The indictment also mentions a “candidate for the U.S. Congress” who requested, and received, stolen documents from the Russians. I wonder who, and how many, from Congress may have been colluding wth the Russians during the election. It could certainly help explain so much of the GOP's actions and complacency surrounding the investigations. From Mueller's indictment...
“Last but not least, on Aug. 15, 2016, a 'candidate for the U.S. Congress' requested stolen documents from the Russians posing as Guccifer 2.0. They obliged, and 'sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate’s opponent.' The congressional candidate in question hasn’t been identified.”
The first congressman I thought of was Devin Nunes. The second was Trey Gowdy. It's just conjecture on my part, to be sure, but it would explain their words and actions which, otherwise, seem neither logical or responsible.
31
From the beginning of his real estate career, Trump has always financed his projects... After multiple financial disasters and four bankruptcies in the 80s and 90s, after which American banks refused to continue funding his follies, he somehow continued to acquire hundreds of millions of dollars with which to pursue his projects...
How?
In 2008, Donald Jr. told investors in Moscow that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” while Eric reportedly told a golf reporter in 2014 that the Trump Organization was able to expand during the financial crisis because “We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.”
In the last few years, Trump has paid many hundreds of millions in CASH for three golf courses in Scotland and Ireland.... Three golf courses that lose tens of millions of dollars every year. Additionally, records show that Trump has sold American properties to Russian oligarchs for amounts that far exceed property values... If this smells of money laundering it is because no other explanation makes sense.
At this point, there is no way Trump should be permitted to meet with Putin behind closed doors without other Americans present in the room.
Trump is a proven serial liar who ALWAYS puts his interests first... And this time, our democracy is at stake.
37
Calls from Sen. McCain and others to cancel the Putin/Trump summit are futile. With no third party confirmation of the conversation the media accounts will be over the top hyperbole or more likely shear mendacity spun up by White House and Kremlin minions. Hopefully, thinking people the world over will ignore the press accounts of this farce.
5
I knew it: Russian spies are trying to undermine America, We need to round up the entire KGB and put them in American jails. I suggest we investigate China next. I'm told they practice war games with America in view. It that isn't grounds for indictment, what it? When can we expect the Russians to be arrested? Is the UN on board? We'll need all the help we can get if we're going to kidnap half the Russian army and bring them to trial here. But indicted they are and indicted they shall remain. They must be shaking in their boots. Wonder how much it would cost American taxpayers to indict the entire KGB? But let's not forget to chase the bad guys over here as well.
11
I’m no fan of W (to say the very least), but imagine if he had responded to the 9/11 attacks in the following manner:
1) Standing on top of the rubble at ground zero and yelling into a megaphone: “Why didn’t Clinton kill Osama bin Laden?”
2) Saying that “no one knows for sure” if the attacks happened or who carried them out.
3) Saying that Democrats and the deep state are engaged in a “witch hunt” investigation of the attacks because they still can’t get over the fact that W won the electoral college (but lost the popular vote, due to millions of fraudulent ballots), in an election that “Al Gore totally should have won, just so you know.”
4) Minimizing, and failing to act on, solid intelligence that additional - likely far larger - attacks are already underway
5) Meeting with the head of the Taliban, and saying the following: “Isn’t having a positive relationship is good for the US? And, I’ll tell you one thing about the Taliban: they are strong leaders who are respected by the Afghan people. Plus they keep telling me that they didn’t help OBL or Al Quaeda, so what can you do?”
6) Refering to the media reporting on this as “the enemy of the people.”
40
Clearly the US intelligence agencies were aware of the Russian hacking at least as early as April of 2016, the same time they hacked into the DCCC and DNC. One has to believe that US intelligence agencies informed president Obama about GRU activities so why didn’t he or his JustUs Department do anything about it? Why weren’t the 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted two years ago? Why did it take a special counsel two years and millions of dollars to expose what was already known? Perhaps someday Mueller’s ongoing investigation will provide us with an answer.
3
We are to believe a Session's led Justice Department did not plan the timing of the announcement of these indictments? Trump was told about these indictments prior to their being released. We are to believe Sessions who has let Trump humiliate him has finally grew a spine? If this Friday's announcement of the indictments would have caused any rain to fall on the Trump/Putin love fest it would have been held up. Even though Sessions has supposedly reclused himself if anyone thinks he didn't get the final say in when these indictments are announced I have a Bridge I want to sell you. Now Trump in his meeting with his boss, Putin, can demand some action be taken against these 12 Russians.This gives Trump a platform to say he got tough with Putin.
2
Mueller did the same thing a year ago and indicted 13 Russian companies for hacking, and when one of those companies asked for discovery, Mueller's evidence, Mueller back stroked. He didn't think those companies would respond. The same thing is going to happen this time. Mueller is putting this out there just at the right time for Trump's visit with Putin. Then there is the little problem with if this is true, why didn't Obama fix it? This supposedly took place in 2016, Obama was POTUS. Lets see what happens when these 12 Russian's lawyers ask for discovery.
10
So now what? Send FBI agents to Russia to arrest these folk? This is nothing more than a symbolic exercise.
3
Forget "Right' / 'Left' / 'Culture Wars '- the US has been under a major Cyber Attack by Russian Intelligence since at least mid 2016 - and it continues now. Trump encouraged illegal theft by the Russians in JUL 2016 by asking Russia to find the 'missing e-mails' - but he is committing Treason against the US now.
He has 1 chance to redeem himself by demanding Putin turn over the Russians for extradition and imposing the harshest sanctions possible -with a direct retaliatory cyber attack if Putin does not comply.
For God's sake America - wake up!
13
The question is , what are we going to do now that Trump will be cowering in a corner with Putin, the man who staged a full fledged attack on our country ?
The fact that Trump is still siding with Putin in light of these indictments is pure and simple TREASON — aiding and abetting the enemy .
This abdication of Trump’s responsibility as Commander in Chief is enough for impeachment . Let’s see what Mueller’s investigation brings when it’s completed.
Democrats for 2018. Our only defense since Republicans are complicit in these treasonous activities .
17
I believe that we will come out stronger as a country as a result of all these hostile acts. I have to believe.
6
Should he be willing to change parties, Rosenstein could be a very attractive candidate for something.
5
So the Russians attacked the US election. What can a US President do, especially when Putin himself denies it? Poor little Trump is powerless - he only has the world's largest economy and the largest army - and now space force! How is that any match for the shirtless Putin? The President will just have to go, cap in had, and meet with Putin, and do what Putin wants. What's the word our grand President likes to use - sad, weak....... At least he is meeting alone with his boss so we don't have to witness the humiliation. It seems a great idea for the President to meet alone with the guy he is accused of colluding with the win/steal the US election .... yeah, that seems right. I am sure if this was Obama the Republicans would be just fine with this meeting - reasonable as they were with Obama.
9
When is the investigation into spying on foreign governments by the US while Obama was President. If he didn’t spy, he should be shamed. By the way, did Rosenstein just indict intelligence officials from another country for spying? Isn’t that their job?
3
It was not an honest, above-board election because of the Russians and those who hired or encouraged them. Now, will it happen again in 2018 and 2020? Who is in charge of cyber security for USA?
4
OK, I'll bite! When was the last time a US President cancelled a planned meeting with a foreign head of state because some Senator from the other party asked him to do so?
"Schumer calls on Trump to cancel the meeting with Putin knowing that the request will fall on deaf ears."
Has this ever happened -- even once?
7
Where is GOP congress? Why are there no hearing on this and questioning of Trump and his cohorts?
Ohhhh sorry - I forgot that GOP is the cohorts and have actively conspired against American democracy.
16
Has anyone here gone out of their way to posit this entire narrative may be propagandistic, agenda-setting political theater? I mean this shouldn't be conspiratorial, fairly mainstream journalists like Glenn Greenwald don't buy this. And let's get real, before there is ever to be a concerted effort to make "elections fair" in America, there needs to be nothing less than an upheaval of the entire politico-media complex, starting with the end of bought politicians, and yes, corporate media like the New York Times. And then you get flack for pointing out these mundane, boring and yet far more fundamental issues in lieu of the media hysteria of the moment.
3
And yet the GOP's response is to prepare impeachment papers against Rosenstein. Every American should be rising up and demanding that Congress take action to protect our election system. Instead we've had a group of GOP'ers visit Russia over 4th of July recess and on-going gerrymandering with additional courtesies extended by the right wing SCOTUS. Our nation is doomed!
9
Jazzie,
The hacks referenced in the indictments happened TWO years ago, when Obama was president. US intelligence knew it was occurring and one has to believe they told him it was occurring. He could have done something in real time but he didn't. In other words he "blew off" their actions. In fact he pretty much blew off all Russian aggression including the annexation of Crimea, propping up Assad while he crossed Obama's "red line" and gassed his own people, facilitated Iranian hegemony... Consequently I'd have to say your fly metaphor is appropriate to Obama's interaction with Putin. I think a more fitting one to ascribe to President Trump's meeting is the "Bull in the China Shop" where Mr. Putin is the China Shop. Unlike President Obama, Trump isn't afraid to break things.
4
I don't believe that President Trump realizes that he is a Russian asset, and that the majority of Americans see him that way.
The big question is how many members of Congress are aware of this political fault line. Under ordinary circumstances, the Congress would be clamoring for the president to demonstrate that he is still capable of defending the US.
13
Not sure which will turn out to be more effective: Russian efforts to affect the coming November elections or Chinese who have targeted the US heartland--Trump territory--with their tariffs on farm products.
I suppose the former is meddling while the latter is extortion--same, same, in the end, though. Seems we ought have sanctions against both.
2
Trump's best strategy is to simply ignore this as it is transparently politically motivated and, by design, will come to nothing. No trail, no evidence.
4
I don't understand what is to come. Will the Russian people dethrone Putin over this issue? Is that our ultimate goal?
Does any country, unless defeated in a war, surrender their intelligence officers to any foreign country, particularly if they were to be prosecuted for a crime they committed while following the orders by their superiors? Suppose it surrenders them, what if they testify that they did what was ordered by their superiors, which of course will lead to Russian President Putin. What if President Putin admits and submits a bill for servicing Candidate Trump request of July 27, 2016 delivered over open TV broadcast waves?
Is President Obama's policy of silent punishment of Russian Government a better approach?
There are too many unknowns here.
6
I have not seen any articles discussing the use of antivirus software. Would this software have detected the virus and eliminated it.
I use antivirus software, update it very day and run a scan once a day. Am I just fooling myself in thinking that this will catch bad viruses.
2
What, exactly, do you think Giuliani should have done differently?
"Next Giuliani is so preoccupied with who is mentioned as collaborators that the seriousness of the accusations are completely lost on him."
The indictment doesn't allege, or even suggest, that anyone connected with the Trump campaign had any involvement with this. It alleges simply that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee failed to take even basic precautions -- "basic" meaning ones that even I would have taken -- to prevent themselves from being hacked, and they were hacked.
The indictment does allege a minor hack, in 2015, of someone who regularly communicated with higher-ups in the Trump campaign, but that appears to have ended pretty early and not been very fruitful. Nor does Mueller allege that that person -- or anyone else even remotely connected to Trump or the Republican Party -- had anything at all to do with the much more fruitful hacking of the DCCC and the DNC the following year.
Russian hacking of ANY American computer should be investigated and stopped. But we don't need a "special prosecutor" for that. Mueller was hired to look for "collusion" between Trump and the Russians. He's been at this for well over a year now, and hasn't told us about any. Maybe he knows more than he's telling us, but he sure didn't reveal any of that in this indictment.
Frankly, I'm starting to wonder about Mueller. It may be "fish or cut bait" time soon.
5
One certainly wouldn't conclude this from Mueller's indictment:
"So, Hillary's claim of a vast right-wing conspiracy was true."
Mueller doesn't allege, or even suggest, that anyone even remotely connected to Trump or any Republican had anything whatsoever to do with the conspiracy. Maybe there is a "vast right-wing conspiracy;" maybe there's not. All we know is that Mueller's indictment doesn't mention one. He alleges all sorts of bad things about Russians, but nothing at all about Trump or Republicans.
2
Trump will say that this is fake news, like always.
If Trump didn't have anything to hide, one would think that the President of the United States would want all the information about a foreign governments attempt to influence or change our electoral process and at the same time restrict or not do business with that government.
His adoration of Putin has to make you wonder.
6
You write there will be questions as to why the U.S. government did not publicly name Russia's interference in the election if information was gathered in real time (i.e. beginning in April 2016). Other Times reporting has described Senator McConnell's refusal to make a bipartisan statement about Russian interference in September 2016. Your ambiguous statement contributes to a narrative of skepticism about the motive and action of intelligence services when we know there were political decisions and maneuverings to deny the American people this integral knowledge. Your reporting should reflect these actions rather than obfuscate an already complex story.
15
Given the indictments issued yesterday by Mr. Mueller, no reasonable person can deny that the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections and sought to advantage Trump’s candidacy.
Given this context, Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks the truth: “it’s important for us to avoid thinking politically, as Republicans or Democrats, and instead to think patriotically as Americans.”
Republican legislators, however, will not “avoid thinking politically” in the face of what they regard to be an existential threat. They know full well: If Donald Trump were to go the way of Richard Nixon, the GOP would go the way of the pterodactyl. Hence most GOP legislators will remain silent while Trump touts his personal relationship with Putin, pursuesmhis own plutocratic interests, neglects his oath to protect the US against foreign adversaries, denigrates western allies and attacks the the press, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the US intelligence agencies.
Trump’s legislative enablers and supporters, however, focus on the existential threat that looms, but neglect the threat that is at hand. They fail to recognize the full gravity of their party’s situation.
As John Boehner, along with many other conservatives, has already acknowledged: “There is no Republican Party.”
The GOP is already extinct. Months ago it devolved into the Trumpublican Party.
26
If I recall: it was reported that the hackers got right into some of the 'voting machines' but then never actually went further to change votes, even though they were in a position to. (paraphrased). Does this not strike you as strange? After all the effort to penetrate the voting system, they had what, a crisis of conscience? Secondly, many of the voting systems reported that they in fact, have No back-up system recording the votes to check if there were some errors. Meaning once a vote is changed, there is no cross-checking it. Clearly, the officialdom of voting doesn't want the American public to lose faith in the patch-work vote recording system, and thus in the US democratic process and in the value of their vote itself. Understandable.
6
Friday’s indictment did not include any accusations that the Russian efforts succeeded in influencing the election results, . . .
So voters, keep voting. No reason to think that the Russians actually got in and messed with the tally.
2
late October would be a good time to . Announces Charges against trump, senators and congress reps.
5
I quote the indictment (pp 14-15):
"On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the US. Congress. The Conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate’s opponent."
Does not the solicitation of stolen documents constitute a criminal offense?
This former candidate will have a lot to answer for.
13
400 pound guy, you're in the clear. Now let's talk about why Trump is unable to make a statement denouncing the hacking and the Russians. Such a statement would make clear his understanding that America was and remains under attack by a foreign power, and the statement would acknowledge the ongoing need to safeguard our elections process.
10
Divide (the US) and conquer (the US). We are just naive enough to fall for it. Hope we collectively learned from it before it’s too late.
6
The basis for all just laws is that they are concepts based on absolute principles of truth and well being. When I was in grammar school in Connecticut in the 1960’s we told of a young George Washington telling his parents that he“could not tell a lie;” and in fact chopped down the cherry tree. Being kind and helpful to people in need made us feel a great sense of well being that we all knew was intuitively right. I write this because we are now heading as a society, in a direction that has nothing to do with any of these principles. The precedent for the outcome of this will require the examination of barbarian Europe and it’s life of despair. There is no alternative to truth and goodness. Without it the society we all have known will end.
3
"...It [the indictments] is all but certain to feed into the conspiratorial views held by the president and some of his allies that Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors are determined to undermine Mr. Trump’s designs for a rapprochement with Russia..."
This is an interesting sentence to occur in 4th para of this story. Very early in the news report our focus is shifted to make the major impact of the indictment the affect it has on Trump's irrational brain and present Mr Mueller's prosecutors as adversaries for upsetting Trump. The impact should be on the U.S. carefully and lawfully making the case that a foreign government invaded our election process and willfully violated cybersecurity. The wake up call for improving security of our electronic systems went off a long time ago, but the reality TV star craves and receives attention for his pathological personality and somehow the news story is that "Mr Mueller's prosecutors" are brazen for wanting to protect America from a hostile entity.
3
At core, we all knew that Russia interfered in elections and hacked our servers. Current indictments does not change that. Still no knowingly direct involvement/collusion by Trump campaign. I am afraid that Mueller does not want to cross that line and has been bullied and maimed by Mr. Trump like rest of the Republican party. Mr. Trump's bullying is working beautifully and no one is willing to cross him including Mr. Mueller. Mr. Mueller will continue to circle around Mr. Trump and end there.
1
I’m not so sure that naming and shaming will be a deterrent for Russian operatives. Trump is popular in Russia. For all we know, they will be looked upon as hero’s in their home countries.
In addition, anyone who signs up to be a spy meddling in foreign affairs is willing to risk their lives. I can’t imagine that naming and shaming is something they will be scared of.
The only problem for them is that it may hamper their future work as a spy if they are known entities to US intelligence.
1
The next wave of indictments will be the big reveal. With a blue wave, any firing now is an impeachment certainty.
12
This is a remarkable article, especially the 4th paragraph which suggests that the problem is Mueller as a deep state agent undermining Trump’s attempts at rapprochement with Russia. Wow, just wow.
1
Every American should read the full indictment. On 6/15/2016 Russian hackers were googling American words and phrases to learn their proper use. On 6/22/2016 Russian hackers engage with "Organization 1." By 10/2016 the Russian hackers had "achieved" such a level of knowledge and sophistication about America that they are able to identify specific counties in Georgia, Iowa and Florida for election "vulnerabilities."
I am sure the special counsel investigating the Russian interference with the 2016 election is very interested in "Organization 1" and how they may have helped the Russian hackers scale a steep learning curve.
14
The way the hacking is presented pictorially represents a continuation of the media problems with communication. We have a big picture of Hillary Clinton, who's private email server dominated the discussion in 2016. It is the only email server that was definitely NOT hacked. And yet people walk away thinking that it was her emails that were hacked! They confuse the two things in their minds ... the fact of a private server, which everyone thinks might have been less secure. In fact, it looks as though her private email server was MORE secure than any other server out there. Remember when State Dept servers were hacked, and embarrassing documents and emails came out about the US spying on Germany. Look people, sometimes hiring private top-notch experts to do your security in the best possible way WORKS. Hillary Clinton should have been congratulated for that investment, not prosecuted, investigated and hounded.
10
The lack of disapproval, not to mention outrage, is a sad indictment on how little Republicans care for their own country and democratic institutions.
9
OK, I get it that the cries from Democratic leadership to cancel the Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki goes unheeded and tossed into the dust bin as partisan. But, where are the calls from the entire Congress to have witness to this meeting? That should have been demanded even before 12 of Putin's agents were indicted!
7
To all those repeating Trump/Fox talking points asking, "why didn't Obama do anything to stop this?", I guess you're not aware that Obama did as much as he possibly could.
It was Mitch McConnell who refused to sign a bipartisan statement that Obama recommended so he wouldn't look like he was putting his thumb on the scales during the election.
Curiously, that was exactly when Trump started yelling that the election was "rigged," which in retrospect was obviously an effort to make it impossible for Obama to take action ( Trump may have gotten that idea from the Kremlin Playbook.)
The real question is: Why hasn't Trump and the GOP done anything for the last 18 months to protect our electoral process and stop the Russian government from continuing to attack our cyber infrastructure?
80
Could it be They Protest Too Much? The Right constantly tells us they loathe this whole Russian Witch Hunt that being conducted by Republican Law Enforcement officials.Indicting 12 Russians four months away from the Mid Terms takes our eyes off the real prize.Wouldn't it be prudent to either indict or clear the Americans involved if there are any? Russia could indict 12 of our spooks tomorrow and we would not give two cents about it. Could it be The Right is happy Mueller is going after Spooks half a world away? The Right could be betting on that the predicted Blue Wave turns out to be Low Tide.
3
How was it not collusion when Trump invited the Russians to hack the e-mails of the Secretary of State?
12
This all started with Edward Snowden when a significant part of the US thought he was not guilty of treason.Now our President conspires openly with a Russian leader who rejoices on the downfall of the US and the Western Alliance. The GOP cannot muster the patriotism necessary to put Trump in the same category as Snowden. To them these indictments are just media hype.
When Trump said he believed Putin over US intelligence findings and now DOJ findings, it was clear we had a President committing sedition and borderline treason.
Have the Russians succeeded to the point that this country is no longer a democracy? It remains to be seen.
8
So do you think Trump will do what he should do Monday and take a harsh message to Putin to stand down from his cyber terrorism and interference in our elections, or else? Neither do I.
5
If foreign nations, from Chile to Iran to Nicaragua to Greece, were to indict American officials for interfering, intruding, and boycotting their elections, all the judges of the Planet wouldn't be enough to try them. With Russia, Americans got a small taste of what they have been doing to many countries all over the world for over a century.
3
“Even from a historical perspective, I can’t think of a case when someone went into this level of naming and shaming…"
Add to the list of shame:
Representatives Goudy, Jordan, Gomert…
Don't forget Giuliani, General Kelly, Ms. Conway and Sanders.
Here's how I know these people are so far over the line of decency.
My girlfriend is not overly political at all - an Independent who can take very balanced positions not based on gut, partisan leanings. She is not a political hot head.
But, the spectacle of this current crew - particularly the circus orchestrated by the House Republicans against an FBI agent in the hearing on Wednesday, who's imprudent texts had zero affect on anything of import in the 2016 campaign - absolutely has soured her to the Republicans.
Trump stands alone for lack of decency and she, a mother of two, is also naturally horrified by the kidnapping of children at our border.
There are no doubt millions of Independents like her who can't wait to vote out this malevolent stain upon our country.
There's a wave coming.
35
Fox News headline speaks of "alleged" hacking by Russians - anything to give their man a way out of the PR problem. And we know there won't be a trial so all of this will remain "unproven". My mother's last reaming sibling listens to Fox and swallows this sort of thing. She's a good woman, but she's in the pipeline of spin. I read the BBC news App, subscribe to the Guardian, subscribe to 2 Canadian papers, watch CBC and PBS News and others. Being retired I submerge myself in so much news that is so sad that I really feel bad for my descendants. I wish I had the youth and energy to more effectively resist the wave of ever deeper sewage. And in a way I feel Canada is even more seriously threatened because of the near dictatorial powers Canadian law bestows on our party leaders relative to their own parties, and when such a party assumes government, you combine this horrendous flaw with the virtually unchecked power of appointment and what you get is a pre-paved expressway to dictatorship if you ever get a really bad guy in the top job.
5
After these indictments, Donald Trump may be the last person on the planet to believe Vladamir Putin's denials of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. So, like a child forced to clean up his room, Trump will ask Putin if the charges are true, and Putin of course will deny it. Such a response could satisfy only the most naive or corrupt of presidents.
6
I would like to know more about what Obama knew and when he knew it. Then, I'd like to know why he chose to do nothing to protect our election?
3
1. The timing of the indictments clearly shows the Mueller probe is purely political. 2. Why does no one talk about our interference in the Russia 2012 elections. 3. I've not seen evidence that a single voter changed their mind about Clinton or Trump in the last election. A climate change abortionist gay marriage was never going to vote for Trump...no matter what. A pro-life pro traditional marriage pro tax cuts was never going to vote for Clinton. The whole Russia interference is now being used by Americans against Trump in attempt to undermine him. In that sense, Russia wins.
9
We have I believe 18 intelligence agencies that spends billions of dollars yearly why has not any of the Bucks stopped with them. Why were our Spooks caught napping on this?This whole Russian Investigation is like Closing the Barn's door after the horses got out! What does is say about us being such Rubes that we allowed Putin to influence us so much that almost half of the country welcomed Trump?What is being done now that will cause this not to happen again? Our 18 intelligence agencies should also be held accountable in this breach.
