naysayers to prove Trump WAS legitimately elected. And that collision was ruled out.
Putin made every effort to support Trump and drive down votes for HRC. Undoubtedly, some extra people voted third party (Jill Stein got 132k, 73k wrote in others), and some number stayed home or left the presidential section blank, refusing to vote for the 'lesser of two evils.' (How incredibly naive that seems now.)
HRC was also wounded by Comey (twice!), the email server nothing-burger, and endless Benghazi hearings, so it's not possible to attribute her loss to just one factor. But Putin certainly played a role, and Trump's unwavering defensiveness speaks to his fear of illegitimacy (or getting caught).
We'll have to wait for academic political scientists to further investigate the electorate's motivations in key states. In the meantime I'm inclined to strongly second Trump's fears and place a big asterix on our so-called 45th president. With luck, the Mueller investigation will soon make the entire question moot.
2
Two big differences here:
"The '3rd-rate burglars' just got indicted."
1. In Watergate, the "3rd-rate burglars" were Americans, and subject to arrest and prosecution here.
2. In Watergate, Nixon was on the helicopter, on his way back to San Clemente, in early August of 1974, and I remember thinking that was slow. The equivalent date now would be August 2018. What would you say the odds are of Mueller being anywhere close to done by then?
Like it or not, this has become a full-time permanent job for Mueller and his staff. He was appointed to look for collusion between Trump and the Russian government. Though we keep hearing assurances that he will do so any day now, he hasn't actually done so.
Any day now, though. Stay tuned (another favorite phrase).
1
This is incredible and long overdue. The Trump White House and Congressional Republicans have no credible response. Today's indictments might not have explicitly identified members of the Trump Presidential Campaign as complicit, but that's no reason for celebration. In the parlance of courtroom trial evidence these indictments lay a foundation for further indictments that will rely on today's filings as predicates for bringing those who consciously cooperated with the Russian cyber attackers to justice. That would include those who acted with knowledge of Russian involvement and did nothing to alert law enforcement and national security authorities that they were the beneficiaries of the Russian intelligence efforts to thwart or subvert the Clinton Campaign. The best they can do today is to proclaim their innocence by their not being named in any of those thirteen indictments. We saw a bit of that today with Trump's tweeting that the Russian cyber attacks began before he announced his candidacy for president. That may change at any time in the future.
More tellingly, Trump continues to do or say nothing to rally the country to defend against those attacks. That, in and of itself, makes Trump complicit and violates his oath of office. Every day Trump confirms our judgment that he's unfit for office.
The best we can hope for is that Congressional Republicans will panic and begin to desert Trump as the midterm elections draw closer. Well, better late than never.
2
Mueller's team of lawyers untangled that complex web really quickly. He only got hired May 17 of last year. People have been saying for months that "it's been a year and nothing" - but actually it's been 9 months to indict 13 people in an international disinformation ring including a Russian oligarch, indict a national security advisor, indict a Trump campaign manager who is also essentially a money-laundering lobbyist, get some smallish fry in the Trump campaign who may be bigger than they look, force everyone to go on the record up and down the ladder, and now this. He is definitely giving me my tax money's worth!
4
Even admitting that "there was no collusion", it seems that Russia did influence the Presidential elction, and that in that sense, Trumps may very well not have been elected, and that accordingly, it was Putin that elected Trump, not thre american people...
1
who admitted that there was no collusion?
Mueller has put the ball in Trump's court.
Trump has time to make a stand before November
against against Russia itself
and against Russian interference in our electoral system.
If Trump refuses to act decisively against the Russian threat,
the voters will have a vivid picture of where he stands.
Seems like Mueller may be our Churchill.
2
A careful read uncovers that the Russians indiscriminately attempted to disrupt our democracy and our way of life. That seems very wrong, as wrong as Obama reported use of 3.5 times the amount the Russians did against then candidate Netanyahu during the Israeli election cycle. (Our taxpayer dollars, by the way).
While their attempted interference is as troubling to me as Obama’s, I would love to see more reporting on the length of time and depths of Russian meddling in our country’s general operations. I find it very believable that they have been trying to be disruptive, sowing discord and distrust among us Americans for decades. It appears that with much help from once revered American media institutions, they have been quite effective at that recently.
Obama had 8 years to deal with Russia, during which he at least once infamously dismissed any notion of Russia as a threat saying “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years”.
Are the Mueller’s recent findings really extraordinary, or do they simply reflect status quo?
2
the real scare to every American should be how our top agencies of the FBI and CIA that we depend upon to protect our country have been torn apart. Putin has to be really proud of what he accomplished.
1
Looked upon in a more relaxed way this whole thing looks like a prank by tech savvy young Russians, supported by relatively small funds from some minor oligarch and perhaps kindled by the more sturdy US involvements in Russia's politics. (The effects on US must in any case have been invisible.)
In the early 1990s Russia was practically run by a handful of US economists and an alcoholic in Kremlin, who obediently signed the papers. It ended up in one of the worst social disasters in peacetime. The economy collapsed; people starved and died in millions; life expectancy dropped by seven years, something unheard of in industrialized societies.
There was an election coming up in 1996 and Yeltsin was naturally a loser in polls by a large margin (people wanted the communists back), but with the help from superior US propaganda and shameless scare tactics Yeltsin was saved, rescuing a few more years of shambles.
When Putin with sobriety (and some luck) put Russia back on its feet, US relied for its influence on so called NGOs which they financed and which gathered western-oriented Russians, mostly young, urban people.
In the efforts to rip off Ukraine from Russian influence US spent §5 billion (and some cookies), proudly acknowledged by Victoria Nuland. The only result was accelerating corruption and finally the over-through of a democratically elected president. The coup government was in effect appointed by Nuland.
...and that's just a minuscule sample of US interventions.
2
I loathe Trump as much as anyone but I do think this largely weighs in his favor:
1. The operation was started in 2014, long before Trump even announced his candidacy
2. They were helped by "an unidentified American" whose involvement started in 2014. Many people speculate this person may have been associated with the Trump campaign but, again, his involvement predated Trump's candidacy
3. The Russian government itself was not implicated
4. Their efforts to influence the election were not successful as they did not change the outcome
5. The indictment does not allege that any American conspired with the operation. More that that, “There is no allegation in this indictment that any American had any knowledge,” he said.
So no American conspired or had any knowledge of the operation which began before Trump announced his candidacy and the operation was ineffective as it did not change the outcome of the election
1
Russia's meddling in the last presidential election is highly symbolic of the rise and fall of American power.
After WWII, American foreign services -- particularly the CIA/State Department -- were involved in overseas elections' manipulation of countries considered of strategic interest i.e., the world outside China/URSS.
The so-called developing countries in LA, Asia, and Africa were the main target because of valuable reserves of raw materials and weak institutions.
To think a former power such as Russia capable of influencing a presidential election in favor of a colorful candidate like Trump is earth-shattering.
The questions are: Has the US lost its political/social cohesion? Is the country vulnerable to asymmetrical cyberspace warfare? Is hard-military power obsolete in this new century?
2
That distant laughter you can hear are the millions around the world whose governments & elections have been manipulated by the USA to aid its interests - and that includes Australia.
Unlike many of those countries, no-one in the US died as a result. Well - not yet.
How many Republican members of Congress truly do not care that the Russians influenced our election? How many are just happy that Trump won and they were able to deliver tax cuts to their 1% masters? How many Republicans are appalled at what the Russians do and are committed to confronting the attack on American sovereignty in all necessary ways? I don't know the answers to those questions but I do know that our country needs a Congress that represents all Americans, not just the rich ones. I know that America needs a Federal government that protects American sovereignty. I know that the swamp in Washington has never been wider or slimier and it is up to the people of America to figure out how to get it drained.
This is indeed a welcome development - if in fact these charges are proven in a court of law and the indicted are actually convicted.
We have seen too many cases of a prosecutorial overreach - just with Mr Mueller alone. Mr Mannafort is already suing him exactly on these same grounds.
Also, what appears lost with a singular focus on the POTUS - that Russians had been at it for at least 3 years before the actual election. They even allegedly promoted Bernie.
The 44th has been telling everyone that his administration did everything to expose Russia meddling. Heck, with this time line, he was just half way over his second term.
And where was the FBI or for that matter our whole intelligence apparatus - under whose very noses and prying eyes, this was done.
My guess is that our intelligence agencies find Russia with fingerprints - only if we gave a defector. Not similar but like Sochi doping or those sleeper agents etc.