16
What is contained in these indictments comes, for me, very close to being an act of war. For our "president" to now sit down with the leader of the country that perpetrated that act comes even closer to being a (make that another) betrayal of the oath of office Trump took. If meeting and throwing presidential arms around Putin after these bombshell indictments is not giving aid and comfort to our enemies, I'm not sure what is.
7
While most people believe that interference by foreign nations is a criminal event, I see other interventions also bad.
Let's start with the media. It's easy to sit back and criticize the bombastic conservative media like Fox and Breitbart, but what about the left-wing and so-called Fact Check media.
Specifically, many highly regarded news organizations attempt to tell the truth . . . but rarely the 'whole' truth. To me, that's so deceiving that it goes undetected even by the most centrist objective observers.
As for the Fact Check organizations, they again attempt to limit their facts to truths . . . but even when they add the truths that are opposition their editorial policies . . . have their hand on the scale when they wrap up their analysis.
Another source of attempting to steer elections is through agencies of foreign nations that have a religious slant. Some of these have seriously infiltrated members of Congress and affect their votes on serious issues.
That said, the New York Times still shines compared with the rest of the media. However, when they balance their reporting, very few other media organizations pick up on it so that whole-truth reporting doesn't go very far.
THIS is the story the Times should be focusing all out on. Too much time is spent on Trump outrages -- just what he and his base love! More attention! Why not just devote one column on page 2 each day to a list of the latest lies, exaggerations, etc. and be done with it. Maybe also a comment on what policy (if any) appears to be at work. The Russian interference story, and any related cooperation/collusion is the really big story. Give extended examples of the stories that are traced to Guccifer, etc. so people can see just how they were being played.
15
Let's hope OUR U.S. Intelligence agencies are able to bug the meeting.
They will hear The Con Don say, "Thanks, Vlad". Good Job. Couldn't have done it without you."
Prison awaits The Con Don and his treasonous Robber Baron brethren.
Soon, Investigator Mueller. Soon, Please.
17
I am so proud of Mr. Rosenstein and Mr. Mueller and the rest of the FBI that has continued to function so well while under so much pressure. They seem to be among the parts of the government that continues to function as intended while Trump and his buddies try to destroy the work of the US Government. Perhaps this is what the right-wingers mean when they talk about the Deep State. Frankly, they have every reason to fear it and that makes me and many Americans proud of them for not forgetting how important their work is. No wonder Mr. Trump has tried to undermine everything they do. But I am proud pf and grateful to them for their monumental work to save our Democracy.
40
Once again I'm reminded why our system of government is rather imperfect. Schumer calls on Trump to cancel the meeting with Putin knowing that the request will fall on deaf ears. But his supporters will like it which is good for Schumer. Next Giuliani is so preoccupied with who is mentioned as collaborators that the seriousness of the accusations are completely lost on him. Both cases show us that most people in positions of power have little interest in accomplishing goals for the greater good. Instead they seek out what is best for their own interests and the interests of their friends. Meanwhile, President Obama was the one politician that came closest to respecting all people and moving towards a brighter future regardless of politics. What does he receive as a thanks? People constantly saying he was not partisan enough.
29
Perhaps the most important thing that Mr. Rosenstein said is that the Russians have taken advantage of the partisan political divide in this country and exacerbated it. The pundits from the Left speculate when the investigation will result in presidential impeachment if not indictment. The Right focuses on the abuse of the FISA process and the politicization of the DOJ. All while failing to enact legislation for myraid of important concerns facing this country with respect to everything from healthcare and immigration to the national debt.
As Trump would say Russia keeps winning, so much it might get tired of winning.
Has there ever really been any question the Russians tried to influence the election? That is a matter of statecraft and we do it to other nations too.
What really happened? Some e-mails were purloined that showed a political party tried to engineer a primary in favor of its preferred candidate. That could have been found in either of the political parties that have placed party above country -- no surprise.
The one thing we must do is make sure that original voter registration records are not connected to the internet, and only copies of those records are made accessible to poll workers on election day. Not complicated, most do that already.
The Mueller investigation is a self perpetuating bureaucracy that is not adding anything to what we already know, at great cost in dollars and discord.
14
“Who doesn’t know”? The President of the US said it may be 400 pound guy in his bedroom, and to this date does not acknowledge Russian interference, and not willing to confront the perpetrators. In fact he openly encouraged the Russians to do so, during his campaign. That is the issue.
2
@Tom: Though I am glad to see that someone on the right finally admits that the Russians are damaging the country, your generalization about the "politicization" of the FBI is distressing, considering that most of the people who run the FBI are Republicans & that the FBI is full of conservative, right-leaning law-enforcement officers, & always has been. People who have fallen for the malarkey pushed by right-wing pundits are at fault for believing this without a shred of evidence beyond some texts expressing opposition to Trump sent between two agents who were having an affair. Two agents does not an entire FBI make. From the left's point of view, it merely looks like persecution of an agency whose uncovering of wrongdoing may possibly lead to the indictment of at least one Republican congressman, & that the Republican congress is trying to shut down the investigation because it is coming too close to some of their own members. Their kangaroo court hearings were just more evidence of their fear of being undone by the FBI. Innocent men do not behave the way the president & some people in congress are. How can they care so little about the rule of law they are sworn to protect?
The left is plainly divided on the issue of impeachment. Many whose major concern is the rule of law insist that there should be no talk of impeachment unless the results of the Mueller investigation make it clear that impeachment is necessary. Generalizations about a monolithic "left" are unhelpful.
5
If not Mueller and his investigative team, then who are you suggesting does the dirty work, nailing down actual details instead of relying on surmise on our part?
The rancor and discord is real but I see no way past the current process if we are to understand the details of what i am sure you would agree is a perilous situation.
3
I too want to thank the FBI and the DOJ for protecting us from the Russian Cyberattack on our democracy. They are the only institution that is. We have watched in agony, Republicans shrink from their duty into a wall of silence from the Senate and into an orgy of hysteria and vitriol within the House. Both actions are designed as delaying tactics to thwart and muddle the Peoples’ mounting concerns. Now it is time to speak of why. The hyper partisanship displayed, this time by the Republican party, has poisoned our democracy. These actions look more and more like a coup. Something is very wrong. Whether there are traitors inside the Republican party currently steering the members away from their Constitutional duties we don't know and frankly it will take too long to ferret out the truth. But we do know we are in serious trouble. It is time for the People to take back some of our power we have entrusted to our Representatives. Clearly the Constitution can not withstand the overlay of party hierarchy. Congress is now answering soly to head of party and not to the Constitution. The Constitution was written before and without ever mention political parties. I am calling for a Constitutional Convention to reaffirm the principles laid down by our Framers. We need to divest the political parties of their government apparatus. I would like consideration for an Amendment. The People need the ability to directly impeach a President much like we can recall a governor.
23
At what point does congress start to react or act on these findings? If there were/are senior people within the Trump campaign that were involved in communication with the Russians and money laundering, shouldn't that be proof enough of guilt?
Secondly, there is an obvious problem with campaign and election security on so many levels. Our trust in the outcome of future elections is at stake. This is a bi-partison problem and I am losing faith in the ability or our grid locked congress to be able to act appropriately.
One thought is to severely curtail the spending and shorten the campaign cycle to minimize the "circus effect" our elections have taken on. Campaign finance reform anyone?
23
I notice that Trump supporters’ basic response to this is- America interferes in other countries elections so what’s the problem?
Well, for one, losing our freedom and not living in a democracy anymore. Does this matter to them? I think not, as long as they are on the side of the party in power. It really helps me understand how it all went so wrong in Germany in the 30’s. And I believe that they would happily go along with whatever Trump could get away with, including purging anyone that doesn’t support him from our country, whether or not they have his approved skin color.
48
I just want to add to earlier thoughts that the focus seems to be on whether a sitting president can be indicted and charged with crimes, including treason. But maybe the focus for now should be on whether his son or son-in-law could be indicted and what the charges might be. We already know they met with the Russians - and that Jared wanted a secure line that the U.S. intelligence agencies couldn't access. The why of that has never been answered. The news media bounces from one tweet to the next. You may be investigating it but the TV media rarely mentions it. It would be amazing to see Jared Kushner and Don Jr. indicted and even go to jail. Rudy already said Jared is dispensable. What did he mean? And let's not forget about money laundering. It doesn't even matter so much to find out What do the Russians have on Trump re compromising sexual behavior or money laundering. What matters more is the campaign's involvement in getting Russian help with the election in exchange for what -- many things come to mind like his recent threat to get us out of NATO. And why does he keep wanting to meet with Putin alone? Many reasons pop to mind, including to discuss his help with this and future elections.
55
Who doesn't believe that Russians hacked our election? Who doesn't believe that nations spy on one another and technology makes that a deeper, darker game? What we also should be discussing is how to prevent this from altering our votes and minds and actions, how to be thinking people in this virus-infested digital world.
For the record, I don't consider the Russian people enemies, at least not the non-hacking ones. Putin, on the other hand, would delight in the fall of America. Trump, being that globally despised role model of the stupid-arrogant-naive-loud-rich American (which is a caricature of the worst of us but a far cry from the best of us), should not go blindly or alone into that KGB-crafted den.
57
All elections should be done on paper only from this point on. We, the general public and probably all government officials, have little to no idea what hackers are capable of.
34
Given this latest story, I don't think it is hyperbole to say that the future of our democracy depends on the results of the midterm elections. If the Democrats cannot wrest control from the passive and colluding Republican party, Trump and his band of traitorous toadies will continue to belittle and ignore Mueller's findings and no one will ever pay the price for the irreparable damage done to our elections.
31
Russians do what they have always been doing, and will always do. They did the same or worse during the Cold War. Interestingly, the NYT steadfastly denied that they were doing anything of that sort. Perhaps because it was "good Russia," i.e. the Soviet Union, whereas today's Russia is "not as good," in the eyes of the Left. Which is nonsense, if one considers what Russians can do now, as opposed to what they could do under Bolshevik rule.
5
Mr. Rosenstein sounded very presidential in his statement yesterday. A man bound by the law and "enforcing" it. How refreshing!
36
Phishing is not hacking. Leaders on Hillary's campaign team who succumbed to phishing attacks were just as likely to be victims of Nigerian Lottery scams as Russian intelligence.
Additionally Hillary was grossly irresponsible and careless or whatever language was used to ensure she was not indicted for being grossly negligent in handling government information on her private servers. She might as well have put out a neon sign that said, "Hack me, I made it Easy".
Legally this goes no where, Russia is not admitting anything or extraditing anything and probably will conversely claim that Americas illicitly hacked into their networks.
Politically it will get interesting. The timing being just before the summit will have the left fear-monger about the Trump/Putin meeting even though nothing in the indictments mention Trumps involvement and Trump perhaps using these indictments as leverage in discussions with Putin.
6
@Alx: Oh, OK, so, according to your logic, if someone breaks into your house easily because you forgot to lock all of your windows, and they steal all your valuables, then it's not really robbery, is it? Because it's your fault for making it easy for them to get in. So, no big deal. They're not really thieves, according to you. If they get caught, they can simply tell the cops, "The homeowner made it easy for me to get in, so it's his fault!" And the homeowner will hang his head in shame, and say, "You're right. It's all my fault. You deserve to have all of my things, brcause I forgot to lock my windows. Go ahead, keep all of my stuff." The cops will chuckle and let the "non-thieves" go with a slap on the wrist. Right.
3
So, Hillary's claim of a vast right-wing conspiracy was true. No wonder they have had to engage in a decades-long, ferocious vendetta against her that continues to this day.
41
If anyone is keeping score, that's 28 indictments against Trump and friends, zero against Clinton and friends.
78
Well, duh!
The Los Angeles Times ran a story with this in the headline:
"If [Kavanaugh] isn't honest, he shouldn't be confirmed..."
There's no reason at all to think Kavanaugh isn't honest, of course, but if he is, he shouldn't be confirmed -- hardly a controversial statement.
1
Now that there's no question of Russian interference, anyone still opposing Mueller's pursuit of the investigation would count as an unqualified traitor to the country. It's a shame that our justice people now have to resort to detailed public disclosure of everything they know as a possible deterrent to future such hacking, since the sitting president of the United States and his loathsome party are apparently uninterested in safeguarding our free elections from foreign tampering. The president --were he competent-- would be welcoming these indictments, since they give him leverage over an enemy, but instead he blames the very people still loyal to our country and our national security for "complicating" things. After all, he wouldn't want to displease his boss Putin, he might end up a victim of Putin's poisonings, like so many others have.
23
The timing of this is a tad suspicious since all this information was released in House Intelligence Report on March 22nd with Russian names redacted by Justice Dept.
3
Will Trump be asking Putin for help in particular Congressional districts for the midterms?
36
No doubt Trump and his Republican supporters in Congress will be requesting Putin’s help in hacking U.S. election systems for the mid terms. Why else has Trump requested this meeting be private and off the record?
3
Mr President is just blowing this off.
I am wondering if he is thinking of defecting to Russia to avoid an impeachment and possibly prison later!
Now, that would be very interesting.
8
So how come Assange wasn’t indicted? Wikileaks distributed the emails.
2
Nattering Nabob, this is not the last of the indictments. The investigation is not over. Assange is already a wanted man in another country and has effectively been a prisoner in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for several years. Don't worry about him. He's not going anywhere.
4
With the Russians taken cared of, who's next?
Trump is cornered. This time all the FBI's eyes are on him.
And who is that congressional candidate who was the conduit between the Russians and the Trump campaign? Devin Nunes?
35
That's my thinking as well.
2
Donald (the Traitor) Trump is once again proving his allegiance is to the Head Witch in the Kremlin; NOT to the the citizens of the United States. As America becomes more and more isolated from allies; it will be America Alone as the truth comes out by Mueller how Putin has played puppet master and just how corrupt and weak the G.O.P. truly are. As more and more indictments keep piling up; the greater the hysteria in the White House becomes. Time to be rid of Benedict Trump once and for all.
27
Im reading these comments, and clearly no one listened to the AAGs comments, only listened to that little voice inside them that automatically assumed what they wanted to hear.
Unfortunately boys and girls, you should listen to the audio, no collusion
3
@Lsg: No evidence of collusion "in this document" were the words. That does not preclude the evidence of collusion in any other documents to come. This will not be the last set of indictments.
18
Recall @Lsg, for every "contact" made by an individual named in the indictment, there is an active party on the other end not yet named in this particular document. Knowing whether the "contact" was Russian or not is irrelevant (I didn't see that stop sign, officer). There was coordination with a foreign entity with the intent to influence our election(s) and your putative "president" is willfully ignoring his responsibility (koff koff) to the US, its Constitution and we, the people (including you) of these frayed but United States.
5
Tell that voice inside your head that this investigation is going on a year and a half. Whitewater lasted seven years.
2
Have any more Republican Congressmen decided to retire since this news broke?
27
The C.I.A. has been meddling in other countries' elections since 1947. Where are those indictments??
2
So you are saying that you are fine with foreign agendas manipulating your government's elections? Is this because you got the President you like? The Russians wanted Trump in too. They have been seeking to destabilize the USA for a long time. What your country stands for appalls them. They certainly have wreaked havoc now. The once valiant, freedom-loving, big hearted USA is gone. The world is watching the USA teeter. Are you on board with that?
1
The DNC’s servers were not hacked, Democrats gave up passwords by falling for amateurish phishing campaigns. The fool Podesta even used “password” as his password! America is truly fortunate Donald Trump won the 2016 election fair and square!
5
Yup. I'd never have voted for Trump over Clinton were it not for these 12 pesky Russkies.
8
Maybe Mueller can indict some Martians too, they’d probably face trial before any Russians do. What a coward Mueller is
3
The DNC were truly the ‘useful idiots’ for Russian hackers. How about securing your servers?
7
@rosemay
It is not possible to secure servers.
Have you ever examined OpenSSL or boost library source code? I laughed out loud when I saw somebody using magic cookies to validate memory pointers.
Or have you examined the recent meltdown and spectre hardware vulnerabilities, in the processor architecture? There are no software workarounds for this.
How about the CVE database? Stack and array scribbling, OMG the list is long and truly scary.
2
This commenter must know something Mueller doesn't!
"2016: The GOP campaign went to foreign adversaries to break into the DNC and steal documents to conspire against them..."
Mueller's indictment of the 12 Russians doesn't even suggest that Trump or anyone in his campaign had the slightest involvement in this. But this commenter apparently knows they did. He or she should get on the phone with Mueller ASAP! This is BIG, and Mueller appears to have missed it entirely.
5
According to the DOJ, there were zero votes changed by the Russian campaign. Zero.
7
So you’re okay with hostile foreign governments hacking into U.S. systems? Will you feel the same way when they take down our electrical grid or hack into our nation’s defense system?
2
When some officials talk of protecting "values enshrined in the Constitution " is as credible as Peter Strzoc marriage vows.
1
In the light of these indictments, I think the NY Times should make a CLEAR statement about its coverage of the 2016 election when it basically forwarded the messages Putin wanted Americans to hear about Hillary Clinton. The Times basically gave Trump a free pass with results that are bringing down our democracy.
20
All I can say is timing is everything.
2
Trump meeting with Putin, alone, with no American present and recording what was said puts one word and one word only into my mind and that word for Trump is "treason."
28
Putin won’t care about the 12 Russians agents, like Trump , Putin is all about himself, he knows that the 12 indicted agents are unlikely to face a US court. Trump of course will “apologize” in his own sycophantic manner to gain brownie points from his puppeteer. You can bet that Trump will come out of that meeting with a couple of delayed statements that will show how much under Putin’s control he is.
3
nearly all Mueller’s indictments are of Russians who will never face trial. This clearly proves Mueller has nothing and these meaningless indictments are for show to justify his endless witch hunt.
1
It all seems to be so futile.Those 12 Russians will never be tried in the U.S !No wonder many Americans are disenchanted with the Mueller investigation !
3
Let us never forget that the Russian meddling in the US election was Putin’s response to the CIA overturning the regime in Kiev. Tit for tat.
3
The Russian intelligence agents who were indicted dropped "cyber bombs" on the US during the 2016 election which are actually more destructive than than explosives. The planes used as "bombs" to hit the US on 9/11 killed thousands of human beings and changed the face of Manhattan with the destruction of the World Trade Center. The "cyber bombs" detonated by the Russians changed our national history by helping to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign and helping their puppet Trump to get elected. Trump is the most dangerous Russian weapon because he is doing what Vlad and the prior dictators couldn't do -- tearing apart the Atlantic Alliance formed after WWII in order to prevent a future WWIII. It is literally destruction from within.
Will the people who are not concerned by the DNC hack also be comfortable with Russian hacking when it turns to our power grid and shuts down sections of the country? Will they be OK with a Russian hack into military installations basically turning ours into theirs? Will they be fine with a Russian hack that takes control of a nuclear power plant and blackmailing us with that situation?
Hacking of any kind is an attack and those who want to blow this hack off are totally unaware of how badly our country has been harmed by it.
14
These were not just 12 Russians -- they were 12 Russian Intelligence Officers. In other words it would be similar to our CIA hacking into a Russian election party.
5
Putin will assure Trump the rest of the world sees him as weak unless he fires Rosenstein and Mueller. It will happen.
4
Mr. Trump, you must cancel your meeting with Putin. To go ahead with your one on one meeting with Russian President, especially now that there is absolute proof that they interfered with our election, show that your are choosing our adversaries over your own country.
9
It's a very good thing our friends in Britain are doing massive protest. Means we can continue to lazily drool watching our country be destroyed.
12
- No smoke without fire, an old word says.
2
Just a thought....are Trump and Putin sharing a translator at their private meeting? If so, I assume it's a Russian of Putin's choice. But, if not, who is translating for Trump??? That person needs a subpoena!!
9
LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! For failing right now to protect this country from Russian criminal interference in the 2016 election. And for failing to protect us for the NEXT election in November.
21
Ask yourself why is Mark Meadows, Representative (R-NC 11th District) since 2013, NOT interested in the proven, interference by Russia in the 2016 election?
10
And it still doesn't say/prove that President Trump is guilty. Good job Democrats
5
The hypocrisy of it all! The NSA has been hacking almost everyone in this world including heads of goverments like Merkel.
I hope a whistleblower will supply the names of NSA staff involved in this espionage so international warrants can be issued.
5
Folks, we're sleepwalking through a rising tide of catastrophic apathy that well may end with all of us in a gulag of our making simply because we are in thrall to a dupe in the white house and a political party whose only concern is to keep power at all costs. Will we collectively wake up in time? Or is the democracy experiment over? The entire world (including our ideological enemies) is watching SLACKJAWED! Is this how it ends, with us having our system of the vote used against us? Are we this stupid? Is anybody paying attention?
21
Rep. Gowdy: I watched much of the Congressional hearings during which FBI agent Strzok was being grilled like a criminal. Honestly, I don't understand what the hearings were for. It sounded like a trial. Hadn't the committees already interviewed him in secret for many hours? During the hearings you said something to the effect of " if you have anything, show it ", referring not to agent Strzok but to the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.Again, I'm confused. What were the hearings for? the Russian investigation?
At the time you were asking that question how many indictments and guilty pleas were there as a result of that investigation? And yesterday there were 12 more indictments? And the record shows that the house did a pretty poor job on their investigation.
Why am I writing you in this forum? because Congressional emails are set up to not work unless you enter a zip code within a specific congressman's district. so Congressman hide behind that. the truth is you represent everyone in the United States. What you say what you vote on affects everybody in the United States not just the people in your District. so, in effect, you represent me! So please listen to what constituents like me have to say!
15
Mueller has repeated his assertion that no Americans were involved in Russian activities. Mueller has again admitted there never was any collusion! President Trump wins again! Mueller says the media and democrats are lying and President Trump is telling the truth!
3
Better for Europe and for the USA if you could keep your president closer to home. His mental health challenges disable him. Universally disliked I find myself pitying him. He is not evil, just completely unqualified for the task on hand. Much of the responsibility lies with those who voted for him.
12
How can Trump confront illegal hacking that he & his family were/are complicit?
7
Who makes such an announcement to the press the day before our President visits an enemy state?
If Rosenstein was not ordered to make the announcement, he needs to go for intentionally putting the President of the United States at risk.
3
England is not often considered an "enemy state." Today Trump is in Scotland. Is that what you meant? Or were you looking ahead to Mondays visit to Finland?
6
President Trump already has all of the information, tapes, hacks and leaks. The only left is start rounding up disgraced managers from the fbi.
Page 17 of indictment:
"The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, discussed the release of the stolen documents and the timing of those releases with Organization1... On or about June 22, 2016, Organization 1 sent a private message to Guccifer 2.0 to 'send any new material...here for us to review and it will have a much higher impact than what you are doing.'"
So what is the real identity of Organization 1? Was it the T Organization? And when did Organization 1 find out that Guccifer 2.0 was GRU?
3
Okay, so now the Gowdy's inspired republican performances vilifying the FBI in congress all makes sense now.
5
Above everything else remember one thing: Obama was aware of this and did nothing about it. So should Times readers now blame Trump? Of course not but this is typical of how disingenuous our Democratic friends have become. Just how do we treat irrational citizens? I give up.
6
The difference is that Obama’s intentions were honorable, to not taint the election, while Trump only blames Obama and does nothing about the escalating hacking going on right now. The difference is a clear indicator of each mans character.
1
What exactly was Obama to do a few months before the election WITHOUT this detailed investigation?
Its taken 100's people and 1000's of hours over almost 2 yrs. to uncover the details of Russian election meddling . And he DID brief Trump. The GOP wouldn't even hold the hearing for Obama's Supreme Court Justice pick a full 10 months before the end of his term -- they certainly weren't going to 'stop the elections' a few months before without in depth investigations.
The 'blaming Trump' comments are aimed at his continued denial of the now-confirmed facts of the election interference by Russian agents! And his astounding, obvious wide-eyed bromance with the Russian reptilian oligarch.
How completely "disingenuous" it is to not acknowledge the entire history of OUR democracy is at stake here!
1
On Obama’s watch.
Hillary was supposed to win anyway in a blowout (we were told) and Obama didn’t want to taint her “historic” election in any way.
So he did nothing, until she lost.
Obama should be hauled before a congressional oversight committee and grilled.
5
This started on Obama's watch, not Trump, they knew for almost one full year what was going on but did nothing, granted Obama met Putin and told him to stop meddling. Putin hated Clinton for her interference in a previous Russian election, just like Obama interfered in the Brexit and threatened if they left they would go to the end of the line for trade. Obama supported Israel's opponent of Netanyahu along with supporting the "Arab Spring" which almost destroyed Egypt, it has destroyed Libya, Syria and caused Iran to spread it's terror. I am a Republican and do support whoever is elected President, if Presidents do things not right for the country there is always the next election to right the wrong and move on. Most stories concerning Trump are so hate filled and childish it makes the media look foolish and biased.....
5
Are you serious?
",,, the White House and the President are essentially blowing off the indictment. ... Painstakingly researched and proven facts..."
First of all, allegations in a complaint are not "proven facts." They're allegations -- nothing more, nothing less. Evidence comes later, assuming the defendants show up. Guess what?
More important, the indictment doesn't implicate Trump or his campaign. (I suspect this commenter didn't bother to read it, though the Times included a link to it.) Why, exactly, should Trump get all worked up about some Russian hackers who took advantage of what appears to have been astonishing naivete by key members of the Hillary Clinton campaign (especially John Pedestal)? Shouldn't THOSE individuals be the ones to respond?
6
That thought isn't worth three cents.
8
Does anyone at all wonder why Trump chose this time to have a secret, one-on-one meeting with Putin? To hatch his escape plan once the walls close in from Mueller.
10
where are we going from here?
the man will stay in wh and will continue to be a wrecking ball.
lost hope and feel utterly shattered
6
Would seem like the next oncoming hacks would be more diffuse, and undetectable if part of the the Russian sphere of influence. It is possible that Russians will not control and implement the next hacaking at all, , particularly since the “How To Hack Election” supposed book will be available everywhere in the world as open source. Watch out for the four hundred pound fat kid sitting on the edge of the bed. The next hacks could might depend on enticing disgruntled employees to be approached for small favors of seemingly harmless data, to be linked by hackers and bring down utilities and corporations or even stock exchanges. This is a new world opening up to those who wish to cobble systems. Expect to have a built in filibuster if the GOP Congress tries to get to the bottom of this last election episode, because they cannot function without Russian input. Would expect some recommendations that don’t get implemented. The FBI findings along the trail of cryptocurrency will make this a best seller transcript, offering a solid foundation to work arounds in the realm of crypto transactions. Crypto is now here to stay.
1
where oh where is Mitch and Paul? How can this charade be allowed to continue? The man living in the White House needs to be booted out.
7
The hacking that exposed how the DNC and Hillary colluded to cheat Bernie out of an honest primary contest.
How did Hillary winning the nomination instead of Bernie help Trump?
6
It appears to me that "Organization 1" described in the indictments is WikiLeaks. Julian Assange is going to be in legal trouble for the rest of his life at this rate.
I would like to know the identity of the candidate for the U.S. Congress who requested and received hacked data. (See page 15 last line, to page 16 line 3).
I would like to know the identity if the "state lobbyist and online source of political news" referred to on page 16.
I would like to know the identity of the "reporter [who received] stolen documents pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement" mentioned on page 16.
I would like to know the identity of the "person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump" mentioned on page 16.
There should be a bunch of people who are going to be very nervous given what this set of indictments describes.
There is way more dirt, and way more dirty Americans, who should be rounded up as traitors when this mess is finally laid out for public inspection.
Who knew there were so many witches?
11
How much do you want to wager that Strzok was one of the brave FBI agents who worked on this investigation that discovered Russian military officers meddling with our democratic elections? And who risked his life to gather evidence to protect our free elections and national security?
And instead of thanking him for his duty and service for all Americans, Gowdy and GOP inquisition him like he's some criminal spy working for an enemy.
I'm old. I thought I'd seen it all. But I've never seen such a blatant show of attempts to intimidate, agitate and belittle a person by threats. This screaming circus had an audience of one.
This oversight committee should start getting to the bottom of this Russian attack, and do their duty, as they swore to the public they serve. No one cares about Hillary's email server anymore. I want free elections for my children. Do your job Gowdy!
15
Can the Justice Department seize assets owned by these criminals, as they do with assets of drug dealers? Will this mean a lot of Trump building condos become government property?
5
More nonsense from this ridiculous witch hunt. These Russian military members will never face a trial as this was nothing but play acting on Rosenstein's part. We spent money for this? The Russians will now indict members of the NSA for doing exactly the same thing to them. Obama interfered with the BREXIT vote and in Israeli elections without objections from the press. There is no Trump collusion with Russia and democrats keep lying and fabricating because they just cannot get over the fact that they lost the election.
6
Back in 2011 or 2010, during one of the gatherings of the Heads of States, President Obama had a very private chat with then President of Russia, Gregory Medvedev unaware that there was a hot mic close by. The Republicans at the time went ballistic that how dare the President has a private chat with the Russian President. Editorials and talk Show discussions were the order of the day for a couple of weeks. However, The same Republicans seem to be perfectly at ease with no concerns whatsoever about a tete-a-tete meeting between Donald Trump and Vlad Putin even after Today's Indictment of 12 Russian Agents. They seem to have full confidence that Donald Trump, who gave the store away during the meeting with Kim Jung Un, will make a great Deal with the crafty ex-KGB Ace! How careless the Republicans have become with the National Security of this country, is beyond me. This is not an unwitting colaboration with the enemy.
7
Like any celebrity obsessed with ratings, Trump knows his fans well. He correctly assessed them as devoted to a fault, people who would follow him even were he to randomly shoot passersby on 5th Avenue. Indeed, every Trumpist I know defends him no matter what - I honestly don’t know what moral or self-interested boundary they would honor over loyalty to him. The point is: no Republican who needs Trumpist votes (all of them it seems) will do anything about Russian military attacks on our democratic processes. Nothing. We are a nation led by cowards and traitors.
7
Actually, both Putin and Trump will have translators at their meeting, both of which are likely to be bright and well-educated. If, however, Trump spoke Russian well enough and/or Putin spoke English well enough that no translators were necessary, so what? It's hardly unusual for a democratically-elected US President to meet with the head of a foreign state.
The Russians did not care who won the election BTW - they were sowing general discord in efforts to destabilize the US . They also put ads for the far right . And Russia is not an enemy BTW - they are a competitor .
3
There is no mention of the Trump campaign in this indictment that will never result in a trial or presentation of any evidence (unless Mueller is again caught flat footed by a request for discovery).
The timing of the announcement was clearly intended to embarrass Trump as he was meeting the Queen and to undermine his upcoming meeting with Putin on July 16.
End of story.
3
Timely enough to be called choreographered. As a former drummer who loves the beat; this hot lick really moves me.
Now we see how we were swayed, credence given where no basis "really" existed around Hillary's dread emails. I'm sorry but it now obvious that Russia "threw" our last Presidential election.
Each of us in the USA should make it an effort to study the 29 page power-point, powerful indictment and decide for ourselves what has happened to our country.
How can we gear-up by November? Will our media "host" the Russian version again? Will fear of Trump Reprisal chill our response to the destructive spin already in the works?
I remember as late as 2005 telling a prominent Texas Federal prosecutor not to continue using his device while in confidential consult or even enroute for its GPS triangulation vulnerability, I said De-battery or shroud in aluminum foil while on the move.
Hillary could not have anticipated these threats if our own intelligence community was still out of the loop. Hindsight is great for the know-it-alls who knew it all along.
My kindest condolensces Madam President Hillary.
We was robbed. You could have been a true champion. Now look where we are.
5
Lets face it. Trump would like help again from Russia in the coming elections. Since so much of what Donald does is brazenly outrageous its not so hard to tentatively speculate that this meeting with his hero will have an element of wink wink about it. Lets get real here. If it walks like collusion, talks like conspiracy. looks like cooperation its probably Donald Duck.
6
Russia sought to undermine our democracy. They have succeeded and continue to work towards that goal. This admin. Including the majority in Congress ignore all this. None of them are standing g up to Trump and insisting he cancel his meeting with Putin or at least not meet with Putin alone. How is this not meeting the definition of treason?
6
There seems no mention of Russian Intelligence Officers planting false news stories on Facebook. Wasn't that also part of the attack? Such actions would be seem even more insidious than stealing and using private emails and personal data and wold be more effective in warping public understanding.
The fact that Trump got over comfortable at an event and let it slip to ask Russia to hack the DNC says to me, HE KNEW! HE KNEW!
It is so weird when a culprit lets his hand slip in broad daylight. But HE KNEW.
Also, I am so looking forward to seeing those Republican (I'll bow down to anything Trump does people) get indicted too! No wonder they are so shameless.
5
He will have his "summit" with Putin and will not criticize Putin the way he criticized NATO or the G7. It's walking like a duck and quaking like a duck. It's a duck and sad reflection on the Republicans. They are so concerned with reversing Roe v. Wade, healthcare, and environmental regulations, they are willing to fall under Putin in order to do so. They must be voted out of office in November.
5
The GRU doesn't do anything without Putin's permission. If Trump doe not confront Putin, he is complicit. Just wait until the unindicted American co-conspirators are identified. If Donald Trump didn't know, he should have, and should do something other than deny everything even happened.
1
I believe the Republican house and senate were in on being in cahoots with Russia. They knew about it, were a part of it and continue to support it.
They have ZERO opinion on any of the charges Mueller has brought. Total silence. Why? Because they're planing to do the same thing in the mid-terms.
6
I don't trust Mueller at all. The insiders will tell you that it's
all about Mueller. It's time for him to be terminated
While we're on the subject, the ONLY way of securing our
presidential elections is to do it like we used to do our tax returns, send them in the US postal mail.
Using computers and electronics is SHITTAGE.
3
Trump is beholden to Russia. The Russian banks finance his lifestyle. He will never bite the hand that feeds him. Plus - he's probably afraid of being poisoned by them if he speaks out against Russia.
8
One wonders how Sarah Huckabee will spin this and what alternative facts Kellyann Conway will cook up. Anyone in this administration or even in the GOP running for office now has to think very carefully about next moves. This can easily become the end of the GOP.
9
One indeed wonder how the DNC could be so careless with their IT security (failed basic training?) and why they refused to give their computers to the FBI when asked. This might be the end of the DNC.
2
"The 29-page indictment is the most detailed accusation by the American government to date of the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 election, and it includes a litany of brazen Russian subterfuge operations meant to foment chaos in the months before Election Day."
You left out "alleged".
As Paul Krugman alluded in his editorial yesterday, we have to begin taking seriously the possibility that Trump is acting on behalf of Russia and its geopolitical interests:
". . . if Trump isn’t literally a Russian agent, he certainly behaves like one on every possible occasion."
8
Not that Trump's cares about optics, but unless he openly holds Putin accountable for hacking the 2016 election, he must not meet with Vlad.
5
Yes. Great job here. Inditing Russian intelligence officers that Mueller and Rosenstein cannot identify or ever bring to justice because they are so far outside of the long arm of the law and the jurisdiction of an American court. Yes. Great job.
Time for Rosensten to be fired after yesterday's meaningless stunt.
1
In an apt observation Mr. Rosenstein stated that “So long as we are united in our commitment to the shared values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed”. But there is the rub. Neither the people of the US, nor indeed even the Republican Congress are united in these values today. That is what threatens democracy in the US, not the actions of Russia or the clown show emanating from the White House.
7
Their is no new information here. How convenient, the people listed will never see a trial, a court room or jail cell. Once again, this is just another example of the dc echo chamber using their power to undermind an elected president. Shameless...
3
Okay, so 12 Russians were indicted. Fine. But they can't be sued, fined or jailed. So the indictments are merely symbolic, no?
Also important to remember as the attacks on FBI & DOJ will surely continue - Mueller & Team found the evidence. But a Grand Jury of ordinary Americans heard the evidence, saw the evidence, & voted to bring the indictment. That’s a pretty deeeeep state.- Mimi Rocah
3
I can't help but recall the eight member Republican only delegation that visited Russia this past July 4th where they embarrassed themselves by kissing the feet of Russian politicians and where Rep. Richard Shelby shamelessly pleaded with them about how “we don’t need to be adversaries”.
How do you feel about that now Mr. Shelby?
5
Why should a U.S. President be angry that the U.S. Justice Dept. has brought charges against 12 Russian military officers? Sure the upcoming meeting between the President of USA and Russian leader will go off great as they are best of buddies.
From the middle of the piece:
“Investigators identified the 12 individuals in the indictment more than a year ago, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.”
Trump has known about this for a year, Republicans on intelligence committees have know about this for a year. Yet they continue with a relentless disinformation campaign calling it “fake” and a “witch hunt.” There is only one possible explanation for this: a craven attempt to hold on to power. They know Trump is involved and when everything comes out they will be crushed.
8
Mueller is only proving how dangerous he is to our national interests. We elected Trump, not him. He should at least have held off with this indictment until after Trump’s meeting with Putin. Is Mueller attempting to sabotage it? For this reason alone he deserves to be fired because he is overstepping his authority.
The indictment itself is a joke. We’re supposed to be surprised that the Russians are spying on us? Where’s the beef? Where’s the link to the Trump campaign after all this time?
2
Mr. Trump should not be asking Vladimir Putin if he interfered in our election. Instead, Mr. Trump should be telling Putin, in no uncertain words, that we know he interfered, and here's what we are going to do about it.
6
In an effort to minimize the 12 indictments because (they say) they are not our citizens -- these individuals will have warrants out for their arrest and they will not be able to travel outside of Russia.
I have a feeling these 12 are just the prelude to the arrest of criminals in our own country.
4
I think Trump was fully aware while he was campaigning that Putin was trying to help him win the election. They told his son that and he asked them on live TV to hack into Hillary's missing emails. That's why he dismisses the FBI investigation. He already knows the conclusion. He hopes the FBI doesn't connect the dots, but it looks like they have already and are just tying up loose ends. The main question to me now is will enough people care? It seems like his supporters and fellow Republicans don't care that this is treason. They just want to win and be in power.
5
Dear DOJ:
Thanks for your continued excellent investigative work and impeccable timing. Most of the rational folks left in the Country stand proudly behind you. I believe the remainder stand behind the Executive Branch only.
On that topic, if you would like to continue texting about the volatile and heart-wrenching situation we find ourselves in, please continue to do so. Having opinions outside of work hours is essential to being a developed adult with a soul.
Recently, I understand that one of you was threatened and chastised by other public servants for having a soul. As your employer, I ask that you please be patient with the other Branches as they develop their coping mechanism(s) accordingly and/or devolve into chaos. I will try to encourage team-building when I can; you're the only Branch that matters at this point, until the Supreme Court becomes politicized.
Take good care and Godspeed in the meantime,
- Taxpayer
5
Trump incited a foreign power to hack a political opponent.
Just because he did it in plain view doesn't mean it isn't a felony.
Imagine if he said those words "Russian, if you're listening..." behind closed doors.
Indictments would have been served by now.
He is laughing at us all.
2
Thank you Mr. Mueller and Mr. Rosenstein!
And fellow readers let us not minimize the fact that the Mueller indictment alleges that a candidate for Congress asked Guccifer 2.0 for stolen documents. This could be a violation of federal election law. It is possible that this candidate is now an elected congressman, with a position on the House Judicial Committee, who may be seeking impeachment charges against Mr. Rosenstein.
5
Simply put, this was not a free a fair presidential election. We all got hacked. Clinton won the majority of votes and would likely have won the electoral college too if not for a serious, sustained attacked by the Russians. Wonder why we were all so surprised? Now we know. Donald Trump's so-called presidency is a farce is more ways we can count.
1
This will not change Trump’s relationship with Putin.
The two are colluding. Why is our president engaged in treasonous conduct? That is the question to be answered.
I smell two rats.
Another bigger question. Why does Trump still have so much support and why is the Republican Party, in general, willing to see our nation isolated and gravely weakened due to shattered alliances with our real friends in the world.
There is a heady brew being concocted that is caustic to the nose of any decent American. The Republicans with Trump’s help are serving up deception, a power grab and a weakened state. They tell their base, “Drink up. Ignorance is bliss.”
6
If those Russians hacked the DNC, how could they do it so easily? How can people, like Podesta and the others be so careless?
If I leave my front door wide open and somebody walks in, steals my family heirloom, will my insurance company pay anything? No, they won't and rightly so.
Why isn't the same principle applied here?
Stupidity should be an indictable offense.
3
It would be great if this necessary investigation of foreign interference in US elections whose freedom was "hard fought" was accompanied by a comparatively detailed historical investigation of the US interference in elections of so many other coutries - totally dismissing other countries' democratic freedom. I think this should be integral part of this discourse.
2
What is being overlooked is: It's the president job to represent and support the United States and he is not doing that in condemning the judiciary branch. Continuing to call Mueller's investigation a witch hunt before release of the latest news when he was previously informed of it makes Trump a traitor to his country. The executive branch is consistently try to influence the judiciary branch when they are to be two separate entities. Trump is playing a guilty man running scared or a traitor playing to the tune of personal gain for friends and family!
8
These twins sons of different mothers won their seats of power as a result of contrived elections which means nothing to neither man for it worked. Such allegations are simply brushed aside, one proclaiming fact news the other, the mysterious disappearance those that voice facts.
Lets' not forget, vladimir is a former skilled KGB officer, a expert intelligence operative. trump is an easy read and easily manipulated. His recent meeting with Kim was a much needed play book that vladi studied. trump walked away with kim giving nothing in return for concessions offered by trump.
Vladi wants to be seen on the world stage as equal standing with the US president. His long time goal is to take back the lands that once defined Russia. The first step being the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and trump has whispered support. Vladi needs economic sanctions lifted for it causing economic hardship. Stopping the expansion of NATO and ridding western Europe of troops is another.
trump will walk away nodding his head in agreement to vladi's requests and again getting nothing in return.
I have not read nor heard of any agenda for this meeting. A horrifying fact that does not surprise me.
2
I am increasingly convinced that many other members of the GOP were involved in using information provided by Russia as well as money provided by Russia, especially through the NRA. No wonder they don't want the investigation to continue, no wonder they are doing nothing to protect our elections going forward.
12
If President Trump still wanted to set down with Putin together and talking each other without his advisors, I am really worried. Putin will fool him and Trump may still feel Putin is his buddy.
1
In the face of the Russian threat to America’s electoral system, Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein states: “it’s important for us to avoid thinking politically, as Republicans or Democrats, and instead to think patriotically as Americans.”
In a normal political context, Mr. Rosenstein’s words would ring true. Unfortunately, the Republican legislators know full well: If Donald Trump were to go the way of Richard Nixon, the GOP would go the way of the dodo bird. Hence most GOP legislators will remain silent while Trump touts his personal relationship with Putin, neglects his oath to protect the US against foreign adversaries, denigrates western allies and continues to attact the FBI, the Justice Department, and the US intelligence agencies.
The possibility of Trump’s impeachment or resignation does indeed pose an existential threat to the what remains of the Republican Party. Trump’s legislative enablers and supporters, however, fail to recognize the full gravity of their party’s situation.
As John Boehner, along with many other conservatives, has already acknowledged: “There is no Republican Party.”
The GOP is already extinct. Months ago it devolved into the Trumpublican Party.
6
Maybe Mueller should make foreign policy now. The timing of this indictment is obviously calculated to throw a shadow over Trump’s meeting with Putin on Monday and gives Schumer et al. a chance to weep and wail about the threat to our democracy. Fortunately Trump will be unfazed by it all. In the end I see him firing Mueller, and once again the Dems will uselessly complain, but it will all be for the better.
1
It was reported that Trump knew all about this indictment on Russian military officials hacking into our elections BEFORE he went to the EU this week. Yet he continues to claim "witch hunt", even to European leaders.
What should have happened:
Once Trump knew of these attacks by the MILITARY, aka Putin ordered, he should have convened an emergency national press conference to declare that an aggressive act of cyber war was perpetrated on our soil that threatened our Democracy, our elections. And he should have immediately demanded that every resource the US has should be ratcheted up to fight this intrusion. First our election, next infrastructure, who knows? Putin could have targeted the RNC just as he did the DNC. This isn't about party.
Why didn't Trump even mention his knowledge of this to the citizens? Isn't that what's supposed to occur? Isn't he supposed to protect us and our children?
3
A presidential meeting like that between Putin and Trump takes months to prepare by lower level people on both sides.
By bringing out an indictment three days before the meeting the Mueller team is deliberately sabotaging it.
No matter how true the accusations might be this cast a serious doubt on the impartiality of the investigation.
1
We've reached the reckoning. The next indictments will go to enabling Americans, probably including some close to Trump, like Roger Stone. It won't be collusion, because it won't be shown as a carefully calculated prior planned event, but it will constitute conspiracy, because the guilty parties were acting from motivations to achieve similar, but not necessarily identical, illegal ends.
2
Where is the outrage among the new wave of candidates for political office? This is so egregious, and so anti-democratic. Should this not be the number 1 issue in the coming campaigns?
2
Some people have posted their opinion that Barack Obama has a lot of explaining to do. He knew about Putin's attempts to disrupt the election and approached Putin about it but had he made it a campaign issue he'd have been accused of stacking the deck and those posting know this. The two people that need to explain themselves are Putin for authorizing the attack and Donald Trump who continues in the face of solid evidence to deny it happened and thinks the inquiries into the meddling is a witch hunt. Witch hunt by whom? His own intelligence community and is own appointees? Everyone involved are Republicans. Moreover the Republicans control every branch of government but still can't function. This is the worst administration in the history of the nation. Defense of Donald Trump in any area is laughable.
5
When Russian intelligence agents are known to be involved, Putin's denials become entirely meaningless.
We must continue to consider the possibility (probability?) that Putin is holding something over Trump - whether it's a pee tape or Trump's participation in the election meddling or something else.
Add to that the financial factor - a possible Trump interest in Russian real estate and/or Trump involvement in Russian money laundering - or a combination of the two.
Lastly, we know that Trump gravitates toward leaders he views as "strong," and we are all rapidly learning his definition of strength.
1
Everybody is innocent until proven guilty, as is usually said.
A prosecutor that indicts someone is not required to reveal his evidence prior to the trial. To indict Russians for alleged crimes is a way to avoid disclosing hard proof until there is a trial. And Mr. Mueller knows of course, as everybody else, that there never will be any trial against these Russians.
More honest before the world would be to present the real facts for everyone to evaluate. In the present situation the Russians are considered guilty on bases of hearsay, something not accepted in any serious court.
3
Unlike the indictments earlier this year, I hope we see more real evidence of exactly what was done. But my biggest concerns is whether Trump and his administration were aware of this coming indictment or were they blindsided by it? Is Mueller and his team attempting a coop against Trump?
Let's not forget that the real election fraud was perpetrated by the Clinton campaign and the DNC when they colluded against the Sanders campaign. Also, how all the money raised for the DNC was funneled through the Clinton Brooklyn headquarters and was used for her campaign instead of that money being used for down-ballot races. Maybe the Russians did us a favor by revealing the absolute corruption in the DNC and Democratic party. It certainly opened my eyes to what my party had become. Also, not evidence of collusion, yet the Clinton campaign paid a law firm to continue it's research with Russians and what they thought were Russians connected to the government to find dirt on Trump. And the hundreds of millions of dollars the Clintons got from Russian oligarchs and banks after Hillary signed off on a deal to sell Russia twenty percent of U.S. uranium. Really, the whole thing stinks and points to the Clinton and Mueller has yet to make one connection to the Trump campaign.