So, while we should indeed focus on these indictments - more questions arise than answered.
So, this begs a question.
Should the Congress set up a special committee along lines of Church committee or even Watergate committee to investigate this massive intelligence failure of our own agencies and some of these social media companies.
Congress alone can propose remedies for future since it alone can pass laws. It did excellent follow ups with Watergate, Church etc. - may be we should defer to Congress.
Everywhere I look and in everything I read about these indictments there is refusal to say hello to the elephant in the room, that hundreds of enemies of the United States spent millions of dollars to elect Donald Trump, that the effort turned around an otherwise close election and it worked, and that his election has no legitimacy. We are in effect being occupied by a foreign installed government. Keep waving your flags as you support this man and send your children off to our armed forces to risk making the Supreme Sacrifice in his name, my Republican friends.
2
I wonder how Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell can look at themselves in the mirror.
The two of them both refused to have Congress act when the Obama administration presented them with evidence of Russian interference.
I hope Mueller looks their way.
According to Rod Rosenstein: "The indictment does not say that Russia changed the outcome of the election." But the psychological impact this “information warfare against the United States of America” made on the public, especially on swing voters can't be ignored. Trump's win in "purple states" had much "the effect of the Russian influence" to thank for.
9
THIS indictment doesn't say so, but I bet in a few more we may get bingo.
2
Trump's response to Robert Mueller's indictment was disgustingly swinish: “Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President,” he wrote on Twitter. “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!”
It's his own ego - the presidential legitimacy - that is worth much more than the sovereignty and integrity of his country.
Even if there were "no collusion" I still hope that he could be held accountable for obstruction of justice.
24
Indictment of Russian entities involved in election meddling and guilty pleas by the former Trump advisors is no doubt a good progress to nail down the culprits yet the only fear is that before the Robert Mueller investigation reaches its logical conclusion he might be fired like many officials probing the matter earlier. Such fears acquire substance when considered against the reluctance of the rich special interests funded Republican Congress to act on this Russian sabotage.
27
Thank you, Professor Sharma. It is possible that We The People do not understand to what extent our confidence in our voting has now been eroded and compromised. The family community in this region of America will continue to go to the Polls in November, but it will be the responsibility of each and every one to encourage all of us to use Our Voice, regardless of one's Party Affiliation, This might be considered, this first revelation as a season of healing our grievances.
Many Russians are brilliant strategists and chess-players. Second-guessing The Leader of Russia is farcical, and he is probably six moves ahead on the political chess-board.
This is a renewal of appreciation to Mr. Mueller and his aides, his team and assistants for having made an important move, and he has the support of this American because he is forging ahead with valor.
1
The American Far Right interferes in European elections on social media at least as much as Russians interfered in American elections. That's also against American law, right? When are we going to see the indictments?
19
Not against any US law that I know of, but well may violate the laws of the European nations whose elections are affected.
Abo,
'Patience is a virtue'. Mueller to broad no interference from The Public in uncovering other dark revelations. The Press also plays a responsibility in not distracting the Special Counsel in his unveiling of cobwebs and deceit.
A dark moment in our History and fortunately at present there is no war between The People of America. The "Broads" are open now.
The only example that springs to mind is Paul Manafort, and I believe he is in considerable trouble.
1
One account posed as the Tennessee Republican Party and generated hundreds of thousands of followers, prosecutors said.
---------------------------------------
If Bots are used to create fake accounts, then the same Bots can be used to create hundreds of thousands of followers. Anyone who has a modicum of understanding of how social media platforms work should know so.
This indictment announced on a Friday afternoon when FBI was under increasing scrutiny for having blood on its hands for not acting on the tip about Cruz seems like an attempt at distraction. Nothing more or less.
11
Mueller's investigation is under the DOJ, not the FBI.
YOUR attempt to distract from the fact of a Russian interference sounds like an attempt to blame the FBI, when we know it was Trump who signed legislature one year ago to make it easier for people with mental health issues to get guns.
Like all Republicans, you use half truths and misdirection to blame others and avoid responsibility for the thousands of attacks on our democracy.
1
Oh sure SONNY ... something the FBI just cooked up last night. You do realize that this indictment has been through the Grand Jury process, right?
1
Oh, please. You think 13 Grand Jury indictments against Russians is associated with Fla. school shootings. You DO have an obligation as a US citizen to keep yourself informed.
2
What does all this mean beyond the 13 indicted persons (who are beyond the reach of American justice, and, like Volkswagen executives, likely to stay beyond the reach)? For the Trump administration, nothing. But for Social media and its users, a lot.
What this exposes is the fact that anyone and any group seeking to influence Social Media users, on anything, including elections, they have access to Facebook, Google, and other social media platforms with no vetting whatsoever. So it could be Russians. And it could also be fanatics of any political bent. Or jihadists, Or powerful industrial and commercial interests.
Just as Second Amendment rights are not unfettered, the concern over this suggests strongly that we need "background checks" before anyone is allowed to use these Social Media platforms to access billions of gullible people world wide.
Perhaps there also needs to be investigation before anyone is allowed to set up a website to distribute unsubstantiated opinion as "news".
12
Well, we can certainly put them in sanctions, all of them, and if we notice any of their money sitting in Western banks, we an take it.
Certainly propaganda should be marked as such, but that will never fly, since virtually all right-wing media would be so labeled.
Completely ridiculous.
What a tremendous waste of tax payer money. After millions spent, you get and indictment of 13 foreigners who will not likely ever be arrested.
15
Well, there's also Manafort, Gates, and a couple of others who have already pled guilty and are now cooperating witnesses. An indictment for Bannon seems likely as well. Don't be impatient, Mueller isn't anywhere near being finished. He still hasn't handed down the big ticket indictments for money laundering, and the numerous indictments for obstruction against Donald, Jr., Nunes, Sessions, and perhaps Chaffitz who left DC in such a hurry.
As I suggested in my comment, if they have financial assets in this country, they could possibly be frozen. We can also ask our allies to do the same...besides, the investigation is not over. These things take time and perseverance. It’s also crucial that we Americans are more aware of all,of these tricks,so as not to fall for them in the future!
No. A tremendous waste of tax payer money is the war in Afghanistan, among other adventures. What this investigation costs is a pittance and what it might ultimately reveal is how deep the rot in our democracy goes.
Maybe the NYT will print the entire indictment tomorrow as a public service because it's a long thing to read on line. I printed it, read it, and recommend it to those who haven't already read it.
24
The success of the Russians was in sowing discord. The nation is riven by the "collusion" investigation that, increasingly, seems to be a dead end. Could it be the Russians played the always available U.S. useful idiots like a fiddle? The Russian who was able to sow this much discord has certainly been richly rewarded.
12
How has this investigation hit nothing but dead ends? Not only have several members of the Trump campaign been found either to have lied about meeting with a whole lotta Russians before the election, several have been indicted and plead guilty. This investigation isn’t a reality show. It’s going to take time. And we should ALL want Mueller to work as long as needed because if Trump and his family are in debt to Putin and they did knowingly conspire with an enemy state, we need to know. As far as succeeding in sowing division between us, this investigation isn’t responsible. The Russians AND all of us who allowed them to prey on our prejudices are to blame. We no longer seem able to disagree and come to a middle place. Frankly, I think Fox and talk radio are just as to blame as the Russians. And, apparently many people commenting here tonight are fans of Murdoch’s propaganda success.
3
True, Mr. Fitzgerald, when referring to the success of some Russians in sowing discord among the voters and people. However, when Americans realize that some of us have been played for fools, while Trump is tweeting away lonely at night, there may be a growing National outcry in the cards.
It would serve us well not to interfere with Mr. Mueller's ongoing investigation in unveiling this ill-meaning attempt on the part of a highly sophisticated network, to aide and abet the Trump campaign.
Times have changed and in another Era, Russia and America might have been at Arms. We do not wish for this to happen. Mr. Trump is not going to come forward to address The Nation, and in the midst of this turmoil of intrigue and perversion, it is important that We The People remain 'Woke' and contained.
OK Ok, but ..but Trump didn't know anything about this !!!!
He said so.
11
How do you know that Trump knew nothing about this? The next step will be to unveil the Trump campaign staffers who met with all of these indicted people.
I thought I was being funny lisa.
Do the readers here realize that this indictment puts the whole Democrat talking point of Trump collusion firmly to rest? Since the NY Times hasn't informed them of this I shall elucidate. The indictment names 13 Russians that, allegedly, worked to manipulate our election and specifically says that NO AMERICANS worked with them knowingly!