2
We don't have to wait for Trump or the GOP "to understand" the gravity of this.
They have to be canned. Stop arguing with them, tweeting at them, reading Trump's ignorant tweets, and just can them.
They can figure it out on their own time.
Find Congress people who get it and support them and pull the plug on all the deadwood. This is important.
1
Trump seems to believe that the only way to prove wrongdoing is for the accused to confess. If that wasn't bad enough, the only way he can think of to produce such a confession is to pose a single question, albeit firmly: "“I will absolutely firmly ask the question.”
If that doesn't work, Trump seems to say, what do you want me to do? He basically throws up his hands at this point.
Meanwhile Mueller is down in the trenches, kicking down doors, uncovering facts, connecting the dots, and bringing it all to light, like a real American should do.
3
It’s shocking how asleep at the switch the US government has been to the threat of cyber attacks on the US election. The level of naïveté of the government and politicians is best symbolized by Secretary of State Clinton using a private email server for official government business.
People, this isn’t the 1990’s! Cyber threats are everywhere and they can be incredibly sophisticated, powerful and dangerous. We need to be cognizant of that fact and take the appropriate actions to be more careful and secure. No more leaving our keys in the ignition, the engine turned on and the doors unlocked to then be surprised that the Russians or some other foreign power drove away with the car!
1
This is what Mueller should be doing. President Trump needs to stop addressing these findings as if it questions whether he is the legitimate president and condemn this full throttle. Justice Dept went out of its way to exclaim no Americans were involved and not one vote was changed because of it.
You could present Trump with irrefutable evidence that Russia was behind him winning the election. It would make no difference to him and he wouldn't back any more investigations into it because he benefited from these acts. If he acknowledged meddling, he would be admitting that he didn't really earn his election and that is never going to happen. After all, it's all about him.
1
Can anyone truthfully tell me that the CIA is not involved in similar activity throughout the world? Of course not! The dirty fingerprints off covert CIA activity are all over the place. That is why this investigation is so hypocritical. I am just so tired of this. Instead of finding fault with others, we would be better served if we looked at and acknowledged our own faults.
2
The Democrats will interpret the timing as ideal for confronting an adversary with the goods in hand.
The Republicans will rage over liberals spoiling what could have been the perfect business opportunity.
Who are the real Americans?
Trump dismisses the investigation despite the detail and the specificity of the document of indictment. He knows that he can call it a "witch hunt" because his core supporters believe everything he says. Have we ever had a president in which so many people dismiss such evidence? His lies, which can be proved by facts are equally dismissed as being falsehoods. Why are so many champions of this phony?
1
The complicit Republican Congress has stonewalled or undermined this investigation at every turn. They are complicit in this Russian partnership with those in Trump's circle -- even while Trump is dictating emails to his son on how to explain the Trump tower meeting after lying about it for months. They are complicit traitors. Just look at the ongoing ways in which Nunes, Ryan and McConnell have worked to discredit or ignore what's happening and allowing the sustainability of our democracy to teeter while they hide in their government offices seeking ways to enrich themselves. is this even a democratic government anymore? I don't think so.
3
Will the US will renounce in the future to interfere in other countries' elections as well? Hopefully, tasting first-hand what election interference causes in the democracy of one-own country, will help.
10
This is not the point. I agree that we have engaged in similar behavior around the globe and that is wrong. We should not be doing this and we should not allow this to be done to us. The most important thing is that we should not stand by and do nothing when our own citizens engage in colluding with our foes to destroy our own democracy.
1
I wonder if people realize that the USA regularly engages in hacking of foreign governments, institutions, and individuals. For example, years ago, we hacked into Iran's nuclear program and sent all their centrifuges out of control.
If we insisted on foreign governments sending us all the hackers in their nations, we would be expected to do the same with our hackers.
This whole thing started up as an investigation of the Trump campaign and its alleged collusion with Russia on influence on the campaign. People thought they were going to find things like corruption of electronic voting machines and other such sabotage. After a year and a half, nothing. The Americans related to the Trump campaign who have been indicted have been indicted for collateral things, such as providing false information during the course of this investigation, i.e., "lying to the FBI", and other such things. None of it boiled down to collusion to sabotage a legitimate election process.
Looks like, not finding what they were supposed to be looking for, they are down to a mopping up of what they did find, but will never be able to prove as the defendants will never be tried.
Time to close shop.
11
Russian hacking of the US elections and Trump's role in this is what the Mueller investigation is trying hard to conclude with hard evidences, where's the need to enact a new drama of adding a new list of the Russian hackers just ahead of the Trump-Putin summit? For, this would be simply an eyewash rather an admission of guilt though in an indirect way.
5
Distraction is all the deep state can hope for.
1
Assange has been ready to testify.
He had a deal to testify that was killed by, yes, Jim Comey.
Now why would Jim Comey not want Assange to tell us where he got the hacked material from?
Curious, no?
Assange is ready to testify.
He had a deal to testify that was killed by, yes, Jim Comey.
Now why would Jim Comey not want Assange to tell us where he got the hacked material from?
Curious, no?
3
Hypocrisy. First, we have CIA, NSA and many other agencies. If they are not busy spying and hacking Russia, China, Iran et. al., what are we paying them for?
Second, we taught the world how to interfere in elections, Mosaddegh in Iran in 1952 and many in Central and South America.
There, if genius Rosenstein was serious about these arresting these guys he would have kept his mouth shut and grabbed them when they came West. Think they are foolish enough to appear now?
21
I think you’re right that this was a strategic announcement; one very consistent with how these prosecutions always go down.
But look at context:
If Trump is a Manchurian Candudate, he just wrecked significant havoc with NATO and our allies and now he’s going to go debrief Putin. Alone. Without aides. Unless he’s stopped. Consider that for a second.
I predict the meeting will go on as planned because I believe that, for Trump, this is more about his obligations to Putin. This may be the last chance he has to save his skin because the doors are clearly closing in around him and his corrupt family. Maybe he will try and secure harbor for himself or his grown children in case of arrest. Maybe he’s going to kiss the ring and spill secrets in exchange for different protection. I have no idea.
But I know what he won’t do: he won’t take a stand against the crime Putin committed against us because he said as much yesterday and he’s known about this since Monday. And in a sea of speculation and innuendo and observable proof of the collusion his willingness to meet Outin despite the optics is the most revealing piece of all of this.
I think you’re right that this was a strategic announcement; one very consistent with hoesbthese prosecutions always go down.
But look at context:
If Trump is a Manchurian Candudate, he just wrecked significant havoc with NATO and our allies and now he’s going to go debrief Putin. Alone. Without sides. Unless he’s stopped. Consider that for a second.
I predict the meeting will go on as planned because I believe that, for Trump, this is more about his personal ties and obligations to Putin. Maybe he will try and secure harbor for himself or his grown children in case of arrest. Maybe he’s going to kiss the ring and spill secrets. I have no idea.
But I know what he won’t do: he won’t tske a stand against the crime Putin committed against us and that is the most revealing piece of all of this.
1
You'd be singing a different song if those efforts had been directed against Trump.
It is so unfortunate that due to Russian efforts, Trump’s lies and demagoguery, and the gullibility of an unhappy segment of the American population, we now have a malevolent baboon heading our country. His removal, and the restoration of our democracy, cannot happen soon enough.
63
What's the difference between Watergate and this?
1971: In Watergate, Nixon broke in and stole documents from the DNC to conspire against them
2016: The GOP campaign went to foreign adversaries to break into the DNC and steal documents to conspire against them
100
Just some of Trump's past statements:
"And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story,'..." on his firing of James Comey, May 11, 2018
“I just fired the head of the F.B.I....,” “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” May 10, 2018
"We do have a political problem...in the United States...It makes it very hard to do something with Russia." July 13, 2018
Now Trump is on his way to an off-the-record, one-on-one meeting with Putin.
Still it is only "possible" that he was involved in collusion with the Russians. He is colluding with THE Russian, before our very eyes.
Trump is a liar and a criminal. It is literally painful to watch him evade justice and to destroy so much hard won progress at home and around the world.
87
Does it really matter what Trump said though, or even what's true for that matter? I mean, he literally said it was a Muslim ban and the illegitimate SCOTUS said 'No, its not'. Of course, on the gay cake case, they threw it out because someone in the government intimated that religious beliefs should not enter into the decision to serve the public.
Why should it matter whether the campaign conspired with Russians, as opposed to any hacker? That is, shouldn't the fact that someone with the campaign knowingly conspired with a team of hackers, period, constitute an illegal effort to undermine America's electoral system???
35
Did Trump really think he could collude with the Russians to win the 2016 election — and get away with it?
36
One point the NYT didn't mention is that the indictment also mentions a US House candidate was requesting information on his opponent in the Nov. 2016 election.
From the indictment :
“On or about August 15, 2016, the conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress,” the indictment states. “The conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate’s opponent.”
The indictment didn't mention the candidate , but my guess is Dana "Russiabacker" Rohrabacher.
Whoever it was, the public deserves to know, because they might be voting for a person who actively colluded with Russia.
56
First of all, Jordan needs to resign for his non-oversight at Ohio State. Gohmert suffers from a case of himself after his puerile tantrum while questioning Peter Strzok. And Gowdy, well, what can you say: he came up with nothing regarding Benghazi. And finally, let’s have Mr. Trump go under oath before Robert Mueller or a grand jury and see what kind of worms wiggle to the surface of the Russian apple.
74
Mueller is a hero!
76
As far as I'm concerned, Trump's supporters are as guilty of treason as he is.
133
Bill, I take it that you are not willing to accept the results of the election.
Boy, talk about getting hoisted on one's own petard.
5
Yep.
Mueller/Rosenstein made a move, now the ball is in Trump’s hands. If he cancels the Putin meeting he may get some credit in his future indictment. If he goes all the way he is simply a traitor.
84
when is this nightmare going to end?
51
Not a "witch hunt"; Stone will be arrested; Trump will be found to have illegal financial deals at minimum. Most corrupt presidency in our lifetime. GOP are enablers. Vote out GOP. Ray Sipe
82
Hmmmm.. Very interesting timing to announce this the day after Stzrok got grilled.
14
Trump was told several days ago before he left for his trip. Do you really think the grand jury and evidence was pulled together the day after an FBI agent was grilled by Congress?
1
No - the curious timing is just before T meets Putin. Rosenstein made sure to say that the President had been briefed about these findings, and yet he still plans to meet Putin, and still publicly defends Putin. The timing shows us what a traitor T is.
2
This is evidently intended to be meaningful. It is, only to the extent it exposes special interest capture of a public institution (Justice). That includes prior administration infiltration such that political party objectives are given operational extension through networked agency imbedded by previous executive privilege. That is, at least pro forma, a constitutional tort, largely but not exclusively in the domain of the 14th Amendment. Such violation could be construed as lese-majesty. Otherwise, this indictment is notionally meaningless.
1
"The indictment builds on a declassified report released in January 2017 by several intelligence agencies, which concluded that 'Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances [...]'"
Former DNI Clapper says the attempt was more than aspirational-- it was successful.
17
Reading over the indictment it isn't clear the Trump campaign will eventually be tagged as conspirators with Russia. From all we already know, and from what's stated in the indictment, there's some circumstantial thing going on that Mueller might not be able to pull off that "beyond a reasonable doubt". However, these indictments were ready to go in March, this part of the investigation was pretty much over but for picking up Roger Stone - yet the Special Counsel is still hiring new prosecutors to add to his team of the best financial crimes lawyers in the country.
It may upset the world order a little too much to have the President of the United States charged with conspiracy with Russia, but money laundering and tax evasion, that we got.
13
The DOJ, FBI and intelligence agencies' have reported here evidence based outcome of collusion and Russia's meddling in 2016 presidential elections . Contrary to President Trump's false accusations of " Witch Hunt " on Special Counsel's on going investigations . President Trump even today was in denial . This after receiving briefing earlier on this case . The POTUS need to cancel his summit next week with Russia's ruler Putin . Nevertheless , dysfunctional Congress led by GOP majority, has become a silent spectator and lately enabler for president' s defaming and discrediting the FBI and other intelligence agencies . This also need to change sooner than later. What do you think ?
16
It has been said many times but it has to be said again: the real culprits in this drama are the congressional Republicans who all (99%) close their eyes at minimum or might even be brothers in crime. The way these (McConnell,Ryan, Goodlatte, Jordan, Nunes, Gowdy, ......) act will go in history as an example of total collective failure.
That so many elected people commit these crimes precisely along party lines is a scandal of gigantic proportions.
Well, there is a clear path to that over the last 30 years. The fact that presidential misdeeds have not been punished led to this level of recklessness.
25
I would say that the only people who were definitely involved with any influence at the actual time of the election were the FBI.
5
Yes, but in reading this indictment, I am convinced she would have been President of the US had not the Russians interfered. I can see how frustrated she is, and I can sympathize with her. But, too late, she should not run again after he is indicted....
8
Somebody help me out here -
1. Don't we and most other countries do this to other nations?
2. This didn't result in any damage or problems - didn't change any voter's mind on the election, did it?
3. Those indicted will never ever see the inside of a US courtroom, will they? It's an empty exercise, isn't it?
4. Can't Putin turn around and have his national security indict 12 US CIA agents?
To me, we go round and round, and no asks (or answers) the really basic questions. Wish someone would.
I'm really confused.
9
I’ll help you: there is a growing body of evidence that the sitting president of United States willingly, and knowingly conspired with the murderous dictator of a hostile foreign power to steal an selection, undermine the Constitution and subvert the democratic process. Whether and how much Russia helped is beside the point. We have a man who is compromised by Russia sitting in the Oval Office.
4
Ask Mitch McConnell. When Obama looked to present a bipartisan statement to the American public about the Russian meddling he approached McConnell who refused and threatened to spin it as Obama putting his thumb on the scale in favor of Hillary Clinton.
32
Mr. Trump is hoping that Putin will give him more money. He owes Russia, China, and South America money. They were the only ones who would continue lending him money for his failing businesses and bail him out of bankruptcy in th 1980's.
He is Putin's American Oligarch. Just like Putin's Russian Oligarchs, Mr. Trump is forced to pay the price--fawning to all of Putin's wishes so he can keep his golf courses and Trump properties alive. Trump will provide Putin with any information he wants on our national security and turn against our allies when he meets with next week. He will return to his base proclaiming Russia is our ally and our current allies are security risks. The GOP leadership will continue say nothing.
20
At the very least the Trump campaign is guilty of aiding and abetting the theft of property from the Democratic party and individual Americans. They are also guilty of receiving and distributing that stolen property throughout the entire month of October when Donald Trump's only campaign theme was promoting WikiLeaks. They may have been guilty of much more serious crimes but these should be enough for a criminal trial.
36
Are the November elections the light at the end of the tunnel or a high speed train barreling down the tracks at us? If the GOP wins, the Mueller investigation will be kaput.
20
Given what is known in the indictments of the 12 Russian agents, for Trump to meet one-on-one with Putin and not have any other Americans present represents a clear and present danger to the United States. Should Trump pursue such a meeting, he will be committing treason; there is no other explanation for Trump's actions. For the Republican House and Republican Senate not to call for a full disclosure of the contents of any meeting between Trump and Putin makes the Republicans co-conspirators to commit treason. Should such a meeting take place, Trump should be arrested and impeached upon his return to the United States.
65
What has Trump done to protect the constitution of the US and our voting rights? I'm POed that my vote doesn't count because of Putin.
22
Rosenstein: “It’s important for us to avoid thinking politically, as Republicans or Democrats, and instead to think patriotically as Americans.”
A Republican official commenting on a vast scandal in which ALL the bad actors are Republicans, in which a foreign adversary hacked our election in favor of Republicans and put a horrendous Republican in the White House, which Republican leaders have steadfastly refused to address...and he lectures us not to think this is connected with the Republican party in any way. Typical.
15
Haven’t we always wondered what Putin has on Trump? Now we know. Putin knows that Trump knew what was going on. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that Trump was the mastermind of the whole corrupt mess— all in coordination with Putin.
17
Julian Assange might consider cooperating at this point.
He is a liability to the Russians and Putin doesn't like loose ends. I hope the ongoing negotiations with his attorneys are concluded before he is poisoned or dies of a drug overdose.
8
So 12 indictments of people who will never be seen in court.
No collusion, no Americans charged and the hacks did not change one vote for the election.
Trump beat Clinton because people were fed up with her.
7
These two Democrats should also be held culpable. First is President Obama. When did he know of this Russia meddling? What his subsequent reaction commensurate with the palpable and extreme dangerous of the situation. President Obama in my opinion was negligent. So was Ms Clinton. She should not have had a private server for her emails. It was her self seeking interest that motivated her to use a private server. The decision hit her like a boomerang.
I voted for both President Obama and Mrs Clinton
6
So in a sea of outrages this is what you're focusing on?
"Excuse Mr. Firefighter. When you go in to fight the raging fire be sure to put out the candles on the birthday cake on the table in the kitchen...."
2
Blooms, the Russians did not hack in to Clinton's private server. Not sure how it is relevant here.
The indictment of 12 Russians may just be the beginning of the revelations about Trump's campaign, the Russians and the 2016 election. There was, and may still be--something nefarious going on between Trump and Putin.
According to one story in British news feeds looking at the Trump golf courses in Scotland--for which Trump paid $200 million several years ago--Eric Trump said that that much money was no problem because "they got lots of money from the Russians".
Since the Russians are not noted for their charity we should all be wondering what Trump owes the Russians for that huge infusion of cash. The golf courses have evidently been losing money from the get-go. This raises very serious questions about Trump's relationship with the Russians--a matter of concern for us all. Hope Mr. Mueller will shed some light on the possible collusion and worse between Trump and our major adversaries.
45
Our Prez paid CASH for his 3 golf courses in the UK . None make money (not so usual) but what is usual is the fact that he NEVER paid in cash for US properties and after pouring tons of money into his losing UK golf courses he's $200 million in the red. Where's all the millions coming from? Sorta like our Scotus nominee, Kavanaugh, who has a salary of 200K a year yet puts 60K - 200K on his credit card for baseball tickets that sits there and then presto change the debt is paid off.
4
What is sad is that all the oxygen is sucked out of the room from trump and the republicans. The investigation of the undermining of the election is paramount to try to prevent futher meddling. The sad part is that all the important issues of this time take a backseat to this...climate, immigration, income inequity, racial injustice, healthcare etc.
So much has been lost with the spinning of this. We really have evolved so little over the centuries. Nero fiddling while Rome burns. A travesty. So it goes.
27
Please, anyone, give me one serious reason for any American to trust President Trump meeting with Vladimir Putin and only a translator. How is that possibly in our nation's best interest?
81
I don't suppose any of Donnie's trusted advisers would tell him that it really isn't a good idea to meet with Vlad after these indictments. Not that he would listen, anyway, not even to Ivanka or Jared.
39
I am seeing a lot of speculation that perhaps Russia was listening and then responding to Trump's request for emails. I suggest that readers consider an alternative scenario. Could it be that Russia had previously informed Trump that it was about to carry out a cyber attack and that Trump was then giving his base (and Russia) a heads-up on what he hoped they would find? Seems more likely to me that Trump was responding to Putin than vice versa.
68
I can see how this is going to end. At the very least, they have to charge Cohen so he can cut a deal. Unfortunately, with the midterms looming, I think the very honorable Mr. Mueller is almost out of time and the investigation will be shut down before any more indictments can be made.
6
Mueller doesnt have to stop the investigation at all. All he needs to do is not indict anyone and place gag orders on all people his team interviews so the witnesses, subjects, their friends, families and lawyers dont leak to the press. Meanwhile, the wheels of justice keep on grinding behind the scenes.
7
The word is the Mueller report is coming soon, as in before November.
2
Kudos to the U.S. counterintelligence people who ferreted out these 12 Russian military hackers.
It is a remarkable achievement, but I am interested in more information on who gave the order to perform the hacking operation and what was the motivating reason for the order.
I assume the phishing and hacking operation was ordered because someone very high-up in the Russian government had this done in an effort to elect a U.S. President that they felt they could dupe or had a hook in to increase the probability of lifting the sanctions on money imposed by the U.S. in response to the invasion of Crimea or the activities in Ukraine.
Maybe it is all in the 29-page document, which I haven't read, but I think we need to document what the motivation was for a foreign government to meddle in the elections.
Thanks for this report. I believe the public needs to know more.
28
Someone below asked that we read the indictment.
Well, I read it.
I am no lawyer but the indictment reads like what an Equifax report on stolen identities would read like.
It is full of timeline including hours and minutes of 2016 that one wonders how Mr. Mueller got other than some forensics analysis of servers.
So, while this indictment or a true bill may be a big thing - I fail to understand what the US government can do about these individuals.
There are some who think that the upcoming Helsinki meeting is being sabotaged but I am expecting the POTUS was given a heads up - as a courtesy.
I see no reason why this meeting should be canceled.
If anything, it gives POTUS some solid ground to confront Putin over this issue.
One thing is clear from this indictment - this so called meddling was confined to hacking and nothing else.
8
Nothing else? It seems to me that the timely leaking of hacked campaign materials, coupled with the barrage of Russian attacks via social media, are part and parcel of what the Russians were up to. To me, that stuff all adds up to a lot more than a nothing burger.
13
This indictment may not indicate anything beyond a Russian attack on our democracy. However, it certainy does not shut the door on possible future indictments that DO present conspiracy with US citizens. Based on Trump's posture toward Putin, I think it highly unlikely that Trump will confront Putin anything.
8
Even if it is"hacking and nothing else" it is a dangerous attack on our democracy. While you may think this isn't much, I fear for our country
7
When will the Republicans in Congress do their jobs and protect our country not Trump and his pals?
In addition to the investigation that Mr. Mueller leads, we need another one looking into the role of the Republicans who are doing everything they can to discredit Mr. Mueller, Mr. Rosenstein and all those who are working to find the truth.
48
The Republican congressmen will fo their jobs when their constituents demand it.
Unfortunately, that will not happen as long as the constituents keep watching Fox News, the only media they trust.
If you want change, the most effective way to get it is by putting dollars and cents pressure on the advertisers that fund Fox News.
10
Not surprising considering all that has been revealed so far. The only think I find surprising about all this is why was it the former GRU (military intelligence no named the Main Intelligence Directorate) and not the SVR (The foreign intelligence apparatus of the former KGB)? Is the GRU more involved in cyber affairs than the SVR? Notably the SVR reportedly reports directly to Putin.
1
Not surprising considering all that has been revealed so far. The only thing I find surprising about all this is why was the former GRU (military intelligence now named the Main Intelligence Directorate) involved and not the SVR (The foreign intelligence apparatus of the former KGB)? Is the GRU more involved in cyber affairs than the SVR? they both gather political and military intelligence. Notably the SVR reportedly reports directly to Putin. As Secretary Clinton's use of emails, she was amazingly naive, but to then seemingly justify Russia's activities because she maybe, and only maybe, made it easier, is like blaming the person who got robbed for not bolting their door. It might not be smart, but it doesn't excuse the criminal from the consequences of breaking the law.
13
The performance review with his boss isn't going to go as smoothly as DonalD expected.
53
Made me laugh. Thank you!
4
I personally do not believe that there is a direct collusion that directly leads to Trump. But this is besides the point.
The travesty is that a leader of a democratic country is uninterested in protecting the very pillar of a democracy. Free and fair elections.
That shows Trump's true colors: He is a dictator in disguise. If checks and balances fail then the disguise will disappear. Certainly the Republican party has shown little interest to participate in "checks and balances". If Democrats cannot gain the Senate or the House at the end of the year, America may be in peril.
55
So Hillary had the Russian Government working 24/7 against her, stealing documents, email lists and voter lists, while flooding voters with toxic misinformation and smears on social media AND had Comey torpedoing her campaign 9 days out, and she still won the popular vote. In other words, without this historic interference Trump would have been buried in a landslide. No wonder he doesn't want to talk about any of this.
160
If the defendants can be served and show up Mueller's team will have a lifetime job trying these cases. Seems to just be a public relations attempt to justify the Special Counsel. Apparently the crime was accessing information from the DNC. There is no indication the information obtained was false or had any effect. Very wordy Indictment. It took a year to find it. We are way behind Russia in detecting this stuff. Looks like in the World Cup of attempting to influence elections: Score GPU 1 FBI 0
3
Mueller moves to indict 12 outside US jurisdiction. Ah... great. Is there any there, there? Sorry but unless there are major indictments at high levels in US soon... this entire exercise will be perceived as much ado about nothing. Time to act if there is evidence before November elections. Skewering of Strzok yesterday just an overture to main act.
7
Much ado about nothing? Perhaps you are not concerned about how a foreign government successfully goes about cyberwarfare to tilt an election, but I am not with you. By naming these people and spelling out the means by which they accomplished what they did, they not only respect the rights of American voters to be fully informed, they also send a message to potential hackers down the road that the FBI knows how they do what they do, and could possibly deter an attack in the future. Perhaps your vote and your right to be a properly informed American means less to you than it does to others.
14
JL, it is important not to loose sight that it was the Russians that have attacked the US democracy at a crucial election period. Don’t you think that is the REAL issue for the US? Mueller has secured indictments and guilty pleas from Americans because of his investigation. Mueller will thoroughly investigate and we will know the outcome when it is completed . Keep the faith.
14
JL, both Trumps national security advisor and campaign manager, as well as deputy campaign manager and transition official have been indicted and 2 of those 3 have plead guilty. How much higher level official is there? My question is why Trump cultists bend over backwards to ignore reality and excuse criminal behavior.
1
If Putin implicitly suggests that he did order the attack, it would reasonably profit Democrats in the coming elections. Mr. Trump will be in a vulnerable position in Helsinki.
11
Five minutes into the upcoming summit, a strong US president would say, "In 30 seconds one of your pipelines will completely lose electric power for pumping. Please confirm with Kremlin."
Then ten minutes into the summit, a strong US president would say, "A second pipeline just lost all power. Want to confirm with Kremlin again?"
Then fifteen minutes into the summit, a strong US president will stand up and walk out.
17
And 15 minutes later he’d die of chemical poisoning. Not a good idea. Or is it? Don’t drink the coffee, trump.
I am sure the timing of the indictments is not coincidental. It is a public knife in the back of the President by the "unbiased" FBI. BTW, did anyone mention the alphabet soup of "pro democracy" NGOs we support in Russia and elsewhere? These organizations push our brand of democracy where other people may have different ideas on the subject. In addition to the scores of publically know ones there are others where the money and control flows without public acknowledgement. That is just SOP in the war between great powers.
8
Of course, you missed the part about the President being informed of these coming indictments before they were made public. And could have stopped the announcement.
13
I think there’s a knife in a back alright. It was plunged into the back of the American people by Trump. His supporters continue to twist the handle around.
2
Oh really? The FBI is just following the evidence. I suppose that it is just coincidence that the same day that Trump asks Russia to "find" Hillary Clinton's deleted emails, the Russians start trying to hack into her email servers.
Rosenstein said, "There's no allegations in this indictment", that Americans knew they were communicating w/ Russian hackers.
He did not say there's no reason to allege or there's no evidence. Just that there's none in this document. The FBI has had these 12 names for over a year. What else do they have that we don't know about? Patience!
38
The next step is to compare Trump and associates apparent predictions to the illegal events. Trump calling on Russia to find the emails. Guiliani’s October surprise prediction. Don Jr.’s Wikileaks contacts. Roger Stone’s prediction it’ll soon be Podesta’s time in the barrel. Events after the infamous Trump Tower meeting.
33
Thank you all!
Indictment became irrefutable proof and who needs due process.
That sure makes America great !
4
Where are the Republicans in Congress? Country first, pension second.
56
Scary dereliction of duty by congress. Truly frightening.
2
I find it strange that ever since the start of the "full and thorough investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere into the 2016 Presidential American Elections", Mueller has only named and indicted Russians, and American liars and money launderers. Yet trump and Republicans think Mueller's investigation is all about trump. Why?
Obviously for trump the investigation has nothing to do with Russians and it is ALL ABOUT HIM! Hmm, other than his self-centered selfish view of everything, I wonder why?
65
Read Paragraphs 43 and 44 of the indictment document.
Who are Americans referred to as "the candidate for US Congress," the "reporter," the "state lobbyist," and "the person in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump", all of whom were communicating with the Russian hackers and who were getting hacked information?
TRAITORS, that is who.
1
An indictment of Roger Stone should be forthcoming since the Russian Hackers were in communication with him while hacking the Democratic National Committee.
Ironically on July 27, 2016 Donald Trump Publicly stated that he wish the Russians would hack Hillary Clinton’s email and that
same day the Russians attempted to hack the Democratic servers. Roger Stone could have told Trump about plans to hack the servers. The evidence of collusion are very significant. Not so long ago treason was a capital offense.
77
Where is Senator McConnell in all of this? Was he complicit in this threat to our democracy to achieve his dream of a right leaning court? No statements of consequence from him at all. Disgusting and a sad time for the United States of America.
59
Why are Americans expressing amazement and outrage that Trump takes no steps to stop the Russians from interfering in our upcoming elections? I don't get it.
Their past meddling was done on his behalf and he wants another term. In the meantme he needs
a supportive Congress to help him dismantle our democracy. Why all this head scratching?
27
I am not scratching my head, just trying to douse the flames.
5
Can't a patriotic Secret Service agent slip one of those teeny tiny microphones into the hem of Trump's jacket so his conversation with Putin can be recorded, and at least ONE other American can hear what goes on in that room?
I understand there will be two translators with Putin and Trump, but I also understand BOTH of them will be Russians.
What's with THAT? Mighty suspicious if you ask me.
46
12 indictments for Russian meddling. Any president truly devoted to American democracy would demand a full investigation, and he would turn over any and all documents (including his complete tax returns) to the special counsel to get at the bottom of this outrage. But, no, this is only a witch hunt!
22
I believe Trump wants so much to be alone with Putin. All alone. No microphones, no cameras, nobody else. Just Vlad.
32
Too little, too late.
8
Great, more Russians who will never be prosecuted. Of course they will not be able to travel to any country that has an extradition treaty with the USA which is virtually all of Europe. But it gives the impression to Americans that it was just the Russians who were involved. I think Americans are getting impatient for Mueller to put out his report. When comes the big splash. Is he waiting for Democrats to take the House and a super majority in the Senate because the first is likely, but not the second. If he has impeachable offenses against Trump he should put them out.
5
Let the man finish his investigation. The doubters and republicans will need to be overwhelmed by vast quantities of solid evidence in order to be forced to do the right thing.
6
If for a moment we considered hacking as a game, the 12 man team indicted by Mueller has accomplished it's mission admirably well. Sadly, it looks like Russia is well ahead of the United States in the World Cup of hacking.
If the 'buck stops' on the desk of the President of the United States, the 'Hope' man who called Russia a regional power failed miserably in protecting his country and what he had worked to do.
In history there is no half time, or overtime, and we will just have to see how this 'game' will play out.
3
Where is the outrage from every Democrat in congress after each piece of evidence showing that the election was won by the Russians? If the tables were reversed, the Republicans would be screaming nonstop, along with Fox News, about the illegitimate president that should be thrown out of office.
What is the remedy for the American People? Our election and consequently our supreme court have been stolen. This is the stuff that begins revolutions.
32
Breaking into computers illegally is a crime. But the hacked emails displayed the corruption at the highest levels of the DNC and showed Americans that the primary process was rigged from the start. Certainly the Democrats wouldn’t have told us this willingly. While the end does not justify the means, I can’t imagine a worse threat to democracy than rigging and manipulating a primary behind the scenes to silence the voices of American voters.
9
Trump and the Mercers, Kochs, Putin and Republican enablers are a much worse threat to democracy than some campaign staffers gossiping by email. That is not rigging and manipulating. The Democratic primary was conducted according to the rules. Sanders should not have been allowed on the Democratic ticket in the first place. And what makes you think Putin didn’t have the RNC servers hacked?
16
easy...how about manipulating a national election behind the scene to silence the voices of American voters and elect Trump? it seems to me rather worse
31
I guess some if us have different standards for what constitutes the highest level of corruption. I happen to think staffers discussing strategy to win an election is normal behavior, while seeking assistance from foreign agents to win an election is not.
32
For the umpty-umpth time:
Hackers (check out Steve Levy's book with that title) are not people who go out and break things, commit crimes or steal more than a copy of a program they cannot use on their computer, to prove they got in.
A hacker is the best of the best comoputer scientist, someone not content with designing a kludge - ugly, inefficient, prone to failure, but works, the very opposite of a hack.
This constant misuse of a word has cost honest hackers prison time for wanting to understand how a system worked, by reaching it, breaching it and watching it when nobody else was using it. In their mind, and in truth, stealing nothing, often leaving notes to sysops explaining the vulnerabilities of their systems.
The allegations are quite different - they involve attempting to disrupt the election process through a break-in, just like the Watergate burglars attempted to do. The allegations, if proved, that they did this electronically does not make them "hackers" it makes them "thieves" who attempted, and possibly did disrupt the 2016 election by handing out material making one candidate look bad, the candidate Moscow did not want to win the election.
The misuse of "hackers", "hacking" and "hacks" has ended with laws attacking the best programmers, because of a total lack of understanding on who the real "hackers" are, and what they've done creating the free operating system core running the world's fastest computer. Get it right!
3
Make no mistake about it, there is a power play going on: GOP House members with the help of Giuliani, Fox etc. putting up smoke screens around the Mueller-probe; the Senate pushing hard to put a solid conservative majority of supreme court justices in place (to eventually put stones in the investigation‘s way); the ongoing efforts of the GOP nationwide to disenfranchise voters with all means imaginable: gerrymandering, purging of voter rolls, voter-id laws, voter intimidation, closing of polling stations in low income or Democratic leaning communities etc. (miss the voting rights act yet?); possibly hacking of voting machines by Russians or others (they seem to have had their test run all right); all that combined with a PR-campaign on traditional and social media boosted by bots (russian or not); the daily distractions of the Trump; why not a little (or not so little) military escalation at the „right“ time, maybe around september? Trump and Putin to coordinate their efforts undisturbed in the upcoming meeting...
Impossible to overstate the importance of the election on november 6! Vote in record numbers, push your friends and family HARD to vote. Register in time! Know where your polling stations are. Mistrust any polls suggesting an easy win for Democrats! Also: all the pressure possible on Manchin, Collins & Co.! This might be the last chance to combat the absolute power grab of the right wing. If Dems don‘t win big this fall, it is only going to get much much worse.
79
I agree will Mr. Giuliani. We should end this investigation immediately. And begin impeachment proceedings, immediately.
26
I agree! Maybe someone with some guts and honesty will show up to do this.
8
What's the hurry? If Trump, et al are innocent, then Robert Mueller, who I believe, is an honest and honorable man will eventually say so. After all, how long did the Bengazi and Ken Starr investigations take?
I find the timing of this announcement to be very interesting. Department of Justice/FBI is both investigating Russian interference in our elections and trying to protect its reputation after being relentlessly attacked by the president and Republican congressmen. Typically if the government wants to “bury” a story, they announce it on a Friday. But President Trump is about to meet President Putin and it doesn’t take a cosmonaut to know Trump will use the occasion to declare the Russians didn’t do ANYTHING. Even though you don’t have to prove a crime even existed to be charged with obstruction of justice, just that you significantly interfered with an investigation, the DOJ/FBI wasn’t going to allow Trump to make his claim unchallenged. Because today the FBI formally showed that crimes committed by RUSSIANS, directly related to the ELECTION really did HAPPEN. Traditionally, it’s really bad form to criticize/embarrass the president while overseas. Now this announcement could have been made earlier this week, before NATO, before meeting with British Prime Minister May, before the associated press conferences, but it wasn’t. You better believe the timing of announcement was not happenstance. It’s a shame DOJ/FBI has to determine how best to counteract overwhelming attacks from their own boss and his enablers in order to generate confidence in the serious charges yet to be made.
12
Criminal Conspiracy.
Mueller's indictments of 12 Russian/GRU hackers
is just a "kiss" away from the Trump campaign/regime.
So is Trump going to meet Putin because he will be bringing back these 12 indicted military intelligence officers
to face the rule of law in America?
20
Had the Russians uncovered something that truly showed Hilary was worse than Trump, we'd be thanking them. They didn't, yet we voted as if they did; and that's on us, not them.
16
Trump was told about the 12 Russian indictments days ago, but still called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt and still found a way to compliment Putin. What would it take Putin to do to get Trump's condemnation. Maybe even Putin could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and still get Trumps admiration.
24
Given the known and irrefutable facts, those that deny Russian Trump collusion are not searching for facts and truth but searching for excuses.
55
Someone on NPR commented that Trump should not be left alone in a room with Putin on this trip - that another American should be present at all times. I agree with this.
46
Didn’t Mueller try the same stunt previously?
Where he show-indicted a bunch of Russians knowing full well they would completely ignore him, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it?
Except, amusingly, they actually responded and hired lawyers to ask the Mueller team to turn over evidence, as required by law. The mueller team has been completely flummoxed as they never expected it and are now scrambling.
12
wow...what an interesting interpretation.
There's no need for the Times to seek White House reaction to the latest package of Mueller indictments. I've got the statement (tweets) right here, straight from the Donald himself: "The indictments prove that Donald Trump is innocent of any collusion. There was no collusion. No obstruction. They also showed that the Russians had no impact on my election. The Trump Russia investigation is over and it's time to shut it down. They found nothing on me because there's nothing to find. It's been a rigged witch hunt all along by the Dems (and/or my opponent, and/or my predecessor) to stop me from becoming president, which I did in the biggest landslide since, I'm going to say Abraham Lincoln, at least, and probably American history, and now, Trump is going to meet with Putin in an unprecedented summit because (pick either, or both) we are having the best relationship ever between our two nations, (and/or) I'm the toughest president on Russia....There's never been anything like it. Unprecedented. Historic. Biggest crowds. Biggest tax cuts. No collusion. No obstruction. Historic...." [end of tweets]
45
The only reason why Trump should have any meeting with Putin is pick up the 12 Russian officers indicted today and fly them back to the US to answer to these charges.
Anything less, anything discussed in private...demonstrates another level of conspiracy that will be the undoing of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
Midterms are coming...get out and VOTE, and VOTE AGAIN in the 2020.
27
Far too many violations in conduct got unpunished in the past, Nixon, Reagan Contra.
This is the consequence, the powerful develop more and more disregard for law and truth. Until finally a Trump makes it to the highest office. Incompetent, reckless, authoritarian.
It has to end now.
24
The content, description of mechanisms, identity of Russian GRU officials in this document demonstrates major American competence.
To Trump: "I don't think you'll have any 'Gee I did it, you got me Perry Mason moment" (from Putin). Excuse me, but Perry Mason has made his black letter case here. He *has* convincingly gotten Putin-- guilty as charged.
To Giuliani: "Indictment shows no Americans are involved." Excuse me, but you can't read.
See section 43: A candidate for U.S. Congress, a registered state lobbyist, a news reporter covering Black Lives Matter. See section 44: U.S. persons in regular contact with senior members of the Trump campaign-- their nice back and forth conversation with Guccifer 2.0.
See section 45: Another U.S. reporter.
To White House Press Secretary: "Indictment doesn't not include any allegations of Trump campaign involvement.
Excuse me but you can't read either. See Section 44.
TO: Trump, Giuliani and WH Press: Stop lying about the contents of this indictment. Stop worrying about Putin's feelings. Start punishing Russia and defending the U.S.A.
21
Candidate Trump invited the Russians to hack the campaign. Apparently it was against the law, as these indictments show.
I guess Trump does not care about the law. Should we citizens also not care about the law, and maybe swindle some middle class voters from Red States? Honesty and law apparently do not matter. Welcome to the new America! Hope you like it.
7
Trump took an oath to protect America from foreign enemies,
so why is he meeting the prime foreign enemy, Putin?
This is a gross breach of duty to protect under the Constitution.
Is there a more devious reason - like taking further instructions from Putin?
The Special Counsel knows what is going on - lets hope that he published his reports soon, very soon.
15
Obviously, with the anonymous nature of comments on this board and countless others, it is reasonable to assume, that post Russian campaigns to undermine the institutions and elections of democratic nations and NATO countries including most notably ours, trolls and bots are aggressively and actively participating in the contributions below.
38
Why were these very serious indictments announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein? This is a major development. Shouldn't the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, be the one to discuss this? Oh wait, that's right ...
38
The Attorney General recused himself from the investigations because he(AG) was part of the Trump for POTUS campaign.
Deputy AG is in charge.
5
Don will sit down privately with Putin, tell him he was a naughty boy, wink and then propose the US pull out of Syria and Russia has done nothing wrong.
Does anyone now believe Trump can and will protect and defend us against all enemies???
Don finally seems to have acknowledged Russia's election activity thru Giuliani, but what does he accept and understand from all our intelligence agencies?
We need concrete proof of his taking appropriate steps or clearly should prepare for impeachment. That means a blue wave in November, of course.
20
Mr. Trump has long expressed doubt that Russia was behind the 2016 attacks.
Hmm is this not the same Trump who long expressed doubt that Barack Obama was a native born US citizen eligible to run and be president of the United States?
Why would anyone take seriously what this degenerate says he believes of or says he doubts?
51
One gets fairly sick of hearing Trump talk about 'fake news', when it is absolutely undeniably a fact that he has grabbed the authority of the US presidency via a fake election.
87
Nothing to see here. Move along! Meanwhile watch the stable genius alienate all of Europe with ill-advised comments and outright insults.
14
Congratulations, Bob. You've indicted 12 people that are impossible to prosecute. My tax dollars at work...
4
Who is the Congressional candidate that requested information from the Russians?
Your tax dollars also at work for Trump's many golf outings that line his own pockets. How many of your tax dollars are going to the border to separate asylum seekers from their kids and fly them all over the country to foster homes? Those foster parents, as kind and caring as they are, are getting your tax dollars to care for them.
once again Mueller admits there was absolutely no collusion! President Trump wins again!!
8
Mueller has not yet gotten to the collusion aspect of this horror. Just wait!
President Trump has won NOTHING.
28
Mr. Mueller is working his way up the food chain. Forget collusion. How about Trump's minions engaging in money laundering. His son in law was trying to establish back channel communication with Russia before the inauguration. Trump has borrowed a lot of money from Russian banks. If you think that Trump wasn't aware of everything big that went on in his campaign, then I have genuine Super Bowl ring to sell you.
8
People are really making me laugh tonight. It helps me forget how scared I should be about the Russians.
3
The Russkies have hacked into a lot more stuff over the last decade and a half or more. So what's this supposed to prove? That Trump paid them off to do this?
I know that MSM will be flogging this dead horse's bones into dust over the next few days and weeks. But really? What's Mueller & Co. going to do? Spend millions more every year to keep a pack of hound dogs on their trail in the hopes that they stumble onto US friendly turf?
I do respect Mueller, he has an excellent track record and he's been doing as good of a job as he can in this hyper partisan swamp. Also know it's not finished. But if this is all we have after over 2 years and millions of dollars. Well, this, and a handful of indictments for lying, which is not that hard to do. Yep, the electorate surely must be thrilled with this.
3
Not a fan of brinksmanship with allies as a modus operandi... however, this is clever timing for the release of info to leverage both NATO partners and pressure Russia. Curious to see what the next few days will reveal.
8
Suppose the Russians DID prefer Trump over Clinton (which I'm willing to believe), and the Russians took steps, independently of Trump (which I'm also willing to believe) to help bring that about. Was Trump required to give up once we learned that the Russians wanted him to win? Would HRC have been required to give up if we'd learned instead that the Russians wanted her to win?
The obvious answer to both questions is "no."
If Trump colluded with the Russians, that would be quite another matter, and Mueller (I thought) was looking for evidence of that. If so, he sure hasn't reported anything yet; maybe he's got evidence and just prefers not to tell us about it, but I'm beginning to wonder.
In any case, just because Trump did his best to win -- whether or not the Russian government also wanted him to win or not -- doesn't mean Trump "colluded" with the Russians.
4
All around Trump and friends are Russian connections, from his real estate business. His son even bragged about that.
In about 2006, essentially bankrupt, no US bank would lend, he suddenly started to pay his real estate acquisitions ....in cash.
Absolutely unusual.
The guy is up to his nose in dirty money.
16
The timing of this "indictment' that will never see a court of law adjudicate the evidence is beyond suspicious.
1
Of course Trump should not be meeting with Putin. The President’s behavior in this instance borders on treason since he knows full well that the Russians hacked the 2016 election-and at his televised invitation no less.
To my mind Trump’s meeting with Putin, his invitation to Russian to obstruct Hilary’s campaign is collusion and he should be impeached and indicted for treason. The big question is why the Republican Congress has cooperated in Trump’s crimes when they already know the truth. That fact shows their party to be as dishonorable and treasonable as Trump.
If Trump is wise (but he never is) he will cancel his meeting with Putin at once in the hopes of saving himself.
17
Just now on CNN, panelists connected the dots between Trump's call during the campaign for the Russians to find Hillary's missing emails, Roger Stone's links with Gucifer & Wikileaks, and today's indictments. Analyst and former CIA officer Bob Baer asked, "why does the president of the United States have a security clearance?" He explained that if anyone in the intelligence agencies were found to be mixed up in this sort of conspiracy Trump is mixed up in (either wittingly or unwittingly), that person's clearance would be pulled immediately. Democrats need to abandon the useless fight over Trump's Supreme Court nominee and focus all their attention on making it clear to the public that Trump should not have a security clearance, much less meet without witnesses with Vladimir Putin. Trump spent years demanding that Obama prove he is a citizen. The next president will likely be the one who does the best job of demanding that Trump prove that he is not a witting or unwitting foreign agent. There is evidence that Trump might be such an agent. There was zero evidence that Obama was not a citizen. But he had to produce his birth certificate.
21
How does this article question the delay of the Obama administration in making a statement about Russia without mentioning Mitch McConnell? When the administration wanted to make a statement earlier, McConnell threatened to call it a politically motivated accusation regardless of actual FBI findings. He’s been held largely unaccountable for this extreme and damaging partisanship.
17
"But the larger point that I want to emphasize here is that there is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even, you could even rig America's elections, in part because they're so decentralized, and the numbers of votes involved," President Obama said. "There's no evidence that that has happened in the past, or that there are instances in which that will happen this time."
"And so, I'd advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try and make his case to get votes,"
-Barack Obama, October 2016
2
“So long as we are united in our commitment to the shared values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed,” he said.
I find this comment gratuitous. It just proves that American brainwashing is as if not more effective than Soviet’s was, because we’re still today fighting the same old battle.
1
Not one of us would allow trump to babysit a young daughter or granddaughter alone for even a few minutes. Even a trump devotee will not do it. It really is that simple as that. And we all know it.
For the very same reason, we can leave trump all alone with Putin. Specially in light of the developments today.
10
Other than John McCain, who could never run for president for this republican party, has there been ONE active republican member of congress who has condemned russia and demanded action?
34
I read Mschilling’s comment earlier in the comment stream with interest. He is right, Russia is not our friend, and its efforts to sow distrust and influence American elections are cause for concern. But in his own words, “Only a willfully obtuse partisan could fail to see this and condemn it,” referring to Clinton’s unsecured email server. I find the statement both ironic and flabbergasting. He is equating loose security protocols regarding servers, which continue under the present administration, with the clearest evidence so far of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence. I am afraid he fits the bill as the obtuse partisan far better than those who are willing to discount the sins of unsecured servers. The GOP is and has being doing everything it can to divert media attention away from the potential undermining of US democracy by a foreign hostile power in favor of a Quisling administration that uses every opportunity to undermine US prestige in the world. Who do you support, the US or Russia? No, seriously, it’s a real question.