That means NO COLLUSION for all you slow ones. Nobody in the Trump campaign knowingly worked with the Russians to subvert our election is what Meuller has now stated. That is it. No collusion as Trump has said all along.
22
They just can't believe it. I had a cousin who cried in denial and disappointment when she was told the Tooth Fairy was not real.
23
Steve W,
A 'slow' American here, at the pace of a tortoise on swift email, responds that there are charges of interference in Our Vote, and on an aside, if you were to meet Trump to purchase a car from him, you might think he was a bit of a wheeler-dealer.
Well, to me, this just sounds like very desperate, wishful thinking. We don't know what the final answer is but I wouldn't jump and reach your conclusion. Collusion appears to have occurred we just don't know if it reached the criminal level, yet ... by our country's legal code. Morally? I believe they violated every value and aspiration Americans hold dear.
1
The e-mail that Mueller released today says that in Sept 13, 2017 the Russian, Kaverzina, wrote in that e-mail to a family member that, 'the FBI busted their activities'. So, why didn't the FBI arrest these Russians there and then before they had a chance to flee the country?
Why are any Russian operatives, ambassadors, spy chiefs here for meetings, etc. allowed access to our country right now, while we are still in the middle of a severe targeted propaganda attack?
Why is President Trump allowed to communicate privately with Putin if he is under active investigation of conspiracy against the United States with Putin. Shouldn't Trump and all his campaign members recuse themselves from Russian matters?
18
Is this satire? Lol.
Lol. It is so absurd that it does seem like making fun of individual politicians or a whole political party. But, actually, I couldn't care less about individuals. I'm concerned about us, all of us, the American People, and our right to vote based on the facts, our right to be defended from attack by a hostile foreign power. And, probably most importantly, the standard being set that officials in our government can be above our laws. Trump should be treated just like anyone else under investigation for a crime. You don't get private access to your co-conspirators! This is the time for our justice system to flex it's muscles and show the world how to repel an attack on your Democracy!
What the indictment makes clear is that the Sanders and Trump campaigns (and possibly others, I wouldn’t discount Ms. Stein’s appearances in Moscow) were willing patsies to the Russian disinformation campaign. That the Trump campaign paid zero (that is ZERO) attention to due dilligence infers that the top of the campaign was in the know. Trump; hey yah, he knew. Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Kushner, the adult boys. Yeah. And Melenia, of course. Her parents were Communist Party officials; of course they understood what was happening.
So what is collusion? Is it passive or aggressive? It doesn’t matter. And that was Putin’s trump card.
12
There was Russian contact with the Trump campaign. There was Russian theft of ID's, and Russian manipulation of the Trump campaign. That is all that needs to be proven. Any Trump association with that treachery is treason.
18
What am I missing here?
Why would "St. Petersburg based activist Ludmila Savchek" (in the video), a citizen of an authoritarian regime, disclose these things? Would that not at the least put her career in danger?
I would expect a wall of silence from the Russians.
4
Well, it could well be that Ludmilla Savchek has more value of freedom than many of our elected officials in Congress. Of course, they have lived in freedom all their lives under the sacrifices of others ... she has never been free.
It must be so discouraging for her to watch us just let it slip away ... and for some of us to be enamored with the thoughts, values and morals of the Putin Regime.
Just a guess, but I'm thinking she's probably hoping for a medal from Putin.
Simply put, Robert Mueller was the only man in this country who would have indicted any Russians. Can you imagine a subservient Jeff Sessions going to his boss with the prospect of these indictments? What do you think the answer would have been?
50
A tweet. What else?
1
We must learn big lessons from this invasion of Russian communists. Hopefully this is the very beginning of the End for Trump and his Goonies. Mueller is the Elliott Ness of our modern times and time has come to clean up this mess.
Congress has to act and we as a people have to get smarter and rise up too.
My big question is did the Electoral College get hacked, manipulated, infiltrated by these Russian communists?
I Hope Mueller looks into this too.
God Bless Our Special Counsel and our USA
28
The Russians are not communists any more. Hi-Living oligarchs and values conservatives more like.
1
No. Our electors hacked and hobbled themselves into brainlessly letting a malign force into the White House. Only one, I repeat one, elector did his job and refused to vote for Trump. Remember his op-ed in this paper?
I foolishly thought many more would follow but we live in a time of weak tea when it comes to character. A side effect of trolls and bots? Or just looking at screens too long?
2
Sorry Don, no one is buying it. Russia hates the idea that people might be free to elect the public servants of their choice through free elections. Putin wanted a corrupt, inept US government and you were their obvious favorite. Vain, insecure, dishonest by nature, corrupt and completely susceptible to blackmail - of course they wanted you. And you've earned their investment - you've done more to undermine the rule of American law and the principles upon this nation was founded than they would ever have dared to hope for. Don, you were a bargain! Traitors are rarely available so cheaply.
73
The "3rd-rate burglars" just got indicted.
20
But they are not in custody, never will be in custody, and therefore will never talk to implicate anyone beyond themselves.
5
The bigger fish are yet to come. Gates is about to make a deal. It's not about the 13 Russians. That's just Mueller closing in on the traitors in this country. He'll get them!
2
Another clue that you are dealing with bots: if you see hundreds of comments saying essentially the same thing, particularly those saying over and over that espionage has gone on for a long time, this is nothing, everybody does it. The fact that the Russians began this in 2014 does not exonerate American citizens who helped them with it in 2016. The fact that this particular indictment is limited to Russians does not mean no Americans are being investigated. The current administration has been insisting for a year that there is no need to even undertake the investigation into these activities. These indictments show at the very least that they have been horribly negligent by dismissing the need to do something about this interference. From the comments here, I can only gather that bots or their human enablers are all over this comment section.
78
Not JUST this comment section.
EVERY comment section of EVERY possible free and influential avenue available.
1
Agreed! And so many of them list NYC as their location. New Yorkers hate Trump. Full stop.
2
You mean like TUMP TRUMP TRUMP and MAGA MAGA MAGA!!!!
Like this proves that Trump didn't know?
Something like that?
Lots of fools doing that.
All we know is that Russia is our enemy and Putin is dishonest.
The Investigation is not over and is not a hoax
51
Somebody should tell Obama, he thinks Vladimir is our friend
Of course the massive Russain intervention changed the outcome of the election. Trump squeaked into office on an electoral college margin of 77,000 total votes spread out over 3 key Midwestern states-- Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. This tiny margin-- .0005% of the votes cast just in those 3 states-- was obviously affected by all the disinformation, hacking and daily exposure of embarrassing Clinton campaign emails through Wiileaks, and 1000 paid trolls employed by Russia to spread lies about Clinton and praise on Trump. Manafort and Gates were the ones with detailed knowledge of the US political system, swing states, hot button issues. etc. If Mueller is flipping Gates right now, that's terrible news for Manafort and Trump. Get 'm Mueller, and SAVE THIS COUNTRY.
98
We have to wonder, too, how much this affected the current make up of the Supreme Court. This is only the first wave; more will come and will undoubtedly be damning.
25
Bravo. Tick-tock.....tick-tock. And precisely WHY the Russians wanted Trump is still to be seen.
19
As they started as early as 2014, before Trump was a candidate, it is more likely they did not "want" Trump. Rather, they sought someone other than Clinton.
Not much different than the motivation of some Sanders and Trump voters.
4
And, some Obama primary voters in 2008.
I see it now I saw it before the election.
Trump has no idea what he is doing.
1
I hope the NYT publishes more on the specifics of the indictment for the large fraction of readers who won't read it. The story it tells is how easily Americans have been fooled by a foreign actor. Folks are easily sucked in to internet communities that repeat what they want to hear.
Americans need to smarten up, it's pretty embarassing how this went down.
Also, where is the legislation to control FB, Twitter and the others who provide a platform for this level of deception, regardless of its source? Congress has a lot of work to do!
36
Jsw,
An acquaintance, who will always vote Republican, at an advanced age, we were quizzing each other on our knowledge of Governance: The House of Representatives and other Constitutional matters, only to come up pathetically short.
We shared a good laugh at the time, but let us encourage our Millennials and others to learn now, and not tomorrow, the meaning of Democracy in America, the foundations on which Our Nation was built, and a sound knowledge of this essential pillar of strength recognized as 'The Constitution'.