12
I believe the truth, once out, will be worse than we imagined and that lots of people will be guilty, or will end up cooperating. More important even, is for the knowledge of what happened in 2016 to prevent it from happening again. Nothing good will come from Trump meeting alone with Putin but I bet he will do it anyway. The sooner Mueller gets to the bottom of it all, the better.
26
There is a saying in legal circles that you can indict anyone for any crime as long as you do not have to go to trial and prove your charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The indictment repeatedly refers to KNOWINGLY doing X, Y, and Z. If those charged hire a local attorney and contest the charges and ask for disclosure of evidence (as one company named in the prior indictment did) Mueller would wish he had not done what he did.
Interestingly, Roger Stone is not charged even though he is "referenced" as a person Guccifer 2 was in communication with.
Intriguingly, Wikileaks has not been indicted for distributing the "hacked emails".
Brennan said on MSNBC that unless they can indict a U.S.person, charge of conspiracy does not make sense.
Brennan has the last word.
5
After reading today's indictment, I wonder if members of the Republican party are involved with the hacking of the Democrats during the 2016 election.
The indictment mentions one Republican congressional candidate seeking the hacked emails of their opponent (unnamed at this point.)
That would certainly explain their outrageous behavior as enablers and co-conspirators of Trump and his campaign, and their refusal to investigate or take seriously a conspiracy with Russia to sway the election.
23
I can’t wait to learn the identity of this congressman. An “American patriot” I’m sure...
10
A few general questions to those who would attempt to continue to maintain that not one drop of all the putrid mass of criminality uncovered by the Mueller investigation touches Trump...
Why does Trump continue to express doubt about the very possibility that Russia interfered in the 2016 election? Why does he refuse to accept the clear evidence and dispute the firm and fact-based determination of his own (multiple) intelligence agencies that the interference took place? Why does he refuse to confront Putin in any kind of forthright manner about this interference - - or about a range of other matters including Ukraine and Crimea, Syria, the Baltic states, Georgia, Putin's massively anti-democratic and corrupt governance of his own citizens, Russia's meddling in the elections and internal affairs of a series of Western countries, including the US - - and on and on? Why have Trump and a large number of his associates, including family members, repeatedly lied about their Russian contacts if they have nothing to hide?
The list could go on, but to call an investigation which has led to criminal indictments of dozens of American and foreign actors, and guilty pleas from many of them a "witch hunt" is absurd on its face.
20
Deputy AG Rosenstein briefed President Trump about these pending indictments days ago, and within the last 24 hours, Trump publicly repeated his phony mantra about the Russia investigation being a total witch hunt. These facts do not add up. The President is officially informed, again, of evidence that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 elections. His denial of reality lays bare his incapacity to carry out his duties. What more is needed for impeachment? The majority of Republicans in Congress are complicit in the worst political scandal in our history.
14
As I have said many times, Donald Trump is an agent of the Russian intelligence service. His one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin is simply a briefing session that Trump is having with his boss.
Trump needs to be tried for espionage as a spy. That's the beginning and end of the story.
35
Absolutely correct. He should be tried as a spy and if convicted sentenced to life though Spence will pardon him proving my contention that many are above the law in this country.
The Republican Congress is a staunch Russian ally most of whom will be reelected. We are our own worst enemy.
9
Nothing being done by Obama and his administration?
Under who's watch did the FBI start investigating Russian interference ?
Hint: This investigation started in 2016. BEFORE the elections .Who as President then?
On the other hand, which administration wants to end this FBI investigation, calling it a witch hunt?
So remind us again who really wants to investigate Russian election meddling?
Is it really so hard to figure this out?
7
This is HUGE ! Looks like Rodger Stone was communicating with the Russian hackers for trump. That is big in and of itself, but that is likely just the tip of the iceberg. The dominoes are starting to fall.
24
And so, the new century has wroth a unique invention, supplanting the industrial-age engine, in the world wide web.
Not a soul suspected that Vladimir Putin, in his genesis would have been capable of concocting such a plan.
Nor that a stooge, with a huge rump from having reclined through his entire life, would be the vehicle for success of the new model.
7
So why is Trump meeting Putin?
The Mueller indictments of Russians hacking and attacking
American democracy during the 2016 election is now a fact,
so why is Trump meeting Putin, an enemy state that wants to destroy America?
This act by Trump is an open conspiracy like the way that he asked Russia to hack Hillary's emails, and on the day the Russians started to hack and attack American democracy.
So did the Russians act because Trump asked them to hack?
The Special Counsel probably has more evidence of a Russian conspiracy to destroy America - but how many Americans were/are involved with this foreign enemy?
11
At what point do we realize that the 2016 election was fraudulent, rigged and illegitimate and a do over is required - especially when the will of the actual majority is being subverted. Indeed, the Russians got who they wanted elected and is doing the damage they have been only dreaming they could do themselves.
Yet the Republicans continue to run cover for Russia and their agent in the Oval Office.
18
Summary of charges brought against Russians for interference in the 2016 election:
Dec 2016 - Obama Aministration expels 35 Russians
Feb 2018 - Mueller indicts 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies
July 2018 - Mueller indicts 12 Russian intelligence agents.
Assuming there are no duplications, that's an awful lot of people to have run election interference without a murmur of it reaching the American public - until after the election.
7
If Trump does not cancel the Meeting with Putin he is literally turning America into a Russian satellite. This is especially true if he dare meet privately with this enemy of democracy. After all, he has already turned on our allies and that action alone bordered on treason.
33
So the question now is: what are DJT and the GOP lackeys in the Strzok hearing yesterday going to do about this?
Blame Obama you bet.
Time to do something good for the country, not the party.
We’ll remember in November.
21
Where are Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan? Enjoying the fruits of their tax cuts I guess...
17
Why isn't the press camped out on their doorsteps?
12
If Mrs Clinton's campaign manager and her daughter Chelsea had secretly met with Russian government emissaries in the basement of their house , who had promised dirt on Trump and then denied ever having met them, I would have called that a collusion with Russia. Add to that the mountain of evidence of the campaign Russian state agents ran on social media for Trump and against Mrs Clinton, you are left with no doubt that this was collusion.
This is brazen and open collusion.
88
Is there an email account anywhere in the world that has not been the subject of an overseas hack or phish attempt? I delete 25 of them a day. Ugly, though, at this level. Not surprising.
2
The indictment does cast a shadow over the Trump-Putin meeting on Monday, because the world is watching closely how chummy the two will get with one another, despite the allegations.
Trump has lied so much that he can’t remember what he has said. He did acknowledge Russian meddling in February but denied its impact on the election. Since then he has once more dismissed Russia’s role, hinting with sarcasm that he might still ask Putin the same question again on Monday. Perhaps the two men would have a good laugh at Robert Mueller, as they will be alone with only their interpreters. There might be a feeling of smugness that they have been able to get away with their nefarious mischief.
Obviously Trump was briefed about the indictments earlier in the week. That he still spoke so warmly of his Russian counterpart, indicates the clout Putin has over him.
66
Obviously one does not burn the bridge before they cross it. Putin knows we have evidence and this is ammunition that Trump can use as leverage. We will see what u folds.
Well, another big nothing burger from Mueller. Of course the Russians hacked Podesta's emails and the DNC server and exposed the corruption within via Wikileaks. And? What no one seems to be talking about is why. To help Trump or to sabotage Hillary Clinton. I believe it is the latter, knowing full well that if she won she would have carried on the covert CIA program, Timber Sycamore, to overthrow Assad in Syria so the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia could run the natural gas pipeline they want through Syria and deliver gas to European markets, something diametrically opposed to Russian interests. Defeat Clinton, and you thwart that goal. And America doesn't do the same elsewhere? Remember, we are actually, right now, at this very minute, conducting an illegal war to overthrow a sovereign country which pales in comparison to election meddling. Let's be honest and put things in perspective folks.
10
What is the perspective? That because we are bad actors in other countries we have no compelling interest in protecting our own country from interference?
That because Russia was working against Clinton and not for Trump thats ok?
I’m sorry, even murderers have a compelling interest in preventing their own murder. The everybody does it trope seems like a ridiculous statement when it is being done to you.
8
If the situation were reversed, and the same case was being made in regard to Clinton and het team/associates, I imagine you'd be more than willing to believe her guilty and scream for justice. Think about that for a minute.
10
Why does the Times say Trump is skeptical of the intelligence community's charges of Russian interference in the election? He may not be skeptical at all. He may simply want to show Putin his support. To say someone is skeptical means you know their real intention. The Times used to say they couldn't say the President was "lying" about anything because they couldn't know what was in his mind. It's actually pretty clear for anyone able to read the obvious that Trump is deliberately protecting the Russians in this crucial matter. Newspapers should not adopt the view of the President, but expose that he claims to skeptical, which is a hihgly questionable posture.
29
So what. This is all they have? Since July 2016, the FBI has been investigating the Russian government and President Trump’s campaign. May 2017 Mueller was appointed special counsel to investigate. It has now turned into a long and expensive fishing trip by a heavily loaded Democratic lawyer inquisition. He has no evidence of anything remotely to do with Russian Collusion. Lots of old parking tickets.
After Mueller invaded Trump's lawyers office, no matter what Mueller finds, now they poisoned the well and any evidence will be thrown out of court.
16
Nothing is completely erased from any computer or server. If data can’t be recovered in its entirety, it can be reconstructed from pieces left behind, hence, why Rosenstein’s team was able to trace the hacking to the Red Russians and will be able to trace who colluded with them, knowingly or unknowingly. However, ignorance isn’t a defense for committing a federal crime, or any criminal act.
1
Bottom line: you have no idea what Mueller has. Neither do I. Any notion, though, that this is not a worthwhile investigation is soured by a.) the prior Mueller indictments; b.) the sense that this is the tip of the iceberg; c.) Trump sympathizers' willingness to call the whole thing fake, when it has been proven that the Russians did, in fact, meddle in our democracy.
And, seriously: wherever the Trump people go -- there pop up Russian connections. This is far from over, and the slow reveal with minimal leaks is not indicative of shoddy detective work, but very careful rooting about.
As with Trump, we haven't hit bottom yet, and the Mueller team are shining their light down that well.
6
I'm pretty confident we're going to find out who that person is, courtesy of subsequent investigation & possible indictment.
It has been a pretty well accepted fact Russians interfered in the US elections in 2016. Did it all have an impact, who knows. it has been the stuff of bad jokes for 18 months now.
Did Trump collude with Russia, not a scintilla of evidence points to him having done so, yet many if these comments read as if it is an established fact.
18
How does that have anything to do with Russian Collusion?
3
With props to Margaret Hamilton, "In good time my little pretty, all in good time."
8
So far, Mr Mueller has been making pointless indictments against Russians who will never be tried and who have no interest in defending themselves against the indictments. Are these indicted tried in the court of public opinion or are they innocent until proven guilty. Seems like a complete waste of our judicial resources.
19
Not a "scintilla"... other than, what is it up to now, 50 federal indictments?
Did Trump collude with Russia? None of the increasingly mounting evidence exonerates him from having done so, yet many of these comments read as if is an established fact that he didn't.
4
Rod Rosenstein said that he briefed Trump on these indictments earlier in the week, yet Trump declared in his press conference this morning that the investigation is a "witch hunt" and a "hoax."
Why does our president believe Vladimir Putin over his own country's intelligence agencies?
Why is he insisting on meeting Putin alone?
And why didn't any Republicans come out today and condemn the Russian government for attacking our country?
3
Not a "scintilla"... other than, what is it up to now, 50 federal indictments, so far?
Did Trump collude with Russia? None of the increasingly mounting evidence exonerates him from having done so, yet many of these comments read as if is an established fact that he didn't.
A common -- and effective -- "obfuscation" technique is to repeat something over and over and over, until you figure out that most listeners have forgotten exactly what happened. That "fuzziness" allows you to change the "facts" a bit, and then repeat the changed facts over and over and over -- until you're able to change them a bit more. And so on.
To yank us back to reality here, for just a second or two:
When Trump "invited" the Russians to "hack" Hillary Clinton's State Department emails, Trump was referring to the 30,000 emails that HRC had sworn were deleted. This occurred in 2016. HRC hadn't been at the State Department since 2012. If she was telling the truth -- i.e. that those 30,000 emails no longer existed, there was nothing to hack. The Russians either already had them (probably), or they never were going to get them since they no longer existed.
I think Hillary Clinton was telling the truth about those 30,000 emails: she'd deleted them (and "scrubbed" the server they'd been on, so nobody could get them). If so, Trump was recommending that the Russians try to get something that either (a) they already had (probably for several years, at that point); or (b) didn't exist.
8
I hope Mueller subpoenas Trump's tax records and nails him for tax evasion and laundering dirty Russian money. They got Al Capone for tax; it would be fitting to send Trump down the same way.
And we'd finally get to see those tax filings, after the "audit" we've all supposedly been waiting on. Like a stopped clock that tells the time correctly twice a day, even Trump has got to accidently tell the truth occasionally...
31
You are conflating two different things. Something that is produced via subpoena does not become a public record.
So even if (when) Mueller subpoena's Trump's tax records, "we" won't get to see them.
Hillary Clinton isn't president, Barack Obama isn't president, George Bush isn't president. Blaming everybody else makes a great diversion but there are only two parties involved in this mischief, the Russians and (possibly) the Trump campaign. We still don't know how deep and dirty this goes but it has nothing to do with Hillary, Comey, or anyone else conservatives don't like.
109
Weeeeeellllllll, except that it happened on Obama's watch. These Russians didn't just suddenly get positioned overnight either, it took time. All while 44 was asleep at the wheel.
3
By the time it became clear that the Russians were trying to throw the election to Trump, it was too late for the Obama administration to say very much. The Republicans would have screamed and cried about him trying to help Clinton. I think you know that.
5
@Russian Bot: In October, when this was coming to light, Obama wanted to make a statement, and tried to persuade Mitch McConnell to make it with him, trying to bring the two parties together to defend the security of the country. McConnell turned on Obama and threatened to accuse him of trying to interfere politically in the upcoming election if he made any public statement about it. So Obama made a statement that was dismissed by Republicans as hogwash. This was all reported in the Times, but I'm guessing that you weren't paying attention back then.
1
Beyond John McCain, where are the Republicans of principle I have always respected, if not agreed with. I don’t expect anything from the political stooges like Jim Jordan or his ilk in the House, but where is Ben Sasse, Rob Portman, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, James Langford or other Republican Senators willing to call out what Russia has done.
34
"The indictment mentions 12 Russian military officers by name, for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The defendants worked for two units of the main intelligence directorate of the Russian general staff, known as the GRU."
Such actions do not take place in Russia without the direct knowledge and direction of Putin.
Although Trump may now have a more difficult time suggesting it might have been the work of "a lot of other people" or that it “could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds” I predict that he will continue to offer feckless and dismissive excuses for not taking strong and immediate actions that any legitimate American president would.
-------------------------------------------------------------
"What am I going to do? He may deny it. All I can do is say, did you? And, don’t do it again. But he may deny it.”
President Donald Trump 7/12/2018
14
I can see the GOP getting rid of Rosenstein soon. He should have produced this during the meeting with the GOP with an indictment for Trump if guilty.
Rod did not play the game of protecting himself.
2
Utterly fantastic. I have always talked myself out of belief in conspiracy, even in the face of strong argument. Not sure I can now.
5
So if Trump told the Russian to do it in private that's collusion, but since he did it in public, that's simply campaigning. We highly underestimated Trump's media savvy.
5
By now everyone should realize that Trump is a Russian agent, although it is possible that he does not know it. But we all would have known before the election if we had taken the trouble to inform ourselves. A nation gets the government it deserves.
13
A commenter asks for help:
"I don't understand completely. Please help. From what I know, Podesta clicked on a phishing email link and input his password and that's how they got the emails, which showed some bad things about the Hilary campaign and the dnc? ... That's not really hacking is it?"
Podesta's naivete doesn't make it right. Hard to believe he fell for this (I suspect even the hackers were amazed he did), but the hackers nevertheless were wrong to trick him.
5
While is was noted here that investigators have not (yet) uncovered evidence that any Americans have committed a crime, one must wonder what relationship with or knowledge of Russian interference Mr. Sessions had that drew him to recuse himself.
4
“So long as we are united in our commitment to the shared values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed,”
Ah, well, guess they're going to succeed then. Sorry.
9
I hope that everyone will read this indictment. They DID interfere with the vote.
73. In or around August 2016,KOVALEV and his co-conspirators hacked into the computers of a US. vendor (“Vendor 1”) that supplied software used to verify voter registration information for the 2016 US. elections. KOVALEV and his co-conspirators used some of the same infrastructure to hack into Vendor 1 that they had used to hack into SBOE 1.
74. In or around August 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an alert about the hacking of SBOE 1 and identified some of the infrastructure that was used to conduct the hacking. In response, KOVALEV deleted his search history. KOVALEV and his co-conspirators also deleted records from accounts used in their operations targeting state boards of elections and similar election—related entities.
22
Going by their behavior, I can only conclude that many of them are complicit.
6
When our nation is attacked by a foreign country but our President and Vice President do not even acknowledge that event much less do anything about it, that should become a textbook definition of TREASON.
When Trump solicited criminal action by Russians (i.e. hacking private computers) he engaged in what is known as misprision of a felony. There is also 18 U.S. Code § 2382 - Misprision of treason which might also be applicable.
One type of computer crime is an act performed by a knowledgeable computer user, aka "hacker" that illegally browses or steals private information from a person or organization or company.
Unauthorized computer access is a crime punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (as codified in 28 U.S.C. ¤ 1029). Penalties range from a class B misdemeanor to a class D felony (punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both). For details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act
Let's hope that Mueller includes Trump's CRIME of soliciting unauthorized access and stealing of private information in a list of his "high crimes and misdemeanors" which will lead to Trump's successful impeachment.
31
Even a cursory reading of the indictment reveals a shocking, extensive, comprehensive attempt by the Russian State, and its military actors, to criminally shape the 2016 election in innumerable ways. This obviously well-funded and complex cyber warfare operation should be absolutely infuriating to any American. It necessitates the prompt cancellation of Trump's tête-à-tête with Putin, who from here on out requires to be publicly recognized as a foe of the United States along with his international outlaw regime, not as mere "competitors" as our Fake President prefers.
With any other President in office, our Ambassador would be promptly recalled from Moscow with a laundry list of demands simultaneously made upon Putin and his Foreign Minister. Additional and strong punitive sanctions would later be taken against Russia. Trump will do none of this as he has been totally compromised by our Russian adversaries. A fork in the road has been reached. This traitor in the Oval Office must be removed.
48
Section 43(a) of the indictment: "On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress. The Conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona, and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent."
Who is that candidate with an appetite for stolen materials and the knowledge of how to get them? Did he/she get elected, or re-elected? Was he/she part of yesterday's kangaroo court hearing on Peter Strzok? Are some of the members of Congress defending Trump's witch hunt claims for a reason other than party allegiance?
16
When I read that part of the indictment, I couldn't help but think this is the reason many Republicans stand silent while this President rips this country apart by its seams. They are just as compromised as he is.
8
Who were the voters influenced by the Russians actions and where? We have yet to know this important information. Why?
9
Agree completely. Mrs. Clinton was grossly negligent and should have and was condemned for it.
Gross negligence is still preferable to outright treason or at worst aid and comfort to the enemy.
Unfortunately our electoral process doesn't give us the candidate we want it gives us a choice. By any standard treason at worst or aid and comfort to the enemy at best is worse than gross negligence. That's why in spite of the fact Mrs. Clinton was grossly negligent, she was be far preferable to President Trump.
5
"As recently as last month, the company denied any breach had occurred. But, in fact, the hacking attempt worked, judging from an indictment of 12 Russian military officers prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and handed down by a grand jury today."
I'm sure the FBI made a careful analysis of their machines just like the DNC's server before reaching this assessment. Also I'm sure that the independent security company that backed the company's claims are just Russian agents.
Oh dear..the sky is falling..
Russian government officials and their hacking criminal conduct delegitimize Trump's presidency. When will the GOP and other conservatives stand up for the country?
34
How soon does Mueller's Investigation come out with what's known as an Sealed Indictment, which doesn't give the name of person indicted, until either an arrest or they want it out. I figure these intelligence officers only take there orders from the highest ranking person in Russia, and we know who that person is, trumps best new friend. the domino's are beginning to fall a little faster. Of course all the Russians that are indicted will never be arrested or tried for there crimes against the Untied States, but there American co-conspirators will, and lets hope they met there fate soon.
10
This is getting silly.
All Americans oppose Russian interference with US elections. We should try to prevent that from happening again, but we don't need Mueller for that.
What Mueller was hired to look for is evidence that Trump (who ALSO wanted Clinton to lose) colluded with the Russians. Remember that? Collusion? So far, all we've heard is that Trump tried to win (as did Clinton) and that the Russians interfered to help Trump win. If Trump colluded with the Russians in any way, he should be impeached. So far, though, we've heard not a shred of evidence to support that allegation. Some observers speculate that Mueller has lots of evidence and that the longer he stays silent, the more he has. Others attribute Mueller's silence to his failure to come up with any evidence. All we know for sure is that he hasn't told us anything yet, even though he "flipped" several key Trump people long ago.
Not that Mueller has been totally "silent," of course. He previously indicted 13 Russians and now has added 12 more -- all of whom must cancel their planned family trips to Disney World. Mueller has also indicted a few Americans, of course -- the "flippees" -- though apparently they haven't yet told him anything bad about Trump (or at least Mueller hasn't reported it to us), even though Trump has bad-mouthed each of them.
2
To expand on the President's characterization of the Mueller investigation, I would call it "the phony baloney, rigged, fixed, unfair witch hunt;" but I protest too much, methinks. One thing is clear- today's indictments were definitely a "vich" hunt since seven of those charged all have names that end with the letters- VICH. If that's not a "vitch" hunt you just don't understand this President.
3
I've read one part of this is that a Congressional candidate reached out to the GRU for information. Now...if a Congressional candidate knows how to get to the GRU....who else knows how? When Trump said "Russia if you're listening"....he meant it. I believe Trump will fall now--it's just a matter of time.
11
No doubt these criminal charges will be seen as inconsequential in the eyes of our chief law enforcement officer. Just another irritating reality that can be buried under an avalanche of lies.
How do Trump supporters dismiss the findings of a Grand Jury with such ease while the gravity of the charges, Russian operatives attacking the essential functions of our democracy, is the most aggressive act against the United States since the opening rounds fired at the start of WW II.
10
How can anyone find any reason to continue to support trump? These indictments should make all of us stand up and demand an end to the charade of this presidency.
17
I am a Christian woman but find myself wishing that pilots and crew of Air Force One would bail out and leave Trump ("only I can do this-and-that") to be tested on that concept. Does that include piloting a plane?
How much more can the country endure this preening popinjay destroying the very fabric of our country?
Come on, Secret Service, feel welcome to investigate this eighty-five year old protester! Wish one of the trombonists at the welcoming ceremony had broken ranks and wrapped his instrument around Trump's neck!
25
Does anyone need more motivation to vote?
10
If they can indict Kushner and Trump Jr., it would be a relief to the US People. If they can't ...well, they can't.
7
We are in a shadow war with Russia. Hacking accounts, bit coin money laundering, and the manipulation of social media are the weapons Putin, the KGB agent, employs to undermine the US. Trump should not be alone in a room with Putin. Donald isn’t smart enough to handle the concept of cyberwar.
34
How in the world does Mr. Trump who was "elected" with the total assistance of the Russians have the right to make Supreme Court appointments?
Mr. Trump is illegitimate as are his SCOTUS appointments. The SCOTUS seat Mitch McConnell stole from President Obama, is yet another piece of this ongoing crime. All of this renders the SCOTUS another illegitimate branch of government.
39
Getting pretty interesting. I'm sure Trump wined about the timing, and wanted to stop it, but was advised not to say that as it strengthens the problem he has with obstructing justice. Rosenstein is playing chess with him and unfortunately for Trumpski, it's a smart person game. Love to see Rodger Stone go to prison. Such an impish cutesy little traitor.
10
We meddle in the elections of other countries more than anyone else. And if we don't like the outcome, we use assassination to make things more to our liking. So this high dudgeon over Russia is ridiculous especially since the people investigating know very well that we do the same thing in other countries. The real problem is that the electorate in this country is too uneducated or too gullible to discern truth from lies.
7
"The real problem is that the electorate in this country is too uneducated or too gullible to discern truth from lies."
That is definitely true for about sixty million or so Americans, if you catch my drift.
8
Really? Examples, please. I know, we helped to deliver Ukraine into the hands of “fascists”, which is Russia-speak for the popular uprising that got rid of their pet dictator and tried to orient Ukraine toward the EU. For that, Ukraine is now being slowly dismembered while the US is looking the other way. The problem with your false equivalence is that not every interference is the same. If the US supports liberal and pro-democratic forces in other countries, it is not wrong. If Russia is meddling in other countries’ affairs to empower autocrats, nationalists and racists, it IS wrong. “Interference” is the means toward an end. The end is what matters. The US undoubtedly helped to bring about the collapse of the USSR using both overt and covert means. And by doing so, it ended an evil regime and liberated half of Europe. Was it a wrong thing to do? Well, I know what Putin would say about it, and he is such an impartial source of information, isn’t he? Too bad the electorate in this country is to uneducated to listen to his words of wisdom.
1
So I guess two wrongs make a right?
If Trump is going to move on Meuller it will be soon...Mueller has laid the foundation for underling crimes necessary to pursue criminal charges for collusion and conspiracy and what's coming next is charges against Americans,
6
Given these crimes, which are laid out in horrifying detail, I can't help but wonder about this Administration's constant brush-off regarding Russian election hacking. If they were actual Russian agents, they couldn't work harder to repudiate the facts.
This, too, is terrifying.
8
After yesterday and ALL of today's events, anyone who votes for Republicans in November, even if you are related to them, needs to have their head examined. Yesterday, I was disgusted, today appalled. The only good thing was to hear numerous Brits say they loved American and only hated Trump.
40
Every indictment emanating from what comes up in the course of investigation is important. Trump meeting our enemy Putin in secret is a disgrace and insult to the free world. Trump will promise insane things. He’s so out of touch to say the least. Our intelligence agencies know and have made clear they are hacking and hurting the US. 24 hours a day but Trump
didn’t green light our already funded cyber protection by our intelligence agencies. Can’t everyone see Putin will play him. He doesn’t understand the KGB and deep mother Russia insanity going back to the war and the breakup of the USSR. Ukraine is hacking too. He’s out of control d destroying the world. He’s a kisser of dictators. Putin, China, North Korea, the Philippines. Admires murderous regimes. Colbert expresses it clearly every night.
7
Mr. Trump is beating a dead horse. There is no Witch Hunt, nor is there Fake News. There has not been one carefully worded statement rom the White House expressing concern about Russia's intervention and their cyber attacks. It is equally depressing to witness his unseemly behavior in Europe this week, I dread his meeting with Putin unless there is a notetaker present. And even then, I wish this summit would not take place, why on earth would Trump reward Putin with this Summit?
16
I don't know what Trump needs to believe about the 2016 election. I have a strong feeling that Trump and his team are involved with the Russians based on Trump's behavior. Of course, I could be wrong, but I'm not feeling at fault.
These indictments are certainly not a witch hunt. Too bad Trump lies so frequently.
8
Any guesses by readers on the unnamed congressman or unnamed congressional candidate whom the indictment said reached out to hacker Guccifer 2.0?
7
Nunes ran in 2016, CA 22. Given his nearly frantic desire to destroy the Mueller investigation and support Trump's denials of collusion, my money's on him.
6
Altho another good candidate is Jason Chaffetz, who suddenly and mysteriously " retired" just 4 months after winning re-election in 2016.
2
Paul Ryan met with a small, select number of House members sometime in 2016 to discuss a strategy for showing a united front in case accusations would be made about Republican congressmen receiving aid from Russia. A number of them, plus the NRA, were said to have been the beneficiaries of Russian donations funneled through various channels. I recall reading about it in the Times, but don't remember any more details, except that they joked about it, and that Devin Nunes was one of the group.
1
President Trump should be indicted. Trump publicly invited Russia to find and disclose emails from Ms. Clinton. Trump encouraged Russia to interfere in the election on an issue that Trump had clearly been campaigning on. In the law his public assertions show his intent to encourage and support election sabotage.
44
Seriously?
"LUKASHEV altered the appearance of the sender email address in order to make it look like the email was a security notification from Google (a technique known as “spoofing”), instructing the user to change his password by clicking the embedded link. Those instructions were followed."
Hint: Next time you get an email that instructs you to click a link and change your password, don't click the link.
One would like to think this basic rule was well-known to everyone involved in Clinton's campaign. Apparently not.
4
Interesting that that's your takeaway.
That Russia launched a military operation to interfere in our election and apparently denies that it occurred, that multiple Trump campaign staffers had direct links to Russian intelligence agents, that Trump STILL claims this is a "fake" "witch hunt", that Trumps son-in-law attempted to set up back channel communications with Moscow in Russian embassies, that Trumps' National Security Adviser pleaded guilty to lying about Russian contacts, that Trumps campaign manager is now locked up and is known to have had links for years with Russian Intelligence, none of that seems to register.
One would think that the fact that Russian Intelligence is not a friendly or US allied service is something well-known to everyone.
I suppose 3 cents aren't really worth much anymore.
4
The Indictment is damning. It lays waste to Trump's assertion that this is a "Witch Hunt".
While these individuals may never see the inside of a US jail, their identification means they can NOT set foot on US soil without fear of being apprehended.
The chance that Trump slithers free of Russia interference in the 2016 election seems to shrink with every passing day.
28
"unproven"? Nonsense! We have the logs and the intercepts, or there would be no basis for any indictments. Every American intelligence agency stands behind it.
I agree about the "atmosphere," though. Not looking very b-romantic for their little tête-à-tête.
16
These comments are amazing. I agree that there is more than enough culpability to go around, but the persistence with which many readers are seeking to pin this on Clinton, Obama — anyone at all except the Russians and/or Trump’s advisors (some of whom have already pled guilty) is astonishing.
Perhaps we could agree a consensus: politicians should not ever use private email servers for anything except communicating with spouses/partners about dinner plans; major national figures should never use unsecured phones or private cell phones; Congress should tighten cyber-security around elections; US elections should return to paper ballots until we figure out how to create adequate protections against cyber-interference; Trump should not meet solo with Putin; and current sanctions on Russia should be significantly increased, and their embassy shut down.
Would that about cover it??
26
It’s shocking to learn from this indictment about such a thing called hacking and that the internet is possibly used for anything other than totally upright and noble purposes. A truly disheartening realization for me to make, to say the least. I hope this lets Facebook and Google off the hook for at least a little while.
Unfortunately that’s cold coffee by now and I doubt it will make any difference to Trump or his supporters.
The Democrats better start thinking of something more current and relevant to working people so they can win and put Republicans out of business.
6
Its telling how the GOP is more concerned about protecting Trump than our nation. Reagan would roll over in his grave knowing that we have a American president more concerned about preserving a relationship with a Russian dictator than our NATO allies. Only in America.
23
What is at least as concerning is Trump's obsession with undermining the Mueller investigation. The FBI and the DoJ rather than squarely confronting Russia and Putin over a series of blatant acts of cyber warfare on the US. What is Putin's hold on the president and why does Trump give Putin a pass at every turn while attacking, belittling and weakening our allies?
5
The POTUS cannot be allowed to meet privately with Putin. He has shown himself to be unable to grasp the gravity of these sorts of findings, and in light of these hard indictments, he must return home immediately to demonstrate his loyalty to our country and the true urgency of this chilling revelation.
At the very least, we cannot afford to allow trump to be further and privately manipulated by Putin. It is clear that trump shrugs off any attempts to brief, inform or educate him of the overt importance of world affairs, as well as any implications of political nuance. He wants to be left alone to take the biggest risks possible - and now, on our collective world stage - and by extension then have the opportunity to drink alone the sweet nectar of victory...and bask in his own personal glory. It's what he lives for.
But in light of what (most of us have) long known, and is now proven by the DoJ's indictments, any such meetings going forward must have appropriate transparency in order to protect our national security. Normally, national oversight would be provided by the presence of a Secretary of State. But who knows (or believes) Pompeo can be trusted to serve anyone's interests but trump's and the Republican's own 'dark state'??
16
This headline earlier claimed a connection between the Clinton campaign and the indicted Russian hackers. I read the article and the indictment, and concluded that was unfair. But one might read this article, with its revised headline, to suggest that the Trump campaign somehow colluded with the Russians. Neither the article nor the indictment supports that: I see no connection with Clinton OR Trump. It appears the Russian hackers (who may or may not have been acting at the behest of the Russian government) did bad things, and I understand from other sources that BOTH the Russian government AND Trump took various actions to cause Clinton to lose and Trump to win.
Nothing wrong with Trump trying to win, and nothing wrong with Russians sharing that goal and doing what they could to bring that about. If they worked together, that would be wrong, but Mueller hasn't released any evidence of that. Maybe he has such evidence and just isn't telling us about it (as many observers insist), or maybe he doesn't have any evidence (as other observers insist). Either explanation is possible; all we know is that he hasn't told us about any evidence -- even though he "flipped" several "in the know" Trump associates long ago and Trump has said mean things about all of them.
I must say that Mueller is quickly reaching the "fish or cut bait" stage of this investigation, though I'm resigned to it just dragging on forever.
4
Nothing wrong with a foreign power interfering in a US election in favor of a candidate? Seriously? Not many people share that opinion.
12
3¢, I hope you are in no way suggesting in the manner that Mueller judiciously applies any or not findings he may have in his possession are for anything other than completely forthright purposes, like deliberately scandalizing Trump’s meeting with Putin? Remember, Integrity.
3
Larry Segall,
Upon rereading my comment, I see it can be taken as you took it. I don't suggest Russian interference with US elections is OK. It certainly happens (we do it too), but we should try to prevent it from happening in the future.
But we don't need Mueller to do that. He's supposed to be looking for collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. His marching orders have been expanded to cover "non-collusive" Russian interference, but he'd have never been appointed if it weren't for allegations of "collusion."
So far, he's indicted 25 Russians and a handful of Americans, none of whom, it appears, have told him anything at all about "collusion." I suppose one can argue that Mueller is performing a very important service, but we could have used DOJ "regulars" to investigate Russian interference. Mueller is supposed to be looking for evidence of "collusion." Remember?
The Russian hacking attempts began the day trump called on Russia to hack Hillary’s email.
It seems obvious that trumps actions signaled to Russia that if they hacked the election, they would be welcomed by trump.
17
Sorry, completely wrong...Russians have been hacking to my personal knowledge since the 1970s. This entire fake indictment nonsense is like Russia indicting NSA officers for doing their job. This is just as fake as collusion nonsense and just as much a waste of money. BTW, nobody has ever found the first US voter affected by Russian anything. Please let us know if anybody can find one.
1
No one in our government, including the president, should be allowed to communicate privately with Vladimir Putin or his associates. To do so in light of these revelations would be easily interpreted as conspiracy. Trump ought to get tough and protect himself from further allegations by cancelling his meeting with the Russian leader.
30
Trumps clear lack of outrage over apparent election meddling tells us everything we need to know about the extent of his patriotism. The only patriotism he feels is to himself. He has no concept of the value of freedom or the laws and rights that were designed to protect it. He is not a good American citizen. What more need be said?
18
Our U.S. Justice Department just concluded that Russian intelligence agents interfered with the election...and yet in a day or two Trump is going to "ask firmly" to Putin if Russian intelligence agents interfered with the election?
What am I missing here?
19
In light of these revealing indictments, it makes yesterday's GOP outrage at the Peter Strzok inquiry even more bizarre and unsettling. Clearly, GOP is afraid of what's to come from the SC.
22
The indictment notes at least one Republican Congressman also conspired with the Russians to help win his, or her, seat. We do not yet know which congressman or woman it is; but, by watching the hearings yesterday it certainly looks it could be one of those FBI attackers who has something to hide.
9
The big question is why, exactly, Russia was so intent on giving aid to Trump.
In my opinion, Russia's leaders saw him as a vain peacock of a man, immature, insecure, and easily manipulated. I feel his actions have certainly proved their case.
It's certainly no compliment to Trump that Russia went all out to get him elected. And, of course, it's an indictment on the Americans who voted for him. The minority of Americans.
26
what ever happened to ethics morality respect.
tech, for all of its greatness, truly shows the innermost
rotten things that can happen, that people would want to
happen, just to see happen.
all for one side, or another. like the 0's and 1's binary
code that created this world, somehow someway twisted
in ideological control and subjugation; to the point
that the only think thing that matters is control;
the rest is as superfluous at an image of a tumble weed
traveling in any direction that is not doctrine to its
need. it's horrifying man. look at what is going on.
2
While many give thanks to Rosenstein and Mueller, there are plenty that give thanks to the Russians who are flat out traitors, and otherwise known as Trump supporters.
18
No Americans involved, except the grossly incompetent Hillary Clinton who was foolish enough to allow the security breach in the first place. Obviously this announcement of utterly useless, unenforceable indictments was timed to distract from Peter Strzok's evasive testimony, or to somehow undermine Trump's visit with Putin. All meaningless political theater. Mueller's investigation has been a huge waste of taxpayer money.
8
Expect more bestselling autobiographies to come from public employees.
5
No Americans involved? You might want to actually read the indictment.
From page 16: "The conspirators, Posing as Guccifer 2.0 also communicated with U.S. persons about the release of stolen documents. On or about August 5, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump..."
2
The only waste involved is of natural resources consumed by the cognitively-challenged Trumpettes.
2
"Anything you do, it’s always going to be, ‘Oh, Russia, he loves Russia.’"
Well, it's true. He has a bromance with Putin, who has his thumb in every election pie around the world.
"... I love getting along with Russia. And China. And other countries.” ... Like Duterte of the Philippines, Basar al Assad of Syria, Kim Jong Un of North Korea and the King of Saudi Arabia.
This President hasn't met a dictator or authoritarian regime he doesn't like. Give him a uniform with lots of braid, a military parade with spectators forced to watch, and (in his mind) he has made it as a successful leader.
Trump finds kindred spirits in dictators. He doesn't know how to lead, or serve his country, but has no problem being cruel to his citizens, grinding the Cabinet and Congress down with his endless whining and bullying, and using his office to enrich himself.
Meanwhile, the forces of democracy and freedom coalesce--in Europe, Canada, Mexico.
The man cares nothing for ethics, and cannot see how his campaign's, family's and business ties to Russia are illegal or even worth noting. He's in office for money and power, and got there through enough people believing his lies, and too many people not voting.
I'm glad someone at DOJ is doing their job. These latest indictments are welcome. Trump's base may continue to believe his lies, but, hopefully, those who didn't vote last time have been paying attention to facts and will get out and vote...and flip the Congress.
21
Wonder how many comments will miss this part of the NY Times article entirely:
"Mr. Rosenstein said Friday’s indictment did not include any allegation that the Russian efforts succeeded in influencing the election results."
5
Patience, oh wise Yaj.
They’re just getting started.
22
He said "this indictment does not." Doesn't say a word about the NEXT indictment.
20
Isn't it logically impossible to isolate and evaluate this one variable's (Russian interference on Trump's behalf) effect on the election results? We'll probably never know whether or not the Russians got Trump elected. That's not the point. Likewise, did Trump's failure to pay his subcontractors result in any of their suicides? Maybe Trump was wholly or partly responsible for their deaths by his immoral behavior but again it's impossible to isolate the one reason when many variables affect the result. The point is that Russian interference is wrong per se; its exact effect is almost irrelevant.
2
Silly me. I thought the NYT comments would be concerned about our country being attacked by Russia, a hostile foreign government. Putin, who has openly stated that the goal was to create divisions within the USA to undermine democracy and the rule of law. Instead, they focus their outrage on anyone involved in trying to get to the truth of what actually happened.
One question: how do you defend the information found in today's criminal indictments outlining exactly how Russian intelligence attacked our Presidential election. I'll wait.
12
" Putin, who has openly stated that the goal was to create divisions within the USA to undermine democracy and the rule of law. " -- please a provide a link to that direct statement.
Ah, I think I know what happened. Some rogue Russian hackers and equally rogue Americans (each group of rogues unconnected entirely with either Putin or Trump people), did all of these things. Putin and Trump can so declare it to be, and that will be the end of it. Except, ...... what if Putin and Trump people were indeed part of it.....? Umm.
3
<sarcasm>An announcement at the end of the day on a Friday in July</sarcasm>
Muller has thrown every terrorism investigation he has ever been on. He's not even confirmed by the Senate.
2
I hope that if Mueller has any serious dirt on Trump that he can produce it before Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed.
15
I do comde it and so did the FBI--but that doesn't make her a criminal or a traitor. There are regulations regarding e-mail use that cripple those who use it and the policy on e-mail use and it's enforcement is relatively new. So government employees try to avoid using official channels--it's pretty common. Colin Powell had his own server and I'm not sure about John Kerry but would like to know. Point is it's stupid--but it's not criminal.
To intercept messages is criminal--my boss went to prison for 4 years and 4 months for doing so. The federal code on this comes from mail fraud days---you don't open other people's mail.
5
Would all be forgiven if the US and Russia agreed to freeze their competitive weapons development programs and Russia got back the ice-free port it craved for centuries for world trade status?
The irrefutable evidence of Putin's guilt and Trump's contempt for the truth is like a double edged sword. Both sides make our democracy bleed.
America has never been held a hostage like this before by both an enemy and, unbelievably, a president.
Yet, all the Rust and the Bible Belts care about is their right to carry guns openly and to restrain women from exercising control over their reproductive anatomy. How sad is that?
45
Why isn't Trump's "Russia, if you're listening..." factored into these indictments?
7
Patience. That indictment will be forthcoming.
5
This must come as bittersweet news to the parents of Seth Rich. It certainly makes those like Sean Hannity and others who have weaponized his death look more despicable and ghoulish in their rush to provide cover for Russia's aid to the Trump campaign.
14
Will these Russians be outside the US like the last lot ?
Chances are these indictments will turn out to be a total waste of taxpayers money.
4
"President Putin is an adversary who interfered in our elections to help President Trump win."
I guess we're just supposed to trust our "intelligence officials". No trace of actual evidence is needed. After all, in America you are guilty until you prove your innocence.
Remember the "13 intelligence agencies"? Remember the Tonkin Gulf? They lie. Constantly.
3
Is this the beginning of the end? Or is it perhaps, to quote Winston Churchill, "the end of the beginning?"
3
Robert Mueller, war hero, and patriot, is making America Great Again!
26
If Putin told Trump that there was no meddling ,then how could this all be?
5
To all those who keep posting that this is all a waste of time and money, that it just involves Russians and has nothing to do with Trump, that it is a witch hunt blah, blah, blah. One and all you are being deliberately obtuse. Not only do the President and his Administration gaslight without cease, but his supporters are delighted to keep up the farce. Obvious to anyone with a pulse is that Mueller is slowly and carefully constructing an airtight case brick by brick, absolutely necessary with the powerful forces ready to pounce on any error. None of this proves innocence, only that all of us need to be patient until the real indictments come sleeting down.
29
How will we know if and how President Trump confronts President Putin about these indictments since only translators will be present and there are no notetakers nor Americans.
If President Trump decides to loosen or eliminate the sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and Crimea, can or will the Congress object??
After yesterday's House of Representatives performance Republican legislators may not say or do anything!!!
5
Under no circumstances should Donald Trump be permitted to meet with Putin next week. The meeting/summit needs to be called off to send a strong and clear message to Mr. Putin.
7
Mr. President,
Do you know what "really hurts our relationship with Russia"? When they work to subvert American elections and the elections of other democracies.
Why is that so hard for you to say?
16
All I can say is, great timing! Keep up this patriotic work, and timing, Mueller.
8
like a politcial auto immune disorder
Trump meeting with Putin in secret is collusion in plain sight. Much of the GOP in Congress is clearly complicit with this. For all the talk on wingnut radio and cable news, it's the GOP that is becoming a real and credible threat to the nation.
23
So what will happen if the Russians won't plead guilty?
4
If The Times gets a chance to ask a question of the President or the White House, please ask why President Trump keeps saying he will "ask" Putin about the meddling. Why does he need to ask when he has been repeatedly staffed by many, many, many intelligence agencies that Russia did meddle. Don't ask... accuse!
12
Trump, his supporters, and his GOP are now the enemies of The Rule of Law. How funny to think that just a year ago all you Trump supporters were Law and Order citizens shouting "Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up" until you were hoarse. How much can change in a year, no?
18
Yes the timing of this indictment should not be considered coincidental; rather, the timing of the indictment should be considered a warning to Trump as he dives into a one-on-one meeting with Putin just after the GOP Reps and Senators joined in celebrating a love-fest during their trip to Russia --- sort of the advance publicity team to provide cover for Trump. If Trump does indeed meet one-on-one with Putin, all Americans should be very alarmed. We should pay to attention to whether he savages Putin as he did the European NATO leaders and Britain's Theresa May. If he doesn't, we know that Trump fears angering his handler. And we shojld wonder what the handler uses to control the uncontrollable.
10
The Trump administration is sending a message to Putin prior to Trump's meeting with Putin.
1
The fact that Trump is calling the indictments a witch hunt and isn’t canceling the meeting makes me wonder if Putin would even let him cancel
16
Do Russia and the U.S. have an extradition treaty? If not, we might get lucky and not see Donald Trump on U.S. soil after Monday. Let us pray.
10
You cannot use the phrase "to ask a few respectful questions" in the same sentence referring to Representatives Gowdy, Gohmert and Jordan. They do not know ho to ask respectful questions. Yesterday's hearing proved that.
19
There Mr. Trump was, insulting allies of America, still calling the press fake news, espousing white nationalism while in Britain.
This is the time for all of us to be alarmed.
It's no longer unimaginable that our democracy is truly and factually in danger. And our president doesn't take it seriously.
The GOP needs to wake up and smell the reality, after yesterday's shockingly aggressive hearing that demeaned the FBI.
Mr. Trump cannot go to Russia. Cancel that "summit."
An person was in regular contact with senior members of Trump's presidential campaign--who wrote back to Russian conspirators. Big finding.
#MuellerTime
18
Everyone should download and read the full 29 page indictment, so they can see that it is a pile of nonsense - 29 pages of charges against people in another country, who may not even exist, over whom we would have no control if they do exist, and could never bring to trial.
Clearly, the only purpose of this indictment was to fiddle with Trumps impending meeting with Putin. Nothing could be more obvious.
Mueller and his gang are using taxpayer funds, to work for the Democratic Party Bosses; there is nothing more to it than that.
Whether or not you like Trump, this indictment is a disgrace - the current rulers of the Democratic Party seem to have an unlimited appetite for insulting the intelligence of the American People, while sticking their hands in our pockets at the same time.
Disclosure: I did not vote for Trump, I am a lifetime member of the Democratic Party. I want my party to be cleaned up, so it can be effective against Trump.
4
So the entire FBI is willing to spend all their time creating fiction so they can do what? Impeachment won't happen ... I'm not that cynical to think something of this magnitude could cross so many desks - many of those FBI did vote for trump - if it were all a fairy tale. I suspect that the indictment doesn't provide the data that the FBI has been collecting to support the indictment - so, maybe its just that you don't have enough information.
2
Russians know the extent and this has been planned for more than a decade. Your points are valid - but, this work to cause us to enter civil war and break down the faith in our government is serious and it has been effective.
2
Yep, definitely a "witch hunt," according to Trump, even after 28 different people have been charged with hundreds of criminal counts, including his own campaign manager.