With apologies to Sol Wachtler: we just got served 13 ham sandwiches... with Russian dressing.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
10
Imagine your child's school is shot up, and the principal says, "I wasn't involved!"
Nothing about the victims or the crime itself. Nothing less than seditious complicity, if you ask me.
27
Well-played and precision-timed to the nanosecond, Mr. Mueller. You knew the unsupervised Donald would be flying down to Mar'A-whatever alone this afternoon, leaving him to his own devices; you tossed out the loaded bombshell and, on cue, Donald ran out shooting blindly at what he thought was a clay decoy.
Tweet on, Donald, you were played. Do you even realize you finally conceded that "Russher" interfered in the election?
Keep tweeting, Tweety, you have been played big league... bigly. As for the rest of us, thanks to this encouraging sign of progress from Team Mueller, tonight many will get our first good night's sleep in 15 months. Thank you, Counselor.
55
Such a Trump-like response. It verges on flattery.
Halleluja! It's Mueller time.
Please let justice reign and America rise again from this horrible Trump era.
45
"...designed to subvert the 2016 election..."
What does everyone keep saying this? The election was strictly the casting and counting of votes on Nov 8th. There has been no evidence, or even accusation, that they subverted or "interfered with" or "meddled in" that process in any way.
The only thing that the Russians interfered with was the media's attempts to dominate the public discussion, to control what people think, and thereby control the outcome of the election proper. It's like they think that we are a rubber-stamp electorate who perform this vestigial ritual every few years to formalize the choice of the Fourth Estate. Only in that context one could characterize the actions of foreign interlopers injecting other (truthful) information into the machine to disrupts their control as "interference" in an election.
For that past two years, every time I've heard or read something about "Russian election interference" from journalists or politicians I only seen confirmation of my most cynical suspicions about how this so-called democracy or ours REALLY works.
And secondly, helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton my be logically equivalent in practice; but the are not equivalent when talking about the intent inside someone's mind. All indications are that Putin HATED Clinton for causing him problems via the US State Department's meddling in his 2012 election and was seeking payback by making her own presidency miserable. Don't mischaracterize it.
8
17 U.S. intelligence agencies reported that Russian hackers had breached the voting systems (and vote count software) used in 39 states. This past week the heads of six agencies testified that this "cyber warfare" would continue and the Russians would only get better at penetrating vulnerable voting systems.
How Hackers Broke Into U.S. Voting Machines http://fortune.com/2017/07/31/defcon-hackers-us-voting-machines
The Insecurity of America's Old and Underfunded Voting Systems”
http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/2017/07/20/538312289/fresh-air-for...
A must read about computerized voting insecurities
https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election
27
Social media and the entire news industry is ripe for huge waves of , mis-information, propaganda fake news and lies. There is no arbitrator, there is less and less true journalism to rely on.
Our elections and the general public is now an easy target for any organization that wants to shape public opinion. Simply make a concerted effort to open enough Facebook and Twitter accounts and begin firing off slick memes and graphics and see what sticks and what goes viral .
Did we as Americans truly believe there would be no repercussions from blind acceptance of digital technology? Smartphones , FB, and social media have dumbed us down . I am in no way surprised the Russians have taken this low cost opportunity to meddle in our national interest. I am in no way surprised that tech companies are taking no responsibility for the vulnerabilities they have created for our country and world.
Thanks to our short attention spans and short sightedness we hardly have any newspapers to give us true journalism or news that has been somewhat vetted . We are selling our souls for immediate gratification.
Next step will be a world of to your door delivery ,,, Amazon and maybe one more “competitor” will now keep the profits from 80% of what you used to buy from a variety of local businesses around the corner .
9
Trump refused to release his tax returns; Trump refuses to say anything negative against Russia or Putin. Trump, bankrupted several times bragged about getting financing from foreign interests when he could not get financing from US banks. Connecting the dots, Trump's businesses are possibly (probably) deeply leveraged to Russian banks. The foreign interests (Russia and possibly China) could wipe Trump's enterprises out financially. Trump's financial survival is more important to Trump than is this country or anything else. Trump could easily disprove this by doing what every other President has done and release his tax returns. The returns will be probably be the subject of a future subpoena in due time in any case. Transparency? Releasing tax returns should be a requirement to run for a federal position.
43
As is always the case in such matters there is likely a very long time indeed between Trumps' "long before I announced that I would run for President" (on 16 June 2015) and when his Russian handlers/enablers/controllers first began encouraging him to think seriously about it. They knew he had it in mind when he stood briefly for President the Reform Party in 2000. What was it that happened behind the scenes during all those visits to Russia in the intervening years? There are sure to be some clues in the tax returns.
14
It used to be called dirty tricks, by previous administrations, or those running in primaries on either side of the aisle, right here in the United States by our own political parties. Now, with the age of the internet, it makes it easy for individuals, or those who work for state sponsored cyberattacks or terrorism, for a particular person, a few, or a hired group to cause serious financial, political, or physical destruction of property or persons. We can't be unaware of even more serious future harm to our infrastructure, military, or infiltration of our higher echelons of government, by what appears to have been accomplished over a period of years.
8
The only "hoax" is the claim it’s a hoax. And to the new talking point: the fact that the indictment “does not allege that any of the Americans [recruited and paid by the Russian ‘translator project’] knowingly conspired with the Russian operation” does not mean that no Americans knowingly conspired or that there aren’t other indictments in the works that might so allege. Absence of evidence in this indictment is not evidence of absence in future indictments. Duh.
18
You want a wall, Mr. Trump? How about a wall of security to keep the cyber attacks from destroying our democracy? The social media majordomos can redeem themselves by coalescing around an all-hands-on-deck, race-to-the-moon War on Thugs.
19
Who was in charge of securing our democracy in the years leading up to the 2016 election, and what was done to protect it from cyber attacks?
Trump is not a US President. He is a failed real estate con man who is indebted to Russian oligarchs and thereby compromised for blackmail. Trump is a traitor mole.
59
I think this is just the beginning . Why do you think Papadopoulos and Flynn are now cooperating with Mueller ? Because they have things to tell. And I think it’s a lot deeper than the one American they arrested in California.
I wholeheartedly believe that there were members of the Trump campaign that we can wittingly cooperated and assisted Russians. Mueller is now laying out the groundwork for that case in my opinion . but we will see what happens
20
“Trump is NOT my president.”
I have seen this in many comments right here. I can now recognize a Russian troll when I see one.
It makes little difference to me who and how anyone meddled in our elections. Whether it was the predetermined super-delegates, primary spiking against Bernie, debate question leaking, or some Russians trolling.
All I know is our election was rigged and Trump won in spite of all that.
12
Trump won because the election was rigged--can't wait for the "I told you so" moment that will be awaiting people like you.
1
July 2016: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,"
February 2018: “We must unite as Americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and our elections."
21
Trump supporters -- are you starting to feel a little bit as though you were fooled? Are you ready to start asking yourself if you could do a better job of acting as though you love your country?
24
Trump was the victim of some of the Russian's actions, read some other sources.
1
Me thinks thou dost protest "no collusion" too much Don.
If a child of mine protested as much as you do, I would assume that they had done what they were accused of........as we do with YOU, Don!!
26
It's thou "doth" protest too much. I think you are right about little Donny having his grubby little paw in the cookie jar...
I wonder who the unnamed American who helpfully pointed the Russians to "purple" swing states was? Maybe part of the Trump campaign?
21
They also spent money and time in slam dunk states like Maryland. Explain that.
Don't worry--Mueller knows.
"Defendants knowingly and intentionally conspired with each other (and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury)"
I imagine we'll be getting to know these persons who are known to the Grand Jury soon!
17
Actively trying to commit a crime is illegal! Trumps family and campaign, therefor Trump himself, actively tried to collude with Russia, meeting at Trump Tower and Trumps "find those e-mails" and..., that is illegal! Trump clearly obstructed justice when he fired Comey, that is illegal! Trump must be impeached and forcefully removed from office, there already exist more than enough evidence againt Trump to do this!
A criminal, Putin..., never admitts he is guilty of any crime! Putin will deny every accusation regardless what proof there is against Tsar Putin, Russia!
11
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!
9
Trump wines, dines and hobnobs with Russian oligarchs during the Moscow Miss Universe Pageant in November 2013- “almost all of the oligarchs were in the room." said Trump.
Russian trolls begin campaign in 2014 to influence the 2016 American elections. The timing of both events makes sense. Does anyone not think that Donald Trump the narcissist wouldn't brag about or suggest to the oligarchs that he would be a great President? The Russians had their guy...a guy that would promote Russian interests to the electorate, at the very least.