I'd wager that the apple (Manafort) didn't fall far from the tree (Trump). The investigation is not yet over; that's why Trump is complaining so much. It might yet catch him in his lies and deceit to the American people.
13
Will this stunning indictment of 12 members of the Russian military consipring to attack the U.S. election of 2016 come before the House Judiciary Committee like whipping boy FBI Agent Strzok for his legal but illadvised text messages? Nope. Why? This indictment shines too much daming light on complict, enabling GOP members of Congress. No rock big enough for them to hide under. Confederacy V.2. This stark betryal of America will follow the same course in due time. I envision a long, painful Reconstruction similar to the post Civil War period as we struggle how to reunite our republic and allow these domestic enemies of freedom and democracy back into our nation. History repeating itself in real time. Stay tuned.
5
As much as I abhor Trump's administration and believe he threaten democracy in this country, I abhor this witchhunt even more. It's a partisan investigation which ignores far greater subversion efforts of democracy in this country and true threats to our voting system such as useless voter identity legislation which disenfranchised over 5 million poor Americans funded by rich billionaire Koch brothers several years ago plus more Republican efforts to implement voter disenfranchisement efforts through Crosscheck which Trump also supported. Its nothing less than Russia fearmongering and bashing over intelligence activities that not only Russia, but countries around the world engage in. It's American hypocrisy at its height and only ignorant Americans fall for it.
4
Everyone will notice that no Americans are named and so far no Americans have been named. It's really way past time; if the information is there to name people go ahead and issue indictments; god knows enough doubts have been raised about the validity of this investigation. The way this announcement was handled you really have to ask yourself what was accomplished by the release of this information. Its time to get on with it.
4
While it's comforting to know these hackers have been indicted, let's not kid ourselves: Mueller can't save us from Donald Trump. Either Trump will fire him, or Mueller's findings will fall on deaf ears in the Congress.
Repeat after me: The. Only. Way. To. Defeat. Donald. Trump. Is. To. VOTE. Get out there in November. Your country depends on it.
10
Vote: by clicking on Democrat candidates right on down the line.
That's the only way we can minimize the damage the Republicans have inflicted on our nation.
5
Kavanaugh won't make it. Collateral damage.
3
Very poor cybersecurity. The Democrats brought this upon themselves by not protecting their electronic communication assets. Thank you.
3
Ned:
I'd start by reading the NY Times article, you missed:
"Mr. Rosenstein said Friday’s indictment did not include any allegation that the Russian efforts succeeded in influencing the election results."
3
Mr. Trump: The Perry Mason moment has already arrived. The F.B.I. has confirmed Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, and the number of Russians indicted by Mueller continues to grow. The mystery that remains to be solved is why you insist on playing nice with Putin. Hopefully, Mueller will soon shed some light on your most puzzling behaviour.
7
Which means has nothing.Cohens ' and Manaforts',with all due respect are a dime a dozen in Washington,according to most prosecuters.And the Russians ,over in Russia, not coming here at any time ,we've known about for over a year. Will you puleeze?
3
I have some free advice for Donald Trump, stop calling the investigation into Russian involvement into your campaign a witch-hunt, because you are starting to sound a lot foolish and like you are using Vladimir Putin's talking points.
7
Rosenstein charges the Russians with spearfishing and installing malware...HA!
They installed the president of the United States. To heck with spears, fish and malware!
Let's get rid of the real problem they infected us with.
20
While trump is in Moscow with OUR nice airplane he needs to load up 12 Russians and bring ‘em back here to face justice.
7
It appears strange that the "Deep State", who Trump and his Base claim are a residual group of treasonous Hillary supporters embedded within the American bureaucracy, when indicted, seem to be capable in the main of speaking Russian. Perhaps Trump should ask Putin, who Trump claims is totally innocent, why this is so?
3
I'm confused? We broke sequester to increase military spending because of the Russian threat. We are asking NATO allies to increase spending because they are under threat from Russia. The Republicans in Congress, the Presidents attorney and the President think the investigation to undercover the full extent of the Russian threat doesn't deserve to be investigated so we actually know what it is.
How can you budget billions of dollars of taxpayer money, ask allies to pony up if you don't even have a full threat assessment? How can you negotiate a meaningful rapprochement without a full threat assessment and a frank and open discussion?
The meeting with Putin should be cancelled until the investigation has completed.
12
Since Trump appears willing tell Merkle and May what they’ve done wrong, he should take a similar approach with Putin, not asking whether they interfered, but stating that we know they did and then asking the only reasonable question, which is “what are you going to do right now to assure me and the American people that you won’t do it again?” Followed by a list of things we’ll do to them if they try.
4
If Trump does not make an issue out of this when meeting with Putin, the last small pieces of his credibility are gone, especially after the obvious lies on the international stage today. If the US political parties subsequently allow this to pass without severe consequences, US credibility in general is at risk.
3
Russia has been interfering in election in America and other countries for a while. It increased its efforts in 2016 due to advanced hacking technology and was able to penetrate due to weak firewalls at DNC and Hillary campaign. Podesta was easy to dupe by the Russian hackers and possibly others. Russia increased it activities during Obama administration because Russia perceived Obama a weak leader. It doesn't seem that Obama took any real action against Russia. But Obama and Hilary people were very clever to deflect their incompetence and lack of preparedness by accusing Trump people of collusion. Their real interest was not Russian hacking but collusion. There was no need for any Special Counsel for finding and preventing Russian and other hacking. American intelligence agencies knew about it in 2016, but there was no strong leader to retaliate. Now we have a strong leader and he is taking action. He will also talk to Putin directly and I don't think Putin will dare to interfere when Trump is the president. He already knows that and wants to talk to Trump. So, there is no need to continue the witch hunt. It is better to try for good relationship with Russia than to continue the skirmish for next few years as Trump wants.
2
The Russians and other anti-democratic regimes are no doubt working now to manipulate our elections in November.
I urge all voters to request absentee ballots to assure there is a paper trail and, one hopes, to assure their votes aren't tampered with.
4
A SWING-STATE ELECTION VENDOR REPEATEDLY DENIED BEING HACKED BY RUSSIANS. THE NEW MUELLER INDICTMENT SAYS OTHERWISE.
Are FBI manufacturing evidence?
Why didn’t the FBI take the DNC servers into custody and analyze the evidence?
Wasnt that a crime scene?
Bigger than watergate
Every time I think they can't possibly lay it on even thicker...
5
So, if the DNC was hacked and Rusia wanted to interfere with the election, is it reasonable to assume that the RNC was hacked too? It should have been just as easy for the Russians to hack the RNC as it was to hack the DNC. If so, what information was collected from the RNC (and DNC) that we don't know about and hasn't been made public? Or, who is paying the Russians to keep that information from the public? Another way to frame the question is if these Russian operatives were not working for the Russian government, then who financed the operation? I'm guessing they weren't doing volunteer work outside of office hours out of the goodness of their hearts.
4
Trump is failing to preserve, protect or defend the Constitution. That is a violation of his oath of office and is grounds for an impeachment.
18
Ned Lund:
I'd start by reading the NY Times article, you missed:
"Mr. Rosenstein said Friday’s indictment did not include any allegation that the Russian efforts succeeded in influencing the election results."
5
It’s a no-brainer, Trump needs to cancel the Helsinki meeting.
10
I thought Trump's contention was 'that there was no Russian interference', that 'even if there was Russian interference, it wasn't effective', that 'even if the Russians interfered, and it was effective in promoting Trump and degrading Clinton,Trump didn't collaborate', and that 'even if people inside Trump's campaign did collaborate and collude, that Trump didn't know about it, anyway'. So 'the investigation is all a witch hunt'. Is that still Trump's position? Seems like a fairy-tale castle with a foundation of sand, crumbling away. I hope a blue wave in November washes the last of it away.
10
To Putin's face in Helsinki, Trump should demand that he turn these indicted spies over to the U.S., or, he walks out. This is cyber war, and Trump is nothing but a co-conspirator if he allows it to go unpunished.
14
Sadly, the only effect this indictment will have on the base is to confirm the existence of a deep state conspiracy operating in the FBI, the CIA and the DOJ to undermine Trump’s massive electoral college win. Trump, with the blessing and cooperation of the entire GOP establishment have, through their attacks on both America’s law enforcement agencies and the fourth estate, has conditioned his followers to expect this. This will simply be seen as evidence that Trump and his enablers have been right all along. Mueller and Rosenstein will not be greeted as heroes, but as traitors. Trump? Well, he’s still just a man prepared to take on these establishment traitors and tell it like it is. And so goes the decline of the American Empire.
2
President Trump's meeting with Putin needs to be cancelled. If it is NOT Cancelled... UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should Donald Trump be permitted to meet with Putin 1 on 1... with no one else present. Have American Citizens lost their minds??? Members of Trump's political campaign team are now complicit in this mess. I don't care what political party citizen's belong to. Our country's government has been manipulated and infiltrated by Russian spies and cyberwarfare specialists. Where are our elected officials in the Senate and the House? If there ever was a time for speaking out, IT IS NOW.
12
I hope Trump uses these indictments to negotiate with Putin a commitment to figure out how to arrest and extradite these people so we can try them in a US court of law. If Putin is our "friend" the deal maker par excellance should be able to obtain this goal.
3
Germany won't extradict indicted Volkswagen executives who are accused of being responsible for diesel emissions fraud. Russia would never send us these people.
,
And if they did, they would then demand that we ship them everyone in the United States who ever hacked a Russian computer.
3
Some readers seem to feel that indictments in the US against Russians are meaningless. They are not. None of the indicted Russians will be able to travel outside of Russia. If they try, they will be taken into Interpol custody based on the indictment, and we can then bring them to the US for trial. They are now trapped in Russia, not the most pleasant thing. Other readers seem to be confusing this hacking with the much earlier Clinton emails. There is no evidence that anyone hacked into Clinton's home-based server. This hacking occurred later, at the time of the presidential race in 2016.
6
re"Americans are charged with lying about something that isn't even against the law. "
That's strange … just what is this something that isn't even against the law?
3
Since Trump has a proven record of false statements and blatant lies, the Helsinki Summit must be public and recorded. To make it a private Putin-Trump conversation is a blatant invitation to Russia to conspire and interfere in the U.S. 2018 election too
1
With these indictments President Trump is not likely to receive his expected end of year performance bonus from his Russian boss V. Putin. It is never easy being an employee who reports directly to the head of the Organization. I suspect Donald will get an earful of criticism from the boss.
2
It is clear Putin did something and we need to know what it is given the chaos it has inspired.
Putin managed to get the weakest leader he could find that would support him on dismantling NATO.
2
Once Obama realized that he had been set up to be humiliated by the Republicans he took money and support from, he lost his mojo.
1
The president won’t leave until he has further reduced our freedom, destroyed our democracy, and demolished the western alliance, and stolen as much money as he can.
Against all advice, he is still going to meet putin.
Maybe he’s going to ask for ask putin for political asylum. Nothing would surprise me anymore.
10
When, pray tell, do we move from calling these persons "operatives" and "intelligence officers" and "intelligence officials" and start calling them what they are: spies?
4
Imagine how easy it was for them to read Hillary's classified emails. The average American would be in jail right now even if they didn't intentionally violate the law like Hillary. :)
2
Factories making orange jumpsuits are working overtime. They will soon be shipped to Washington DC.
5
Yet one more chapter in the "witch hunt?" Lotta witches seem to be out there. Place my bet on some of them being found.
'
6
"In late July 2016, Mr. Trump publicly encouraged Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton’s emails and make them public....
But according to the indictment, the same day Mr. Trump made those statements, on July 27, 2016, Russian hackers tried for the first time to break into the servers used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal offices."
As we know, Trump invited Russia to essentially attack the United States in order to sway the election. Now we can see that it seems that Russia took him up on this invitation with all haste.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you take the election hacking as an attack in a cold war, then, with this invitation, Trump is guilty of treason, according to the Constitution, Article 3, Section 3: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Again, cold war, in this case, but Trump's invitation looks like the opening salvo of a coordinated attack all the same.
He is also, broadly, adhering to an enemy in meeting with Putin, whose intention in directing this attack against us was not to help the United States, but to weaken it so as to strengthen himself and fuel his own aims. His central tool in this effort is Trump. With this as his aim, Putin certainly does seem like an enemy to me.
So call it collusion, but it seems more precisely like treason--that is, if we are able to agree that Putin is our enemy and that cold war is war.
Aye, there's the rub.
9
The Russians probably will not be prosecuted before any Americans who worked with or otherwise helped them are indicted. If the Russians were convicted already, then any cases against Americans who collaborated with them would be far stronger. So it looks like the country will have to wait a long time for a conclusion of all of this.
What a complete and utter waste of time. As the saying goes, a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. The chances of any of these "Russian military" indictees ever being actually brought to trial is zero. The timing of these indictments demonstrates the political motivations behind same. The very same week the FBI is exposed for actually attempting to meddle in the election (and the agents and others involved are individuals who should be indicted and who can actually be prosecuted) these meaningless indictments of Russians who cannot be prosecuted are released. The FBI and our so-called intelligence agencies have every reason to stoke fears that somehow Russia is a threat to us - their very jobs depend on it - if Russia is not really a threat then 1/2 of the employees of these agencies would be unnecessary and would have to find real jobs or investigate the individuals and entities (like Muslim extremists) that are actually a threat to America. And the people who think there is no "deep state" need to watch the films of JFK having his head blown off and his alleged assassin being executed in police custody, while our government continues to claim that information and documents regarding these events are still required to remain classified in the interests of "national security".
5
Those indicted will indeed suffer some punishment. They will never be able to visit any country which has an extradition agreement with the USA.
2
The good news is that a Murdoch publication, of all things, realized the interview yesterday was controversial, and made certain to publish it.
7
I suspect that many of the comments criticizing Mueller are from paid stooges. The tell tale language is straight out of the Fox playbook. Thank you Citizens United! Any objective reading of the indictment shows that a serious crime was committed against the United States. Let's not fret too much as to whether the perpetrators will ever be punished. Mueller is doing the right thing for the country.
19
Publicly, Putin will tell Trump that it’s the Deep state that’s conspiring against Putin Trump relations. Trump will say that he believes him.
Privately (in their 1v1 meeting) Putin will tell Trump that Russia was listening the day Trump asked them to publicly. And that Trump owes Putin. Trump will inform Putin of his efforts to break up NATO, have France exit the EU and bring down UK government.
They will then both laugh at the audacity of Trump making the request publicly and the people still voting for Trump.
This crime was committed in broad day light with tens of millions of witnesses.
... and, Trump is getting away with it.
Thanks to party over country priorities of Republicans...
11
From the indictment it looks like the US hacked into the Russian sites and computers. But in Cold War v2.0, just as in v1.0, the US is on the side of freedom and democracy so that's ok.
The only difference is that many of the liberals and progressives currently directing their venom at Russia would in years past accuse the US of being just as bad as the Soviet Union.
I was an active participant in Cold War v1.0. I'm sitting this one out, thank you.
What a world, what a world!
3
The biggest take home of this article is that a hostile foreign government has and continues to do its best to undermine our democracy. This isn't a partisan issue. Russia didn't work to get Trump elected because he was the Republican candidate. He was the far friendlier candidate to their interests.
The fact that Americans of all parties aren't doing more to fight this is deeply disturbing. We need bipartisan action on this.
15
Trump continues to brush off suggestions of Russian meddling in the election as "fake news" and a "witch hunt" in spite of a substantial and growing body of evidence to the contrary. It is only a matter of time until he is summoned to appear before Congress and answer questions about his own knowledge of this. The walls are very definitely closing in.
5
Trump is privy to the most classified CIA secrets on such topics as the identities double agents, where we have agents positioned against Russia, and what our strategy is to defeat their intelligence and hacking efforts. It is easy to picture
Trump, alone with Putin, trying to impress him by revealing this kind of information. Sen. Warner is right: there is no way he should be allowed to meet Putin without witnesses. But it's also a fact that he will do it anyway, and we'll never know how much of the farm he gave away. Rewarding Putin with a summit meeting after these indictments and after brutalizing our NATO allies is an unthinkable betrayal.
7
Finally, the moment we've been waiting for. Mueller has found the smoking gun. It's going to get ugly. But in the end Trump's reign of destruction will end. It's a win win for America.
12
Trump is privy to the most classified CIA secrets on such topics as the identities double agents, where we have agents positioned against Russia, and what our strategy is to defeat their intelligence and hacking efforts. It is easy to picture
Trump, alone with Putin, trying to impress him by revealing this kind of information. Sen. Warner is right: there is no way he should be allowed to meet Putin without witnesses. But it's also a fact that he will do it anyway, and we'll never know how much of the farm he gave away. Rewarding Putin with a summit meeting after these indictments and after brutalizing our NATO allies is an unthinkable betrayal.
12
How can you use "to ask a few respectful questions" in the same sentence with the names of Gowdy, Gohmert and Jordan. They don't know what a respectful question is.
Yesterday's hearing is a perfect example of this.
11
Trump just recently started referring to the Mueller Investigation as a "rigged" witch hunt. The last time he was using the word rigged? Ahead of an election he and most observers expected he would lose. I'm hopeful this is a sign that Trump knows the Mueller Investigation will expose him for criminal wrongdoing. His only hope now is the extensive Republican effort to delegitimize the investigation.
3
More Russians indicted for spying on our country and using the information to divide us, to pit Americans against Americans, and to influence an election. These are bold and successful operations of clandestine cyber warfare that are still playing off to the benefit of those who have done us harm.
It used to be that a threat from without was one of the things you could count on to bring a nation together. We are pathetic as we just keep arguing amongst ourselves. Meanwhile, our president (president by electoral math, not popular vote) will probably use this recent revelation as political theater to sow more division among us ("Mueller bad, Clinton bad, FBI bad, Obama bad, media bad, Putin just fine"). At this point, I assume that Trump will go ahead and meet with the enemy and will assure us of what a fine fellow Putin is.
8
I thought it was a 400 pound guy in his underwear from his parents’ basement.
8
My wife and I have a running, mutual query: What is the percentage likelihood that President Trump will complete this term in office. She's been holding at 38. I think it just dipped into the high 20s.
5
Of course trump will say this is fake news because his boss Putin told him so...
11
President Trump: Take your oath of office seriously to protect and defend our nation and Constitution. Cancel your meeting with Putin. Demonstrate whose side you are on.
22
“We do have a political problem where, you know, in the United States, we have this stupidity going on — pure stupidity,” the president said.
Said the source of all the stupidity in the country, causing havoc around the world.
27
It is time to state the obvious for all to hear, loudly and clearly.....
Trump's private meeting with Putin is to discuss Russian loans to the trump franchise, for Putin to give our traitor president further marching orders, and to discuss other traitorous actions. I'd bet my house on it.
Why else would he insist on a private meeting, off the record?
Can you imagine the GOP outcry if any democratic president had done this?
GOP = Enemy of the State!!!!
VOTE THEM OUT!!!
51
Good.
Now, lock THEM up!
21
From the article: " We do have a political problem where, you know, in the United States, we have this stupidity going on — pure stupidity,” the president said. "
Ya think?
Hmmmm....
12
And with the Russians, Trump will declare that he has, "the highest level of special - treason!
12
WHEN will we learn what the clintons "have" on our FBI/DOJ?
4
We cannot forget that Trump is probably in bed with Putin for a lot of money!
17
Given the Kremlin 7 in Moscow on the 4th of July, and the kangaroo court yesterday in the House, and trump trashing NATO prior to his private meeting in Helsinki with Putin, the only logical conclusion absent all the facts is to use the facts you have.
And the facts indicate that there is a nexus between the GOP and the Russians through the NRA in a conspiracy of mutual assistance. American white supremacists openly admire the Russian state, and the GOP has been coopted, first by the Tea Party (racist Confederates), then by their cousins, the alt-right and neo-Nazis, those fellows who marched in Charlottesville.
In pursuit of white supremacy, the GOP believes an alliance with an international enemy is no vice, and adherence to the rule of law is no virtue.
10
A surprising, but very critical error in the choice of words from this indictment:
"There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result"
Should read:
"There is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the infrastructure on which votes are counted"
Because, clearly, there would be no purpose to the conspiracy of the outcome of the vote count.
2
A surprising, but very critical error in the choice of words from this indictment.
"There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result"
Should read: "There is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the infrastructure on which votes are counted"
It is pedantic and obviously self evident that the indictment doesn't allege what is not in the indictment.
Because, clearly, there would be no purpose to the conspiracy, if not to effect the outcome of the vote count.
4
Obama wanted to do this, but McConnell objected. In order NOT to make this look like a partisan attack, Obama backed down. So McConnell needs to answer why he objected to information from the NSA, the CIA and FBI. To me, it is obviously partisan politics. Just like not allowing a vote on Merritt Garland in the US Senate for the Supreme Court. So the GOP have won this event. McConnell and his financial supporters hope that even though the Dems may win lots of elections, the GOP have SCOTUS. At a minimum, I hope the voters react and vote straight Dem on Nov 6.
16
This is a classic poker match. Rosenstein informs Trump of the findings before his trip. Trump doesn't think Rosenstein will release these findings before the Helsinki meeting (calls his bluff).
Rosenstein reveals the info (4 aces and 2 Kings). Now, it is up to Trump:cancel the Helsinki meeting, question Putin on the meddling, or fold (acquiesce to Putin).
The odds are on the fold.
24
Various news outlets have reported that trump was personally briefed of these indictments before he left the country. In spite of this knowledge he continued to praise Putin, saying among things, that trump’s meeting with the Russian President, to be held with no one other than the interpreter(s), would be the easiest meeting on his agenda. Thus far, the WH has issued no statement condemning Russia or Putin;instead, and conflating the issue of trump’s alleged collusion with the object of the filings, the spokeswoman asserted that trump’s assertions and today’s indictments are consistent with his “no collusion” defense.
Media outlets have expressed utter despair and ignorance in trying to explain trump’s behavior. Understandably, they await some legal filing or report before they will say what an ordinary guy will say.
The explanation is hiding in plain site: Russia and the oligarchs have something on our president and he fears if he doesn’t continue to play ball, it will be revealed, which might bring about his downfall. His private meeting with Putin, should it go forward.
is not about the security of our country. It is about protecting trump from divulging secrets about him.
18
I'm not at all sure Trump was personally involved in any of this, and I'm not even a Trump fan. But I cannot understand why -- if he is NOT personally involved -- he doesn't cheer on this investigation. Apparently he cannot distinguish between tampering with the minds of American electorate, which clearly happened, to tampering with actual votes. He's taking it so personally, but then he always does. He makes himself look guilty.
8
So, no Americans were named in this indictment, but there will be in future indictments. I'm guessing those referenced on pages 15 and 16 know who they are: one a U.S. Congressman and another a state registered lobbyist and still another who was "a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump."
7
My bad, candidate for Congress who requested and received stolen documents.
1
I suspect that, as I type this, Trump is tweeting that these indictments "totally exonerate" him - again.
15
Watch Trump call it very unfair and fake news
4
He called it "a witch hunt"during news conference with Theresa May.
Shameful behavior by commander in Chief.
3
Trump is a Traitor, period, and he's Putin's Puppet right down to the strings tied to the corners of his mouth. It's impossible Trump doesn't know the Russians helped him win the election so the only other possibility is that he's a grateful, indebted traitor. Vote Trump and his Republican sycophants out in November or Putin will finally win the Cold War.
29
Unless we have transcripts for proof that Trump challenges Putin for attacks on our democracy, Trump should be tried for treason.
13
Tea with the Queen and indictments against co-conspirators—Sweet! And was the the chief of staff in the background whispering “let him eat cheese?”
5
Hey here's an idea: since we know Trump is a real life super hero who has already offered to confront school shooters bare handed, why doesn't he lead a group of top level secret agents on his forthcoming visit to Russia and forcibly extract these evil doers so they can be brought to justice?
Oh sorry I forgot...bone spurs.....
19