30
The more this disgrace of a man (a President? God help us) asserts "no collusion," the more certain I am that there was ample collusion. Like, Bigly.
24
Lock 'em up. And their beneficiary-in-chief, our so-called president, as well.
15
" The indictment does NOT allege that any of the Americans KNOWLINGLY conspired with the Russian operation." This must come as a big disappointment to the Trump haters.
9
In reply to Aaron Adams. This indictment and the press conference that announced it was very careful in stating that these indictments are not the entire story but are the start. There are unindicted co-conspirators that are known and unknown described. This investigation is just starting. The lack of an indictment today does not mean one will never occur, or that it will. Justice can be slow, I am glad the investigation is careful and thorough.
30
Adams, get a grip man.....it's a long way from over. This is the third inning, get ready for crunch time.....
AA: Not really, not at this point.
Instead the reality is that we ("Trump haters") figure Mueller has a lot more information already than he is making public. And we figure that Mueller and his staff and investigators are already onto the next stage in this, and more "results" will come out in a few months, if not sooner, with each one getting closer and closer to Trump.
Better still, some of this, probably the next stage, will be headed towards proving money laundering and tax fraud.
In addition there may be perjury issues, if Mueller makes his way into the Trump University issues, etc.
We can hardly wait. It would be pure pleasure if it were not so shameful and disgusting.
1
Saddened and Shocked but not Surprised. The question now is will the government DO something to prevent this National Threat, or will the White House continue to "throw America under the bus" so to speak?
14
If true, then ALL elections held in November of 2016 are suspect.
7
The noose is tightening, folks, and the person I believe is most immediately in danger is Jared Kushner. Read this article about Cambridge Analytics from Vox back in December: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/15657512/mueller-fbi-...
9
.
So what he is saying is that the FBI, CIA and homeland security folks were not Johnny on the spot for many years? Who was the President from 2014 to 2017?
7
The FBI was working on it in 2016, but yes the full extent was not known immediately after the Russians started.
But, then, much has been well known for a year, and the GOP Congress is blaming Obama, and doing nothing but deliberately undermining the FBI in Congress and on Fox News. So, hey, lets focus on blaming Obama and continue subverting the FBI for Putin.
Actually I think what it is saying is an unaticipated unprecedented foreign intelligence operation got Trump elected.
Besides the point.
Trump ought be fired for gaining the Presidency under false premises. If the Russians had not been so manipulative, it is arguable clearly, the President would not have gained his electoral advantage.
3
Even if DT did not collude with Putin prior to the2016 election( which I don't believe for a second),
the fact that since he has been in office, he has failed to do anything to protect and plan against any future hacking from Russia.
Therefore, he is a complete failure at protecting this country from an attack and is failing to hold Russia responsible by not imposing sanctions as outlined by Congress and is in fact giving aid to the enemy that is determined to see our democracy fail.
Donald Trump is a traitor. He should not only be impeached and removed from office, he needs to be indicted and jailed for high treason.
It is no wonder Putin wanted him elected. Trump owes him everything and does his bidding.
21
Thank you to Mr. Mueller and his team. Nice to no there are some government officials on the American team.
14
I don't see how anyone with any intelligence can see this but anything but a sham. Inditing people that they will never be able to credibly bring to court. Nothing in their claims can be authenticated. Sorry I'm having a hard time believing this to be anything but a cover up.
4
A cover up of what? Trump's treasonous behavior?
Does anyone really believe that the United States never interferes in foreign elections?
CIA, NSA etc. That’s what they do.
For the first time in my 70 year old life I didn’t vote for a Democrat.
Reason- Hillary and Bill turned me off with all of the money that they accumulated. Also the emails.
PS - I didn’t vote for Trump either.
4
Trump "accumulated" much more money--through illegal means--money laundering, gambling, bankruptcy. BTW--the book Clinton Cash was the result of Mercer/Bannon collaboration to bring down the Clintons.
Trump's hoax of denying the Russian involvement in the election has been exposed as a lie.
10
The media's hoax accusing Trump of collusion with the Russians has been exposed as a lie.
1
Co-conspirators = Trump campaign. Even any knowledge--not action or conspiracy, just awareness-- of it before the election would be treason.
7
Now I see why Trump's lawyers insist he not lie/talk with Mueller.
10
His first reaction is to blame it squarely on Obama(it stated in 2014).
His blind hatred for Obama knows no limits.
Then in caps-no collusion.
It's all about him. Nothing else matter. Nothing.
So what if it's now proven and detailed the Russians methodically and systematically hacked the election to help him win.
He won. That's what matters most to him.
10
Step 1. Lay out the facts that prove a crime was committed.
Step 2. Round up and indict all those who had knowledge of, or directly participated in the crime.
Now it's a race to see if Mueller can snare the biggest criminal before he fores Mueller.
4
If the President announced his campaign in June 2015 and this all began in 2014, how would the Russians have known to conspire unless they took their orders from someone who did happen to know for certain?
3
This is not the conclusion, it's a step along the way. Something is going on with social media and elections all over the world. Are we completely innocent? I don't know, but I know I'm on the side of the U.S. Which side are you on?
9
Meanwhile, it seems plausible that Bannon is talking straight with Mueller's people. 20 hours worth. He knew enough to stonewall the congressional committee who interviewed him, knowing that was a direct line back to Trump via Trump's GOP minions. But he knows Mueller's team is legit. I could see, at the very least, Bannon spill the tea those he detested in Trump's orbit, namely Ja-ranka and Don Jr.
11
Now I know how an onion feels to be peeled, slowly with deliberate intent and focus.
12
I find it interesting that Chief of Staff Kelly starts tightening up the West Wing's security clearance mess - TODAY. I think we're going to see some even more erratic behavior soon out of the White House. Perhaps some crisis to divert attention yet again.
Who will be abandoning ship in the coming weeks?
Oh to be a fly on the wall at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...
9
In the list of contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians, I'm surprised Trump's very public request for Russia to find Hilary's missing emails didn't make the list. It was shocking for any presidential candidate to make such a statement, imploring a foreign government to break our own laws and violate our own sovereignty.
17
Just what will it take for Congress to at LEAST stand up and say-sorry Trump, too many questions and uncertainties and blunders and un-American pronouncements to allow you to have any legislative power. It is clear he is doing ruinous things to America.
11
There was no collusion. Nobody was influenced by Russian trolls on Facebook and YouTube.
Another point - The Russians, like everyone else, thought that Trump was going to lose, big time. So the entire point of the exercise was to make future President Hillary Clinton look bad, not to elect Trump.
9
If "...the entire point of the exercise..." was to make Hillary look bad, I think you can draw the conclusion that they wanted her to lose, ergo, they wanted Trump to win.
Your conclusions are not soundly based on the premises of the Mueller indictments.
How do YOU know there wasn’t collusion? The complete findings of the investigation have not been revealed , YET.....
"He said he didn't meddle. He said he didn't meddle... Every time [Putin] sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that.' And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it."
Donald Trump, Nov. 11, 2017
15
Great reminder.
1
Once again Trump denies collusion with the Russians. It is likely that Trump never intentionally "colluded" with Russians to gain their help in defeating Hillary Clinton. But judging from all his Tweets it is obvious that Trump is too stupid to realize when he or his campaign staff were being duped by Russian operatives into aiding their attempts to smear Mrs Clinton. Just look at the way Trump Jr jumped at the chance to get Russian dope on Hillary. The last shoe is yet to drop. Trump should not keep mentioning collusion. 'Speaking calls!'
9
Imagine the kind of people Trump would let run this WH if we didn't have the FBI checking their backgrounds. He made certain they can't even learn the name of mentally ill gun buyers.
7
So I guess this was not a a hoax or witch hunt as our so called president stated.
Still have to wonder why he seems to be favoring Vladimir.
8
“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel probe, said at a Friday press conference.
We were promised 200 pounds red tunas from Ecuador and we ended up with 13 Russian minnows. It is like charging El Chapo Guzman with spitting on the sidewalk.
8
Remind me again. Didn't Trump say the investigation was a hoax? I wonder if indictments are hoaxes, straw documents to get money from people? You know, legal fees and all, fealty for the wealthy among the legal apparatus.
No way. Trump's hoax notion is just that: a hoax. Trump is a con man, through and through. Hope Mueller gets him and the rest of his cronies, along with the Russian cabal. All are self-serving; some are traitors. Can anyone guess who are among the traitors?
7
Nunes for one--he has Russian money fronting his winery business.
1
A prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, and these Russians will never be put on trial in the United States. All Mueller has with this is an accusation, which will never be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
9
Did you read this or watch something other than Fox? Intelligence has someone on the ground in Russia, they tapped phones, broke into people's emails . . .how much evidence do you need? All of this went before a grand jury of regular citizens, too, by the way.
1
Who is feeling the heat now? Now the domestic traitors will be calling for the firing of Mueller and Rosenstein? My god it is getting closer and closer to our beloved president, who never did explain the reasons for all those secret meetings with the Russians.
5
The question still is why ??? Why did the Russians want him to win so bad ??? ................ follow the Trump money and the sanctions
15
If they were conspiring since 2013, it was long before Trump had any credibility as a candidate. It follows their goal was not to help Trump. Russia doesn't like hawkish Democrats. They'd rather have a progressive, like Sanders, who will take on excessive defense spending.
5
Read the indictment, please, before your post. The entire operation was set up to elect Donald Trump. It could not achieve its goals without long term, substantial planning, which typically takes this thing called time.
10
"Read the indictment, please, before your post. The entire operation was set up to elect Donald Trump."
snep would do well to follow his own advice; the indictment doesn't say what he thinks it does.
2
Agreed. Read the indictment. It says;
1.) There is no evidence of any type of collusion between Russian actors and Americans to influence the election. (Apologies to Carter page to follow?)
2.) There is no evidence that Russian tactics influenced the outcome of the election.
1
its pretty clear to me that Trump got elected due to Russian interference. The fine point here is for Mueller to prove that the Trump campaign sought out Russian assistance beyond the shadow of a doubt as it is now very clear that assistance occurred.
4
Seems pretty meaningless. What they did in Russia is nothing more than what we do in operations like Operation Earnest Voice. Is it criminal activity? I guess so. But can we really object to other countries spying when we spy ourselves? And doing this kind of thing when we do the same?
7
Taking money from a foreign enemy to gain political power to allow treasonous behavior is illegal--Trump should be locked up along with his grifter family and swamp.
1
Well, the indictments are meaningless, considering that the foreign actors are not likely to be extradited to the States to go through a trial process and not likely to visit the country to be arrested and processed.
Much ado about nothing.
8
Words fail. It may mean "nothing" to you, but it means everything to our continued democracy to get to truth about this election and Russia's involvement in it!
17
Russian interference is established. Should we then invalidate the election, and reverse all political activities since then? While I'd love to see the entire era tossed into the dust bin, it was simply too profitable to our oligarchy for such a reversal to even be seriously mentioned. How then to rectify this malady? War with Russia puts paid to the species. Trump would never agree to running against HRC again- he'd lose, given the unrealized promises, the blatant corruption, and the endless lies. We know what kind of a president he is- and that eliminates any chance he'd ever agree to such a thing.
4
Neil Gorsuch should not be on the Supreme Court.
1
Not "established." Alleged.
This may be the beginning of the end for Teflon Donnie.
Perhaps his Faustian pact with the devil that has allowed him to deflect and survive every rotten scandal for decades is finally beginning to unravel.
9
Just like the story of another one of Trump's affairs, this is just the tip of the iceberg of more revelations to come on both accounts.
11
Computers gone wild. Stock markets moving in 1000 point increments in minutes, Crypto currency disappearing from secured online vaults and now "Elections" .. Seriously wish we could go back to the days where people were valued more than the computers that replaced them. Speaking of replacements, Mike Pence is on deck for the WH. I'm a looking forward to his comments regarding Russia interference and can only hope he has not been compromised as well.
1
Yes, but when you review the content of the Russian propaganda campaign, you realize that many Americans actually want that type of message! It's difficult to see how this can stop the predispositions of many of our fellow citizens.
4
I am on page 13 of the indictment and I encourage every American to read it, including the President.
It was striking, but sadly not surprising, that President Trump's only reaction to this astonishing document was that there was "no collusion"! But, he didn't step up and condemn Russia's actions and vow to make sure they are never able to infiltrate us like this again. The only thing he cares about is his own skin. And he took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
He behaves like a guilty man, and one that is focused only on himself. Not for one moment does he give the impression that he cares about anyone or anything more than he cares about himself, his comforts, his money and who is currently loyal to him. He certainly doesn't care about our country, except what it can do for him.
15
Mueller does a real service to expose the illegal Russian activities. There is prima facie evidence of Trump's active involvement and support of the illegal Russian activities. Trump publically encouraged the Russians to steal and release Clinton's emails. It is extremely likely that Trump was/is receiving monetary support from the Russians. A leader of the GOP has expressed this belief. Sorry Trump supporters, but it is time you grow quiet about what you have done, and distance yourselves from this piece of work.
18
"American intelligence officials have said they have no way of calculating the effect of the Russian influence." I'm genuinely shocked to read that sentence; As a marketing/advertising campaign strategist, I've hired dozens of analytics experts who could easily gather public polling data and run the analytics against a timeline inside 72 hours. I already did the Wikileaks analysis myself early last year and it was plain as day -- It plainly undermined turnout, the #1 factor in Clinton's defeat.
I desperately hope Mueller gets a proper analytics team on this ASAP. It'll explain, demonstrably, the danger Russian subversion poses to democracy.
13
When asked by congressional committee if Trump asked for FBI to check on Russian involvement and continued interference in our elections ,the director could not say anything had been advised . And today we once more have evidence Trump isnt literate. He really has no idea of what he reads. F in reading comprehension for him.
7
Because of the celebration of our president by some, I have been imagining the persistent degradation of our union, just because enough of us refuse to allow the comeuppance of any plausibly denied misdeed. But, despite the almost civil war of reason versus cult, as of today-I see a hand over played. It just took multiple indictments, infidelity married to the 'party of values' hypocrisy, carnage, aid-and-comfort to the enemy, to make me see that our beautiful union may emerge stronger. It is so much work, and Melania could ease the labor with one hour on Oprah.
4
This is the same story the Congress was investigating. That Russians used social media which is awash with lies, deceptions and hate mongering and trying to indicate that out all of this the Russians were able to brilliantly target dupes to defeat that pesky cold warrior H. Clinton.
5
One thing that strikes me and is validated by the findings reported in this article, is that Hillary was vilified unfairly and brutally; this beautiful, accomplished, even tempered woman was accused of doing unspeakably evil things without specific information or documentation. Such things as running some place that abused children brought some dimwit up in his pickup truck with a gun to set things right. How totally absurd that and the other accusations were, apparently partly or mainly due to Russian input, but also picked up and carried forward by gullible or ill-intentioned Americans out to spread unsubstantiated venom. It was obvious at the time that something like this was happening, but the government and private officials in charge were too timid and "even handed" to step in and stop the attacks. That is the shame of it, and now we tragically have a demon for a President who was elected on bad information about his opponent and supported by a weak and frankly scatalogical campaign platform. Still, the American people must share the blame for being so easily swayed by outlandish accusations that were inconsistent with Hillary's well known character and accomplishments..
15
The obvious question is, why would the Russians want to swing the election to Trump? Republicans are always accusing Democrats of being weaklings with regards to national defense and foreign policy. You would think that the Russians would have wanted the weaker candidate, Hillary Clinton, to be elected. Obviously, they knew something about Trump that led them to do what they did.
The entire story is preposterous. The Russians, like everyone else, assumed that HIllary Clinton was going to win in a slam dunk. So the point of the meddling was to make future President Hillary look bad, not to elect the unelectable Donald Trump.
3
You’re more than a 2 years behind ... they have been recruiting and enticing him since the early 90’s ... they well understood how his dysfunctionality and incompetence would inject chaos into the US and Western political systems ...
2
I haven't read the indictment but this story isn't clear on what the indictment is based on. It says conspiracy to commit fraud against the US government. Does that mean they violated specific federal election laws? Or is the indictment for identity theft or creating false identities?
I also don't understand the Steele memo. If it's accurate, the Russians were dishing dirt on Trump while they were offering to dish dirt on Clinton to the Trump campaign. So who were they supporting?
Also, how can this have been authorized by Putin, but not the Russian government?
Maybe more information will be revealed later. But how is any of this different from your typical PAC?
There's something strange in all this, especially with an indictment that is unlikely to every lead to a trial.
3
A PAC lead by Russian agents, and you see no difference?
2
To say that this operation by the Russians had no effect on the election is false...it is just as likely as unlikely that 3 states that Trump won by 77k votes were swayed.
7
Well now I guess Trump can stop saying the investigation is a hoax. Now, if only he would say “Well if the Russians thought I was their guy they are sadly mistaken.”
But he won’t do that. Maybe it is because he is in fact “their guy.” We shall see as more is revealed.
9
yes, and the fact that Trump refused to enact the sanctions overwhelmingly authorised by Congress demonstrates that Trump is delivering for Russia's investment.
6
It’s clear that Trump has been neck deep with the Russians for years, prior to his presidential run. I suspect to avoid bankruptcy or enrich himself he partnered with corrupt Russians and is vulnerable to blackmail, as was Gen.Mike Flynn, who resigned, only on a greater scale. This is what drives Trump’s policy and attitude towards Putin and Russia. It will be the biggest presidential scandal ever. The biggest, no lie.
10
Tucker Carlson and WH asst pres secty Raj apparently haven't actually read the indictment in saying (spinning) that it exonerates POTUS.
that remains to be seen - what is clear is that the meddling was specifically targeted -- at swing states -- once he was a candidate at getting him elected or for that matter Sanders over HRC, and was intended to fan the flames of discord and alienation in the electorate, including persuading citizens, particularly those it was supposed would tend to vote Dem/HRC, not to vote.
the notion that it started in 2014 (planning) misses the point - it was when the electoral cycle kicked in that counts - and the GOP should be upset since there were also concerted efforts to knock out Cruz, Rubio (this is a red flag that it was tilted from early on to put a "finger on the scale" in favor of the current sitting President even on the GOP side) and of course to block HRC at all costs.
the 'real US persons' with whom the defendants interacted, i suspect, will prove of some relevance down the road. A blockbuster of an indictment with more to come when the details get proved in court.
the unusual remedy (substitute assets) also a very interesting aspect -- hmm, what might those be?
4
Does anyone know: Did the Russians interfere with the Republican primaries to help get Donald Trump the Republican nomination?
2
Poor Russia. If only they established majority ownership in a multinational corporation they could have influenced the election to their heart's content.
7
Mr. T and his supporters would campaign that it is a mere coincidence that Russians' interests and theirs are the same with some nonchalant contacts between them. Further, they may argue that they are an innocent beneficiary.
Well, I expect they including Republicans stay with that game plan and focus on their efforts to obstruct justice, in the past and in the future. They know that their power base is to remain strong and anti-intellectual.
Also, let them decompose many American institutions and ideals that united Americans and lead the democratic world. While they may assert that this is not their goal, we must be aware what they do and say are producing such effects.
Several years later, the American voters would realize what they will have destroyed by letting Mr. T and his supporters stay with power.
Reconstruction would then begin in a world where totalitarian Russians and money-full totalitarian Chinese are dominant with technology mastered to monitor, control and intimidate individualistic persons.
1
Rod Rosenstein pointing to an indictment and saying what it could not say is not news.
Indictments charge particular crimes and don't venture into the potential effects of such crimes, like whether the election was in some way effected.
Yet, folks point to Rosenstein's ill-contemplated comments as proof of there being no effect on the election. well, if there wasn't any effect, why the indictments? Where's the crime? No harm no foul, right?
Surely these efforts had SOME effect on the election.
How much is for others --and a different vehicle- to say.
3
The Russians supported Sanders as well as Trump over H. Clinton. They clearly don't like H. Clinton. Who can blame them? She would have been an absolute disaster as president. To whatever small extent the Russians influenced the elections they inadvertently did us a favor.
5
Vladimir Putin was terrified at the thought of Hillary Clinton becoming President. he had dealt with her when she was Secretary of State and he knew she would be the toughest U.S. President he would ever have to face. Putin is an enemy of the U.S.; thus, he wanted the American people to elect "an absolute disaster" to be their President, and we did.
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She probably would be toughest President, but would it be good for the US? Should we ask the diplomats in Benghazi?
I think the Americans were not indicted because that means an actual trial. But such trial would be pure embarrassment for America, no matter of outcome. Either the investigation would look silly (kind of Red scare investigation) or the US will look as a hypocrite that promotes freedom of speech in the World but is afraid of this freedom at home because common Americans are inclined to believe everything on the Internet. In any case, the US will be a laughing stock. The mighty democracy was easily manipulated by few Russians that had no prior knowledge of American system.
2
The Americans involved have not been indicted...yet. There is no reason to think that these are the only indictments that will be issued under the Russian Investigation. In the opinion of many experts, this is only the beginning.
7
I only hope you and the experts are right. I would love to see the actual trial. It would be such entertainment. The lawyers will have a field day. Although I don't hold my breath waiting the real trial.
1
Now this is starting to all make sense. It wasn't an off the cuff troll campaign of fake news. It was largely independent of trump's campaign. as good spy craft would dictate. By all public evidence Russia approached trump's people, and trump's staff were dumb/unethical enough to get involved to some degree, an activity Moscow orchestrated to provide a "cover story" for what they were actually doing. "Yes, we were meddling, but, see, nothing came of it".
Spending 20M $ a month since June 2016!... Moscow was Trump's largest campaign contributor. We thought Sheldon Adelson bought the election for trump...
Mueller's team has done an incredible job.
11
Such moments of confusion are opportunities for reflection and revelation. Sadly, I'm afraid we will not pursue either in earnest, because that would require comprehending opposing view points.
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
What they say we are, we are
And we are very proud of ourselves
-- Jefferson Airplane, 1969, "We Can Be Together"
And here we are today. Irony is a cruel, cruel thing.
5
Rod Rosenstein pointing to an indictment and saying what it could not say is not news.
Indictments charge particular crimes and don't venture into the potential effects of such crimes, like whether the election was in some way effected.
Yet, folks point to Rosenstein's ill-contemplated comments as proof of their being no effect on the election. well, if there wasn't any effect, why the indictments? Where's the crime? No harm no foul, right?
Surely these efforts had SOME effect on the election.
How much is for others --and a different vehicle- to say.
1
Muller holds a significant seat of power in our democracy.
4
Yes, there is power in facts
1
It's fair to expect this is just an appetizer. I hope Mueller and critical members of his team are being given the same level of physical protection as the highest office holders in this country. Or higher.
8
In the May of 2014, shortly after the Obama administration had introduced sanctions in response to Russia's involvement in Ukraine, Mr. Medvedev, the Russian prime minister and one of the closest confidants of Mr. Putin, stated in his interview to Bloomberg TV that
the sanctions would come to naught when a new president takes over. "The US administration will change. Obama will be replaced with another president, and everyone will forget about these sanctions", he said.
I remember thinking how foolish it was for a man of his stature to speak with such confidence about things that the rest of the world had no clue about at the time. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't so foolish after all.
7
The indictment is truly worth the time it takes to read it. Fascinating. Following the money and the "connections" of those who have been indicted could really yield some happy results for those of us who wish to see Trump and his devastating regime made history. And, if people will get out and vote as many Republicans out of office as possible come November and again in 2020, we might be able to begin to make the volumes of repairs that are going to be necessary in order to preserve our democracy, our people, our environment, and our national integrity.
In addition, it is clear that we never really foresaw the kind of devastation that could be wrought by an unscrupulous, despotic, self-centered president and the heartless, greedy toadies he would install in places of power. Scores of new safeguards will be required. When the main institutions that enforce our laws are under constant fire, when our judicial system is stacked with the cold-hearted, the avaricious, and the incompetent; when the majority party has proven that it has no soul and sells itself to the highest bidders and those with blood on their hands; and when the free and legitimate press is under constant assault, our "checks and balances" system becomes very, very shaky. Add illegal interference by our enemies without (like Russia) and the condoned twisting of truth and outright lies perpetrated by certain extreme "media" giants, and our continued existence is dangerously imperiled.
5
I think your reporting, Mr A and Ms L, unnecessarily quotes DJT in the 7th paragraph. That paragraph adds absolutely nothing to the matter at hand, but does once again, give free publicity to an outlandish claim.
Will you (journalists) ever learn?
Mr Mueller is quite savvy. And he knows that making an accusation this early in his investigation would only kill the investigation at this point. Good for you Mr Mueller!
He knows there's more to be uncovered (or maybe it's already uncovered but not quite fully proven), and he has the patience required to do a comprehensive and exhausting investigation. This was is charge. He will see it through, and as a patriot, he will undoubtedly leave no detail unexamined. Much as it pains me to wait another day before impeachment proceedings are unavoidable and mandatory.
4
Rosenstein is truly incompetent. My grandmama has many fake accounts on facebook. She even impersonates anyone she wants but she doesn't take their money.
Sessions needs to step in.
It is our president who announces 'collusion' at every turn, I may just believe him. Enemies of our democracy appreciate the aid and comfort of his words, attacks on our justice institutions, and sparing of sanctions.
2
Maybe Trump was funding them! We need to see the money trail and Trump’s taxes.
3
I want to know why Trump has continued to refuse to sign sanctions against Russia that Congress has set forth.
Also, I am betting that there is dirty (pre-laundered) money involved in Trump's campaign and possibly Kusher and Trump post-election.
7
I knew Mueller was good, but I did not realize until tonight how good. He has understood and demonstrated that there was collusion and that the collusion was widespread. This does not absolve Trump et al, but it shows how they too were manipulated into becoming part of the wider plan to subvert the election of 2016. It doesn't say Trump was innocent, but it does show that Russia's plan was huge and not driven entirely by Trump.
I am eager to hear the next shoe drop. Clearly there is more going on than Muller has revealed so far.
This is the best news I have heard in weeks.
6
No matter how much Trump denies it, it’s clear the Russians saw great advantage in having him in office. There has to be a backstory here. Keep digging, Mr. Mueller, as long as it takes. We’ll wait.
41
The outcome of this past election wasn't the result of meddling, it was the result of our political system. 75% of eligible voters either voted against Trump or didn't vote at all - and he didn't even come close to winning the popular vote of those who did vote, no matter what he says. Until the defects in the underlying system - the electoral college, the distribution of senators based on archaic geographic boundaries, and unlimited gerrymandering by the party in control - are changed, nothing will change. Same goes for gun control - it doesn't matter what the majority want, what matters is what the minority who have the Constitution on their side want. Update the Constitution to reflect today's world, fix the system, educate the public so they don't believe that Fox and Facebook are legitimate news sources - and that will pretty much neutralize the meddling.
33
It's making Trump look really weak. These guys are abusing their authority to make themselves relevant and protect their jobs. Sessions really need to step in
Yes, the Russians tried to influence the elections, but I think those who stayed away from the elections because both candidates were flawed gave the election away.
On the one hand we had a showman who had no idea on how to govern. On the other hand we had an experienced, but flawed politician who many thought should be elected because she was a woman. I reluctantly voted for the woman because she was not the unqualified showman.
We really need to rethink how we elect our presidents.
The first thing is to get rid of the electoral college. My vote in Minnesota should not count more than a vote in a large state Ohio or Pennsylvania (where I have also lived).
The second thing is to get rid of partisan primaries. The people who don't give a dime or time to a party should not be deciding a party's candidates. There was something to be said for the smoke-filled rooms.
It will be an uphill battle to get many people to turn out for multiple elections, but we could have a far better result if we had a filtering non-partisan series of elections. The winner would be the first to have a majority of votes.
Given the unlikelihood of the above, another uphill battle is to get more voters to depend on multiple news sources. Those who get all their news at 9 from one station are not going to be the best-informed voters, regardless of how the station presents the news, even if it is "fair and balanced".
7
"The second thing is to get rid of partisan primaries. The people who don't give a dime or time to a party should not be deciding a party's candidates. There was something to be said for the smoke-filled rooms."
Sure, have at it. But no tears in beers when the rest of the electorate (40+ % who are registered Independent) declines to vote in the general for the garbage bought and paid for candidate your party so thoughtfully selects for us.
1
Twitter and Facebook should be assessed huge fines ($100M or more) which can then be used to fund efforts to counter such influence in future American elections.
16
This commenter suggests that Mueller's behavior helps Trump:
"Who cares about an indictment against Russians operatives? ... Trump can now plausibly bolster "no collusion" position."
I hadn't thought of that, but it does make sense. Nowhere in Mueller's 37-page indictment does he even allege that Trump, or anyone in his campaign, was involved in the alleged conspiracy. He only charges Russians, and Trump naturally asks: "But where's the collusion?"
Maybe there will be more to come. For Mueller's sake, I hope so. We haven't seen any evidence of collusion yet and, from Mueller, we haven't seen even an allegation of collusion.
This is starting to get a little silly. We're coming up on a year now -- two years, if you look back to when the FBI opened its investigation. Isn't it about time that Mueller fishes or cuts bait?
4
Nothing in the indictment says there won't be more indictments, either.
4
"Isn't it about time that Mueller fishes or cuts bait?"
No, this investigation is still very young when compared with similar investigations of the past. A lot of time went by before things started popping in Watergate. And this is a lot more complicated than Watergate.
You also don't seem to understand that today is likely to only day's piece of a much larger puzzle. We've already had 2 indictments and 2 guilty pleas--and after each of those, people were also saying "is that all there is?" And each piece of the puzzle Meuller has published or filed so far has contained surprises that were on no one's radar, at least in the media.
Mueller likely knows an awful lot, and a lot more than we or even the press knows. He has the best team of investigators maybe ever assembled in the US. They do not leak. Period. The fact you haven't heard about what they are up to means next to nothing. Not even the President knows what he knows, which is why this is driving him crazy. Assuming he isn't fired, I wouldn't expect we will start seeing lots of shoes to drop until toward the end of the year or early next year.
2
So now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a hostile adversary attacked our national election. Even the ultra-partisan Republicans overwhelmingly supported sanctions. What does our President do? Nothing.
Trump knows deep down that the election was tainted - first by Comey and then by the Russians. He will deny the Russian influence to the end because his ego is just that fragile, but hopefully Mr. Mueller will let the world know exactly what happened.
15
I have long been skeptical of claims that Russia swung the election in favor of Trump. The official position of the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community is that they have no position, as of yet, on the issue. In light of today's developments, however, and in view of the fact that this is just step one in a multi-part process of indictments from the Mueller team, such agnosticism is no longer tenable. Very little would have been needed to tip the election -- just 80,000 votes in three key states. If there had been no Russian meddling, who can say whether the election would not have gone to Clinton, and not Trump? We will know more as Mueller's investigation develops, and in particular, more indictments will undoubtedly be forthcoming that will clarify the role Trump campaign staff, and Trump himself, played in aiding and abetting the effort by a foreign power to throw the election. Perhaps it is time for Trump supporters to stand back and let justice run its course.
28
Perhaps at some point, the Russians decided there would be no value in collaborating with the clown act that was the Trump campaign, so they merely proceeded on their own to promote Trump's candidacy and to undermine Clinton's. If that was the case, despite Trump's many paranoid denials, there would not have been any collusion after all. Even Trump might finally be surprised to find out his campaign was innocent in fact if not in intent. Is one guilty of a crime one intends to commit, if one's fellow criminals conclude one is so inept that he must be bypassed as the crime is carried out--even as they allow him to suffer his own delusions?
1
I agree 100% that Trump firing Mueller would be political suicide.
Contrary to speculation, though, I see no sign that Trump has any plan to fire Mueller, and Mueller has never suggested that Trump has interfered in his investigation. Nor should Trump. I'm sure Trump wishes Mueller weren't there, but cooler heads appear to have prevailed whenever Trump vents his frustration with Mueller.
But what about the rest of us? Didn't we all expect that Mueller would either come up with something or tell us that he hasn't? Did we think that Mueller and his staff looked at their appointments as lifetime employment?
If Mueller has something, or hereafter comes up with something, we'd all love to hear it. But simply indicting a bunch of Russians doesn't move the ball down the field. We already knew the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election, just as our government routinely interferes with numerous foreign elections. We also already knew that Trump tried to win the 2016 election. No surprise there either.
What we were hoping Mueller would tell us is whether Trump and the Russian government worked together (remember that?). Mueller doesn't even allege collusion in this indictment (or in any earlier indictment). Maybe he will some day, but he hasn't yet. Trump shouldn't fire Mueller or interfere in his investigation, but Mueller shouldn't treat this as an open ticket to feed at the taxpayer trough forever. Sooner or later he should wind this up.
2
I shudder to think where we would be, without the appointment of a special prosecutor, and especially one as brilliant, methodical and dedicated as Mueller. He is a national hero. He deserves a statue. A huge statue. Firing Comey, which triggered the special prosecutor, will prove to be the only beneficial action of the Trump presidency. We came close to losing it all, but now I see light.
16